A composite article with views on recent introductions from a number of growers. Opinions are of course personal but may be of value to some other growers.
J. D. SEMPLE, GLASGOW
FORMBY SUPREME: Yellow Medium Decorative
I received good plants early on and they grew into fine plants
by planting out time. It quickly became known as “the beast”
because of the tall robust plants they made. I had high hopes
for this one but they were soon dashed. It tended to flower down
in the foliage with resultant marking and some of the centres
were horrendous. It is similar in formation to Edna C but only
worse.
20 plants grown and not one bloom shown, what a waste of space.
TRENGROVE TAURANGA: Bronze Medium Decorative
I had a rush of blood to the head and sent away 16 pounds to buy
one tuber of this variety after having seen a good vase of it
at Harrogate in 1991.
I managed to get over 20 plants from one tuber and planted out
18 of them. They looked very good early on, tall and vigorous
and again I was hopeful of getting some good blooms. It was not
to be.
Two or three of the plants threw all single blooms while the rest
were rather small and had no ‘body’ to them. Another
18 spaces wasted.
HILLCREST HILTON: Yellow Large Semi Cactus
Bought a tuber of this one to try from Les Jackson, Carlisle.
Very tall grower and tended to be a shade later than some other
varieties with me. I grew it six up and it had adequate size and
tremendous depth. Strong yellow colour. At the time of writing
I have just heard that Hillcrest Hilton has won a major award
at the Bradford trials. Will be in demand in what is becoming
a very competitive section.
JO-ANNE: Yellow Medium Cactus
This is a variety which has been quite well publicised since being
released. A New Zealand variety I believe. This one made beautiful
plants and once more I had high hopes. The flowers initially looked
small grown at seven up but by the time they were full out they
were of adequate size. Again a nice strong colour. The major problem
I found was that it struggled to maintain it’s centre. Here
today, gone tomorrow.
I showed one good vase of this one at Perth. It may have been
the season and some people may wish to give it another try. Not
for me, thank you.
KENORA CHALLENGER: White Large Semi-Cactus
My good friend David Boyd sent me this one to try - one plant
only! I decided to try and grow it as a medium at nine up. Makes
a fine tall healthy plant and I had my first bloom from it on
August 30th and I immediately fell in love with it.
I informed my friends !?! in the Monklands Dahlia Society that
this would be the sensation of the season and I think I was proved
to be correct.
Keenes - you will have to move over the bed a bit to make space
for this beauty. In my opinion the best introduction since Kiwi
Gloria.
HILLCREST ALBINO: White Medium Semi-Cactus
This one did not seem to like our very wet season. I grew quite
a few plants of it but I did not manage to stage many good vases.
The raiser reckons that it does better in a long hot summer but
as we do not get a lot of them in Scotland I’m afraid Albino
will have to go.
SCOTTISH RELATION: Purple and White Small Semi-Cactus
This one was the exact opposite of Albino. It simply lapped up
the rain and flowered profusely all season. It withstood the weather
better than the rest of my small cactus which were grown outside
without any protection e.g.:- Paul Chester, Linda’s Chester
and Hillcrest Desire.
I exhibited a few good vases of this one throughout the season.
Well worth a try.
HILLCREST DESIRE: Pink on Yellow Base Small Cactus
I grew some of this variety under cover and some outside. Those
under cover performed much better than those outside and had much
finer petal formation. The ones outside weathered reasonably well
but were a shade coarse. I showed some quite good vases of it
during the season. I will grow it again but only under cover.
GATESHEAD FESTIVAL: Orange/Bronze Small Decorative
This variety is a fairly low grower and tends to flower a wee
bit later than most of the other small decoratives that I grow.
This is not necessarily a bad thing. Petal formation is perfect,
colour is pleasing albeit a trifle difficult to match. One failing
is that it does tend to mark a bit during damp weather conditions
which we tend to get a lot of during the latter part of the season.
DAVE SUTHERLAND, GUILDTOWN
I tried five Hillcrest varieties with varying degrees of success.
ALBINO:
Grew well but with it’s big petal formation I feel it must
be a large.
PEARL:
It is a white Med. Dec. of good formation but grown five up never
got near the size.
AMOUR:
A Small Dec. is white with a very pronounced lilac flush. Some
flowers clock faced but no problems with size or stems. It will
get a second chance.
SUFFUSION:
Has good colour and form but lacks size, I feel it will struggle.
DESIRE:
Is the best of the bunch in my opinion. Good plants with excellent
form and good colour. I will be growing this one for some time.
OTHERS:
LEMON ELEGANS was not covered and suffered for it but seeing the
way RAB RITCHIE grows it I will persevere. LILLIAN INGHAM was
similar and worth a try. PERITON and KENORA FIREBALL stood up
well to the wind and rain until they eventually succumbed, I liked
the look of these miniature ball
varieties. BARBARRY PINKY is a Small Dec. with great form and
stems. It may need extra potash though to stop it rocking and
rolling. BARBARRY MAGIC also a Small Dec. but not as impressive
as PINKY. Varieties which impressed most around the shows were:-
KENORA CHALLENGER BARBARRY ORACLE and JO-ANNE which is quite a
rarity being a Medium Cactus.
DAVID McMILLAN, COATBRIDGE
HILLCREST AMOUR:
A new Small Dec. the same colour as Nina Chester but this variety
has a stronger lavender flush. Plants grew to 4.5 feet and grown
ten up the first flush of blooms came in mid August and they were
almost touching the rings. The centres lost their shape at this
size but on the second flush size was down and the centres were
very good. I managed to cut a lot of good flowers and I will be
growing this variety again but with a few more flowers on the
plant. I grew this out in the open and it weathers well.
