My affair with Dahlias started way back in 1951, l was walking along a road in South Benfleet in Essex on my way home from school, when l saw some magnificent flowers growing in a front garden. l was so taken by them l went up to the front door and knocked, not knowing what reaction l would get. The owner kindly told me that they were Dahlias and that l could buy plants from a firm called Stuart Ogg. Well that was it, l was up and running.
l started growing a few large and medium Decoratives, my next step was to have a larger bed with 60 plants. Preparations started in the November with the planting holes dug out and a healthy amount of horse manure popped in and then left to overwinter. The following spring l would put in the stakes followed by all the rooted cuttings. l later heard of a red decorative called Woodlands Wonder, finding a retailer l paid the sum of twenty one shillings for a plant, my mother would have had a heart attack if she had known how much l had spent! however it grew well and l was able to take a good bloom to the London Show and to my surprise l was awarded a second place and received 15 shillings in prize money, not bad for a schoolboy!
After l got married l bought an old run down house that had been built in 1889 but it did come with 5 acres of land this was in Havering atte Bower near Romford in Essex. In the grounds of this l planted up a 50 ft circle bed of dahlias, large decs in the centre and progressively smaller ones as l moved out from the centre, 100 plants in all and a magnificent sight.
In 1970 we moved to Polperro and with that house came a very steeply slopped garden so not really possible to grow dahlias. I then built a new house in Tywardreath called Fontana Gardens. l now have a collection 30 dahlias growing. after a conversation with Danny l joined the Cornish Dahlia Society and brought a few from my garden to the show at Wadebridge, l entered the peoples dahlia competition but the standard was high and l was unplaced.
l will now go back and take stock to come back next year with hopefully a stronger entry. My other project this winter is to create a totally Cornish garden for the BBC Gardeners World Show in Birmingham next year and at 91 l think l will be the oldest gardener to achieve this. ln this garden l intend to plant 8 to 10 dahlias and l would love to hear from members who might suggest some good varieties to have. It has been suggested that maybe I could use Cornish Bred dahlias.