The depth and wealth of knowledge in the Society is quite amazing so with that in mind and my new role helping out with the newsletter l thought it would be nice to pry a little into some of our members history in the world of growing and showing dahlias. Where better to start than our President Roy Knight.
So Roy how long have you been growing dahlias
l have been growing dahlias for 54 years, in those early days they were a lot different. Flowers had less petals and weak stems, in fact it was usual for Decs back then to have a petal count of less than 50 whereas nowadays a petal count of over 200 is not unusual.
How and why did you get started in growing dahlias
Well this was down to my wife Pat who wanted flowers for her flower arranging at the local shows so l had to give over some of my vegetable plot. At this time l was growing a lot of veg for the same shows and with Pat growing flowers we did well at local shows. At one show l suggested she had not done a very good job staging her dahlias (l can’t repeat her response!) but from that day on l have grown the dahlias.
Have you tried, with all your local success, showing at a National show?
I’ve never shown at National level mainly because l was breeding pigs, harvesting the corn and then sillage making which meant l could never get the time off when l needed it
What was it like back then did you get much help and advice
No, we really didn’t. l clearly remember going to one show hoping to pick up some advice on growing and showing, thinking that the chap who won most of the onion and shallot classes would be helpful but he looked at me and said “that’s for me to know and you to find out!” I’m afraid in the early days you were on your own. However, when we joined the Cornish Dahlia Society in the late 80’s we got a lot of help from the late Rodger Stevens and we were honoured to be given some of his new seedlings to grow.
Dahlias come in many shapes and sizes and I’m sure we all have favourites, which would you say are your favourites and perhaps your least favourite?
Well over the years l have grown most types, and out of all of these l really liked Poms or Miniatures, my least favourite has always been Medium Decoratives, very few good ones around. l think my friend Dr Mike got it right when he said, “they look like cabbages on sticks!”
l have only been growing seriously for 3 or 4 years, what advice would you give to a new grower who would like to enter shows such as the Dahlia show at Heligan?
My advice would be don’t grow too many varieties, grow more of some say 6 of one variety. l would start off with Waterlily’s, Small and Miniature Decs and Small and Miniature Balls. lf you have the room to grow 100 plants grow 10 of each of these and this will give you plenty to enter a lot of classes at our shows and win.
Many people are now having a go at saving seed and sowing them the following year have you tried this? and if so have you had many successes
l have grown seedlings for about 30 years usually between 50 and 200 but this year l really went for it and planted 900! and sent out another 500 seeds to other growers. l have had some success in that l have 3 varieties registered with the RHS, and l have 15 varieties growing in our beds at Heligan.
We are very lucky to live here in beautiful Cornwall but do you think our weather helps or hinders growing top quality dahlias compared with growers up country
Yes Cornwall is a beautiful place to live but it is a hard place to grow dahlias because of the damp atmosphere, damping off is a big problem plus drying off tubers in the autumn can be difficult
Apart from your dahlias do you grow any other flowers or veg for local shows
Yes we still grow most of the vegetable range for showing, Carrots and Parsnips in tubes, Marrows, Leeks and Onions in the poly tunnel. Pat grows and looks after the Sweet Peas and we also grow Gladioli, Roses plus a few Spray Chrysanths.
And what are your plans for the future
Pat and l are getting older and we will not be growing or propagating so much now, for example this year we grew 500 plus plants for Heligan, some for the plant sales, 100 for local orders, 800 planted in my own plot and 900 seedlings so this amounted to over 2000 plants. l know l have to cut down but l just cannot bear the idea of slowing down but it will have to come one day. l have been very lucky to grow new seedlings from growers in Cornwall including the late Rodger Stevens, the late Peter Greenaway, l have been growing David Jaspers Kernow Redruth for 10 years now and when you get good stock you are on to a winner and that is my favourite Waterlilly. l am now growing his new one Kernow Sarah Jane, this has done well for me at our early show. l have also had the chance to grow at least 5 of Cyril Watkins new seedlings, they are not yet released but 4 of them look really promising
Roy Knight – President of the Cornish Dahlia Society