The first time I heard about Bob Hendley was through Jack Gott, you might have guessed, most of what I do today is courtesy of Jack. He told me how he was almost sure Bob's father had worked for a firm up North called Oscroft's. Jack said he'd send me a copy of a CD he'd received from Bob explaining he was starting a new dahlia nursery called Fontmell Studio, I thought it was a bit of a mouthful, but quite a posh name. True to his word the CD arrived and sure enough the catalogue was presented better than any I had ever seen, it start off with an introduction explaining how the family had been involved with growing Large Gold Medals winning dahlias since 1960. During the 60's and early 70's they won more than 300 Gold and Large Gold Medals, and numerous Supreme Trophies. After a gap of some years, the youngest member of the team came back to the shows and immediately started to win Gold Medals and Trophies. Tell you what why don't I let you have Bob's email address and order line, so as you can order a copy of the Fontmell Studio 2005-2006 catalogue for yourself, and then you can read the rest of the fascinating story. The cultural notes are worth the price that the two first class stamps cost.
Mean while I'll get cracking and get Bob's latest achievements on this his introductory page.
THE ROYAL BATH & WEST SHOW SHEPTON MALLET
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| The Fontmell stand at The Royal Bath & West show at Shepton Mallet in the beginning of September. Large Gold Medal. |
Bob was telling me he had a very good response from the general public, and he thought far more people come through the Floral marquee than ever reach the National Dahlia Society Show. I suppose this was enviable as most of these were general gardeners, looking for a bargain. I think we wanted more signs so the general public knew we were there. Take a look at this magnificent bowl of Kenora Lisa on it's own page. Photo.
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Now I'm not a great lover of Fimbriated dahlias, but I tell you this one's a belter, with just the right name Kenora Spirit. |
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The light in the marquee was atrocious, but these are some of Bob's 2005 seedlings, he grows around one thousand five hundred seedling each year, and takes something like seven thousand cuttings. Makes my effort look a bit puny. So far none of these have names just numbers, but you can bet your bottom dollar most will have a Fontmell prefix.