This year I had the opportunity to grow in may garden nine new dahlias which have been released by Mr. Barry Davies, the well known raiser of the Barbarry varieties. Listed below are a few observations that were made on these dahlias during the 1989 growing season.
BARBARRY DOMINION (Miniature Decorative dahlia) Coral Pink
- Ht. 3½’
Seedling winner London 1988
Flowered 14th August. Light disbudding, all blooms slightly oversize.
Went under the rings by mid September. Good strong plants, which
were at all times covered in blooms.
VERDICT:- This beautiful dahlia has a touch of class, and will
win a lot of red cards if kept down to size.
BARBARRY FLUSH (Miniature Decorative dahlia) Yellow, Salmon
- Ht. 3½’
Flowered 22nd August. Light disbudding, all blooms oversize. This
variety was very shy with flowers. Centres were at all times very
heavy. Most of the blooms came clock faced.
VERDICT:- Had nothing going for it.
BARBARRY CROWN (Small Decorative dahlia.) Violet
I will have to cheat on this one, my one plant was accidently
knocked over in the greenhouse, and badly damaged, however, having
seen this flower in Colin Bailey’s garden in 1988 and a few
vases on the bench this year I think I can justify a few comments
on this one, some good blooms seen around the shows. Good size.
Beautiful colour.
VERDICT:-Not as good a dahlias as Lady Linda or Nina Chester,
but could be a valuable asset in multi-vase classes.
BARBARRY BONIFIDE (Miniature Decorative dahlia) Deep Pink -
Ht. 3½’
Flowered 1 August. Light disbudding. No problems with size. First
blooms were pathetic. In my opinion this was due to the very warm
weather. As the climate cooled towards the end of the month much
better flowers appeared on the plant. On September 9th, I cut
7 blooms from one plant that would not have been disgraced at
any National Dahlia Show.
VERDICT:- In my 20 years growing Dahlias I have never seen such
a transformation in a plant. As the weather cooled the change
in the formation of this flower was unbelievable. Will certainly
grow again.
BARBARRY SALMON (Small Decorative dahlia) Salmon
Flowered 24th July. Grown 7 up. Good size blooms. Centres were
a little heavy at times. First flowers faded badly during the
warm spell. As the weather cooled the lovely rich salmon colour
became more prominent. Two or three decent Vases seen around the
shows.
VERDICT:- Could be a much better Dahlia in a cooler season. Beautiful
colour.
LORD MASON (Miniature Decorative dahlia) White
Flowered 22nd August. Grown all up. Light disbudding. No problems
with size. All blooms of this variety had blown centres right
through the full season. Some of my friends who had grown this
variety in numbers had the same problems as I had.
VERDICT:- No red carpet for the Noble Lord.
BARBARRY LAVENDER (Miniature Decorative dahlia)
Flowered 19th August. Grown all up. Light disbudding. Early blooms
were touching the rings, but as the plant progressed this problem
was eliminated. The blooms held on good strong stems had immaculate
formation. This little beauty went into the note books of the
many friends who visit my garden during the season.
My good friend Pat Campbell who has been growing dahlias for over
30 years summed up Lavender as “The find of the Season”.
VERDICT:- All members of Monklands Dahlia Society voted Barbarry
Lavender “A Miniature dahlia with a very big future”.
BARBARRY OLYMPIC (small Ball dahlia) Deep Pink
Three lovely flowers appeared on this variety by mid August. Good
solid blooms, held on good strong stems. However, disaster struck
on the 22nd August when I tried to feed a hungry looking cat that
was walking down the garden path with a building brick.
I missed the cat’s mouth by two inches, the brick hit my
fence, and rebounded into the plant. “What a Catastrophe”.
VERDICT:- This variety will win it’s share of red cards in
its class. Liked the warm weather. Did not like building bricks.
BARBARRY PRINCESS (Miniature Decorative dahlia) Pink
Flowered 21st August. Grown all up. Could not keep size down.
Petal formation was far too broad for a miniature decorative.
Blooms had tendency to sit among the foliage.
VERDICT:- Not a show dahlia.