There has been three occasions where I have taken new varieties to Wisley to be accessed for trial and on two occasions I have eventually taken or sent cuttings to be grown on their trials grounds. The first time I took three dwarf bedding dahlias. I was as nervous as hell but the staff and judges made me welcome. Two weeks later I was told they liked the look of `Littledown Tango’ it was trailed and eventually gained An Award of Merit and The John Brown Medal for garden decoration, this was in 2000. Was this a lucky fluke? I think so.

LITTLEDOWN TANGO.		SIR BOBBY `M’		SIR BOBBY `M’ IN LATE OCTOBER.

On the 20th September 2002 I took my second batch of hopefuls to Wisley. They were seedlings from the previous year. Again I was lucky and later told `Send us cuttings of Sir Bobby `M’ next April 2003’ If the plants I took in April are growing the same, as mine here in Bournemouth, there will be no great honours coming my way but who can tell, it has been a very hot year. Sir Bobby `M’ is a prolific flowering dahlia but not for show as there are better bright yellow small semi-cactus about. The main fault was in the seed parent Superfine. You’ve guest it, to many petals, causing it to have an elongated centre; I knew this but somehow expected the fault to disappear in the offspring. I might try growing it on a side bud to reduce the petal count or perhaps a second stop like we used to do with the chrysanthemum. There is nothing wrong with the health of the variety it is prolific and makes a large plant when given the room and feed. My grandson grew one out of a collection I supplied and left alone with all flowers blazing it was spectacular and filled a space three foot by three foot. This cross was also a fluke.
 
The third time I took flowers to Wisley was this year on September 18th 2003. All I’m saying for now is, they were both water lily flowered and I knew who their parents were. I made it happen, this was no fluke.
 
After my luck with Littledown Tango and Sir Bobby`M’ for luck is all it was. I was determined to try and monitor my breeding program. I was eager to know just which two dahlias combined to produce the flowers I got. Oh yes I was doing the bit with the sable haired brush, but I couldn’t be sure Mr. Bumble wasn’t nipping in there while my back was turned. As well as that, I’m not convinced that some cultivars can’t cross-pollinate under certain conditions with their selves, because both Littledown Tango and Sir Bobby `M’ are very similar to their seed parents but definitely not the same. I was getting results but the results I was getting were not scientific. Also, as the area in my seedbeds was limited, and I could only manage to grow two hundred seedlings, why shouldn’t I raise my standards and grow a better crop. Two hundred seedlings aren’t many when you’re trying to breed a showstopper.
 
The breeding program in 2001 had been awkward but scientific. I chose my cultivars very carefully and as far as I could tell each had no particular faults. I’d either seen them growing, heard of their prowess on the bench or grown them for myself. I picked them for their form in the group they represented, this meant tidy centres and petal lay. Their colour had to be clear and unbroken, and of course they had to have good health. Things like their ability to produce good tubers could only be judged when the crop was lifted after their first year, but I reckoned if their parents made good tubers, they would also. There were to be three tubs, each containing three varieties of the following groups.

Small Water lily Flowered.
Taratahi Ruby.		Sympathy.		Yvonne.
Small Cactus/Semi Cactus.
Kelsea Carla.		Lemon Elegans.		Bill Andrews UNKNOWN.
Giant Decorative. 5A
Sir Alf Ramsey		Mark Hardwick		White Alvas Supreme

 
Let me stress I admire everyone who grows giants; they have a particular skill and dedication, but the only time I’ve grown them, was to show off with, on one of our open weekends. The reason I added them to my breeding program was a good friend of mine called Bill Andrews died of cancer the year previous, and I wanted to name a whopper after him. It’s funny I always thought he loved small cactus, but his wife said giants. Sadly she too is no longer with us, life is fleeting.
 
