As far as I know there are no dahlia growers in the Northern part of Australia. I know as soon as John gives this article the once over, I'll be told in no uncertain terms if that's the case. When you see how far it is across the wide bit, it's know wonder they don't get together very often, but I expect those in the South East corner attend the same Shows at times, and both the good people as far away as Perth and Brisbane do, but very rarely. Saying that, John informed me on Sunday 27th November he was going for a quick trip to the Victorian Dahlia Society Xmas party.
It will be good to catch up with all of the serious growers, and have a good `Dahlia Fest' he said.
Now if this is a quick trip I'd like to know what a long one is, the journey will take eight hours and the number of kilometres covered will be 768. By the way a "Dahlia Fest" is where one works out what is going to win at the show, and also how big they will grow to. All good fun, I wonder what odds you'd get on a well grown `Winkie Colonel?
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| John's extraordinary journey to the Victoria Dahlia Society's Xmas bash. |
So we've established where John and his wife live, and the distances he has to travel to the shows etc, but we still don't know the extreme conditions these dahlia men grow under. I assume there are women growers, or haven't they caught us up yet? I mean that in the sense that we've weakened, and have the ladies competing with us, and sometimes winning at our shows. But here? I don't think so, not yet.
Now for the weather, blistering heat springs to mind, but would you think gale force winds, you wanna believe it, it's not just the legless that get horizontal. The very first emails I received from John explain this adequately, but first see the wonderful growing area that John calls his `Shed' well you expect it to be a bit weird, it is Australia. However this is what John has to say about it.
The new patch is nearly done, and covers an area of almost 30 metres by 20 metres. The shade cloth is up at 13 foot and is called "Sandstone" 50% knit with a shade factor of 40%. That is 12% greater than the white one, it can be tightened from the ground. At the end of the season it is also retractable from the ground. The overhead sprays are at 8 feet high, and when going, clear the shade cloth by a foot. All the main plumbing is over head, and made up of one & half inch PVC just under the shade cloth. The back wall is of black strap windbreak. 2" strips of heavy duty re-enforced PVC, this allows ventilation but not wind. The side walls will be 12' white shade cloth starting 18" from the top allowing for ventilation.
Well if that don't sort the men from the boys, nothing will.