ROBERT RITCHIE KETTLEBRIDGE
I LYKE IT S S.C. red - I was not expecting a lot of success with
this vanety after Andrew Magson but it did very well. Grew to
four feet, good stems and every flower showable. Flowered all
season I think this one will do well.
DEBORAH’S KIWI - S.C lavender pink - If you grow Kiwi Gloria well, then this one is a must.
CARSTONE SUNTAN M S.C. bronze - This medium will do well. Good strong stems and well formed flowers. I grew it eight up and exhibited a lot of vases.
SWEET INSPIRATION - S.S.C. yellow bronze blends - This is a seedling from Tom Cleghorn. It is a right robust plant, extremely good stems, lovely flower with plenty depth, good for multi-vase classes. This was included in my "Best Exhibit" at Fife and Kinross Show and it was second in the seedling class at Harrogate. This one should do well when it is released.
DOUG SEMPLE - MOUNT VERNON, GLASGOW.
An old mate of mine used to accuse me of having too much money
and too little sense as far as new dahlias were concerned. Well
as far as my 1996 trialists are concerned maybe he was right.
FIDALGO SUPREME - L. Dec. or Med. Dec. yellow - I saw this one shown in London in 1995 and I thought that it would make a superb medium decorative. I intended to grow it about 12 up but it did not want to break naturally and the plants had arrived too late for me to do much work on them. It ended up about 5 or 6 up. Some blooms made the large size while others stayed within medium limits. I showed a few vases without ever getting excited about it. I now think that it has insufficient petal for a medium and it will probably be classified large. Not one I will bother with again.
HAMARI SUNSHINE - classification very doubtful, yellow. - After all the furore surrounding this one and the doubts about whether it was a giant or large, a decorative or a semi-cactus - I am still confused I had intended to grow it as a large with my son Andrew growing it as a giant. Neither of us had much success although his were better than mine. I heard it was even winning as a medium semi-cactus in England. No doubt the classification committee will take their time over this one but it will not affect me as I will not be growing it again.
HILLCREST DELIGHT - Med. Dec orange/bronze blends- I saw three superb vases of this variety in 1995. Two at London and one at Harrogate. The common denominator in them all was that they had been grown by my friend David Boyd. I will have to resist growing any new varieties exhibited by D. B. until I have seen them grown by a lesser mortal. Remember Barbarry Oracle and Cosmos, not to mention Cloverdale. Grown the Boyd way they looked world beaters - grown the Semple way they are compost makers.
CARSTONE SUNTAN - M.SC. orange blends. This Joe Kidd seedling out of Wootton Impact was very early to flower with me (early August) but it certainly showed some promise. None of the elongated centres which caused me to dump its parent were in evidence here. I grew some at 8 up and some at 9 up and it easily came to size. Well worth growing for multi vase work.
I LYKE IT - S.SC. red - After reviewing Andrew Magson favourably
last year I decided to give this one from the same stable a go.
It grows very tall more than six feet under my covers. It has
a lot of rather heavy and sometimes not very round centres. The
colour is rather unusual and not very easy to describe, and NO
I didn’t lyke it.
P.S Andrew Magson had a dismal year with me too in 1996
DEBORAH’S KIWI SC. dark pink - Sometimes we in Scotland
do not get very good colour in Kiwi Gloria so I decided that Deborah
would be worth trying. The fact that my grand daughter is called
Deborah had nothing to do with it.
I tried harder with Kiwi Gloria and Deborah’s Kiwi this year
and both responded to my efforts. Deborah’s Kiwi is a richer
colour than the parent but I am not yet convinced that it is as
good. Both provided me with “Best Vase in Show Awards’
so they will both be grown in abundance in 1997 Bear in mind if
you are unable to grow Kiwi Gloria very well then Deborah’s
Kiwi will be worse.
CORNEL - Min. Ball dark red - Some people grow this one as a small but I think it can easily be grown as a miniature. The colour is rather unusual in that it is very dark red but the reverse of some of the petals are almost gold. To me it does not “finish” at the back properly in that it still has a heavy centre when the back collapses. From a distance it looks very good - close up- ‘UGH!”
What about my purchases for 1997. Well I am a pensioner now and I have to watch my pennies. I have only seen one that has tempted me so far and I am saving up to buy a tuber of Cherwell Goldcrest a golden yellow small semi-cactus raised by June Davis and being released via the Midlands Dahlia Society. There are a couple of miniatures that I fancy as well so I will get my letter away to Santa Claus tout suite.
W.B. ROBERTSON, EAGLESHAM
DEBORAH’S KIWI - Lavender small cactus. Seemed more prolific
and even more shorter jointed than its famous parent. Produced
up to 9 and even 10 pairs before budding naturally. But this
family remains what Bill Knox neatly terms an ‘Englishman’s
flower” - - a variety that needs careful cossetting to achieve
real quality in our north of the border climate. The best vases
that I spotted on the show circuit were Rab Ritchies at Dundee
and Stirling. Confirming that the few Scots who have mastered
Kiwi Gloria will be equally successful with its sport. Which
would appear to rule me out.
I LYKE IT - Deep red small semi cactus Raiser Bill Mark provided detailed growing instructions. Alas, this did not save me. Big plants went out which produced breaks at the top, at the bottom, but strangely little or nothing in between. Not one plant came near the recommended 11 breaks. By the time I realised my problem and resorted to double stopping, things were galloping out of control and I was running out of patience Big florets, outsize centres, lanky stems.. lets just say I no lyke it.