Any way, as I said there were three large tubs, which contained three different plants of three different groups. The compost I used was multi-purpose with washed grit added, about five to one. I knew the growth on these plants would be considerable, I proposed to stop them three times, to try and reduce the petal count. So after each stop, I reduced the growth by half, keeping the resultant number of stems down to four each time. The tubs had five four foot canes at equal distance round the edge; these were encircled with soft string as growth progressed. As soon as the buds form I pinched out all but the central bud, taking off the shoots lower down, to encourage others to form nearer the base. This was in order to keep the plants to a reasonable height, I will explain. Keep an eye on the stem, and only allow one other shoot to grow on each, as low as possible. When the seed pod has turned from soft green, to a light corn colour, similar to the page under this print, I remove it with about eight inches of stem, and place it in a jam jar, which is half full of water, in to which a few drips of sterilizer has been added. Finally, I cut back the stem to the new growth. I did this three times, but I’m sure I could have repeated it a couple of times more. Four weeks after they were planted in the tubs, I fed half strength Phostrogen every time I watered. It’s obvious they didn’t grow like there counter parts in the garden but then I didn’t want them to, all I wanted was enough feed to sustain growth for seed production. The seed that fell on stony ground might have produced a plant that eventually died, but you can bet your boots it produced some seed before it did. Don’t get despondent if some of your crosses don’t produce results, some varieties aren’t on the same wave length as others, in other words not compatible.
 
The actual act of conception was tricky but quite natural, as soon as the stigma has released its pollen, the two halves open to reveal the inner surface, and it’s almost like fine Velcro. Imagine; every flower in the world has this trick up its sleeve, I think? The botanists tell us this is to prevent self-pollination, I’m not convinced; after all, in order to keep a species going it has to produce seed doesn’t it? We’ve all seen almost identical flowers on varieties with different names; take Charlie Two and Mascot Mayo as an example. Perhaps someone with more knowledge could enlighten me. Now pull all the petals out of both the receiver of pollen, and the provider of pollen. Gentle now, the petals should come away cleanly when the bloom shows an open centre, now take the pollen from your provider, or male source, and gentle brush it on to the open stigmas of the female source, and you have performed your first cross. You may have to do this more than once, as I said, some cultivars aren’t receptive of one another, bit like people. I always use a sable haired brush, but some hybridists use a plucked flower containing the pollen of the variety they want as their male provider. But I always use the brush as I like to use the male pollen provider, as my next female source, because as soon as the pollen’s gone, the stigmas open, and you can use it as a female, are you with me? They say the best time to do your crossing is mid-day, but I have crossed cultivars up to three or even four o’clock in the afternoon, especially in the year 2003, and got results. That is why I think, perhaps it’s the buoyant atmosphere of a sunny day, rather than the time of day, that matters, and beside bees collects nectar and pollen till sundown. Remember to sterilize your brush after each cross in methylated spirits; it pays to have three or four brushes, and make sure they’re dry before you use them again. Above all don’t forget to label every cross with the seed bearers name first, followed by the pollen provider, the father. As I read through these pages for the umpteenth time looking for any mistakes, and trying to make it as clear as possible, I realise how much I owe to two email friends for their superior knowledge. Harry Lawson breeds chrysanthemums, which are very much like dahlias; in as much as they have a composite type flower heads that forms the bloom, each petal is in fact a flower in its own right. I think I’ve put that right Harry, although it’s a hell of a sentence. Any way in my quest to breed better dahlias I bought Harry’s book, I bought two actually, one for my grandson who seems interested in the subject. Well with a six pound mark up, it was a bargain, and full of everything you need to know about breeding composite type flowers. Harry’s method involves far more work than I have ever tried with the dahlia, for example he always uses the stigmas in the ray florets as the female source. These on a double bloom are the petals and their stigmas have no pollen because these petals have no anthers to provide it. This way he avoids the stigmas being contaminated with any other pollen but the one he chooses. He literally cuts away the petals to within a millimetre or two of the stigmas, narrowly missing their heads; I would like to apply these methods to dahlia breeding, given the time perhaps I could. I almost forgot the lights that ventilate my greenhouse are covered with insect proof muslin.
 
Harry’s book is a fascinating read and it sits on the table next to my chair in the lounge so I can pick it up, whenever I need too. I think I must be a bit dyslectic because it takes ages for me to digest the written word. The other email friend is a man I found while browsing the dahlia sites. If you go to the National Dahlia Society site, you will find him on the links page, his name is Wayne Holland his articles are so well written I was sure he was a botanist, but it turns out he’s a chemist. The number of new dahlia varieties he’s produced is phenomenal I will make a link to both sites and other interesting ones, as soon as my site is finished. Both men have helped me enormously in my attempt to breed better dahlias.

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