PAUL’S DELIGHT:
Another white Small Dec. grown by me for the first time and one
I think has good potential. Plants grew to 4 feet and grown at
ten up blooms almost touched the rings although they were a little
coarse. I will be growing this one again and I will cover it as
blooms were marking on the face due to the constant rain we had.
I will also be taking more blooms on the plant.
HILLCREST BOBBIN:
A pink Small Ball grown by me for the first time and plants were
very vigorous with terrific stems which I have come to expect
from Hillcrest varieties. Ten plants put in and I managed to cut
a good vase every week during the show season. Blooms had good
size and form and this variety also stood up to the weather with
minimum marking.
WHITE CITY:
From the same raiser as Lemon Elegans. I bought this in to use
in three vase classes but I never cut a bloom from eight plants.
Same petal formation and growth as Elegans but grown at 14 up
I could easily have shown this as a medium only every bloom turned
brown with the wet weather. I will not be growing this one again.
CRYFIELD KEENE:
I was advised not to buy this one due to colour matching problems
but I can honestly say I had no problems like that. Super plants
sent from Les Jones continued to grow well and with same form
as the other Keenes. I managed to show some good vases and I will
grow this one again.
FORMBY SUPREME:
12 plants of this variety grown and I grew this at ten up after
hearing it goes oversize quite easily. Same colour and centres
as Edna C and it also finished very well at the back and I only
had an occasional bad centre. I showed this as a medium and also
as a large but I will not persevere with this one. From mid September
every bloom marked very badly and I had these under cover. I will
only be growing one medium dec. and this one is unreliable.
BARBARRY SUMMITT:
Another Med. Dec. which I was given to try. Plants looked good
and at bud stage stems were looking good but as the blooms developed
stems just bent over which means it goes on the compost heap.
BOUGHT IN PLANTS
KENORA WILDFIRE:
Ten plants purchased and as I write this review on the 8th October
there is a bud just showing colour on my last plant. The other
nine plants landed in my dustbin at various stages due to virus
and although my other plant is growing six feet tall and glowing
with health it will join the others as there are no shows in mid
October.
KENORA VALENTINE:
Ten plants sent and only seven survived but they made excellent
plants and grown as a large at five up produced top sized flowers
with super form and bags of depth. The blooms also held their
colour very well and if this variety is classified as a large
dec. I will grow plenty of it.
MY PRIDE:
Ten plants received and what a good selection. Three plants were
rooted in one inch cell blocks on the 7th March and were kept
there till the first week in May when they were six inches tall
with nine pairs of leaves and stems like iron which made sure
they weren’t going to grow. The other seven were also at
different stages and the result was blooms in October. Plants
grew to six feet in tunnel and the blooms had good size and excellent
form but I think it will flower too late in my area.
KARENGLEN:
Ten plants sent and only five made it to the garden. One plant
of this variety had started to produce a tuber and the same plant
was four inches tall with nine pairs of leaves and also thick
stems. I was that amazed I have taken slides of it. Plants that
were left produced excellent blooms although like most of my other
miniatures they came oversize.
PERITON:
Ten plants received and I managed to keep seven of them. Makes
excellent plants and grown at sixteen up produced top sized blooms
with good formation although late on in the season it tended to
mark very badly but without a doubt this is one of the better
varieties and I will be growing more next year.
RAB RITCHIE, KETTLEBRIDGE
NANCY MARGARET: M.S.C. White
Just had four plants growing six up. Tall grower which has good
stems and very good form and size. Does not damp as badly as White
Moonlight. Will grow a lot of it next year.
JO-ANNE: M.C. Yellow
Total disaster. Never got above size of a small. I did see a good
vase of it at Perth exhibited by Doug. Semple.
HILLCREST BLAZE: S.S.C. Yellow with Reddish tips.
I was told I would have a job to match this one but that was no
problem. Strong stems and good form. Good for multi-vase classes.
CHARLIE KENWOOD: Mm. Dec. Lavender/Pink
Lovely plants and flowers but I had a problem with size. I do
not think this is a miniature.
MONKSTOWN DIANE: S.C. Deep Mauve Pink. Growing to 4.5 feet
It is a cut and come again dahlia. Show dahlia flowers early to
late. Stands the weather well. Raised by Mr. R. C. Fowler, Ladybank.
Possibly the best dahlia raised in Scotland since Monk Marc, also
raised by Mr. R. C. Fowler. Monkstown Diane has proved its worth
in 1992 by winning the Seedling class at Ayr and the Seedling
class at the Diamond Jubilee Show at Stirling where there were
14 entries. The vase at Stirling also won the Certificate of Merit
and the Special rosette awarded for the best seedling or sport.
On the open bench Monkstown Diane was successful at the following
shows -
Strathmiglo - 1st in single vase class, included in the winning
three vase class.
Dundee — 1st in the single vase.
Falkirk, Central Scotland 160th Show - 1st in the single vase
class and included in the winning three vase class.
St. Andrews - It was included in the James Beat Memorial Quaich
three vase class winning entry.
Fife and Kinross - It was included in the Dunshalt Trophy three
vase winning entry.
Considering the small amount of plants grown this year it is quite
an achievement.
Plants will be available from Hall’s of Heddon in 1994.
Grown and exhibited by Rab Ritchie and Tom Cleghorn during 1992.