The North of England

(For the Service of all Northern County Members)

The North of England interests of the Society are far wider than those encompassed by the Yorkshire & Lincolnshire Group. We stage a Cheshire Delphinium Championship at the Alderley Edge & Wilmslow Horticultural Society's show in July and we would like to increase our presence at that show. Our interests should, however, cover the whole of the wider area of the North of England. Any member living in the North of England would be welcome to take part in our activities in the North and they should contact our Group Chairman, Gordon West on 01845 578303. If a member is willing to represent the Society's show interests for the Cheshire Delphinium Championship then they would serve as a link between the Alderley Edge & Wilmslow Horticultural & Rose Society and our current Yorkshire & Lincolnshire Group. In this way it should be possible to increase the entries for the Cheshire Championship. This aim would, of course, take time to develop.

We emphasise the fact that our Group in the North of England was named the Yorkshire & Lincolnshire Group because of Lewis Cain's enthusiasm for establishing it in the general Leeds area of Yorkshire. The naming was therefore a natural choice. However, the interest now being developed by this enterprising Group enables us to stress its general importance throughout the North of England as a whole. If members residing in counties other than Yorkshire and Lincolnshire wish to discuss the wider issues of the Society's interest, they can always telephone 01895 464694 and talk to the Promotions & Publicity Secretary.

Undoubtedly, Dishforth Nursery Gardens, in Topcliffe Road, Dishforth, N. Yorks, is a major centre of activity of The Delphinium Society in the North of England.  There is extensive work being carried out on the breeding and cultivation of delphiniums in ways suitable for northern climes.  A trials ground is being developed and investigations into ways in which flowering times can be extended and perhaps shifted in season are being actively pursued with, to a very large degree, considerable success.  Close co-operation with the Scottish Group and with the nucleus of active members in Norfolk is an important, developing, feature of the work of the Yorkshire & Lincolnshire Group.

The Yorkshire & Lincolnshire Group Workshops at Dishforth Nursery Gardens Sunday, 15th June 2008 10.00am or 2pm Selecting blooms and florets for exhibition and how to stage them. Sunday, 7th September 2008 10.00am or 2pm Hybridising, selecting, trialling, naming new plants. Inspection of 1500 flowering plants. Autumn care in the garden. To book attendance or to find out more about the Dishforth workshop series, telephone 01845 578303. ALL members are welcome and visitors to the Society also are welcome to attend with a view to becoming members.

Gordon West, the Proprietor of Dishforth Nursery Gardens, is our Group Chairman and in 2007 he introduced a programme of demonstration days at the nursery.  These were designed to be instructive in order to remove misconceptions about delphinium growing, including the well-known ones such as “delphiniums are difficult to root from cuttings”, “delphiniums are virtually impossible to grow because of slugs and snails” and “delphiniums are very difficult to grow from seed”.  These ideas are difficult to remove from people’s minds, especially when they hear about them on television gardening programmes and read about them in gardening magazines where various pundits repeat these misconceptions almost in terms of folklore.  As you will read in other parts of this web-site, The Delphinium Society is in the forefront of mollusc extermination in the garden without, we must add, any danger to household pets and the birds.  Our researches into better ways of rooting cuttings are being complemented by vastly improved success rates in rooting cuttings and we are sweeping away the myths about seed germination and replacing them with factual evidence.  This is part of our educational programme which is in keeping with our charity status.  Our methods are applicable also to a whole range of plants other than delphiniums and we delight in replacing fiction with fact.

Fred and Jenny Hirst are our two show secretaries for the Group and, at their home, Brecks Farm, Swillington LS26 8BY, they arrange two meetings.  Members and prospective members are all welcome but please let Fred and Jenny know beforehand. You should telephone them on 0113 2876107.  One of these is especially important, quite apart from meeting other members in a generally social setting.  Fred is a major grower of delphiniums in the Group. At the end of the social year, quite apart from our shows, Gordon West arranges a final workshop at Dishforth.  We are, as a Society, particularly concerned about the future of breeding of our elatum hybrids and, for that matter, the breeding of new strains to complement the elatum hybrids.  The September 2008 meeting is therefore being aimed specifically at this problem of finding new plant breeders in the Society.  There will be, as in the case of the first two meetings, two sessions in the day and all members are invited to apply to attend.  Visitors, interested in becoming members, also will be welcome but, please, will everyone intending to come please first telephone Gordon on 01845 578303.

We have a long success story at the Harrogate Spring and Autumn Shows and at the Great Yorkshire Show and shall be including the full list of awards to date at the end of the 2008 Season.  These shows are a vitally important shop window for our Society and we are able to distribute plants of our Society’s strain of elatum hybrids.  They are important opportunities for meeting the general public and they also serve as a meeting place for members of the Society living in the North of England.  The Queen of the Border always impresses those who see her at these shows.  Also at the Great Yorkshire Show we stage the Yorkshire Delphinium Championship but the Society’s main Northern Show is held at Temple Newsam where the important National Collection of Delphiniums is maintained by Leeds City Council.  We support the maintenance of this vitally important collection and anyone visiting our Show should also take the opportunity of inspecting the National Collection.  We hope to see you at our Show in 2008 and in future years.  Your support is essential for the continued work of the Society in the North.  These pages of our web-site will be supplemented during the coming year and you should, from time to time, consult our Calendar of Events, also appearing on this site.  Any new functions will be added to the Calendar which will be an up-to-date announcement of events.

 The Society's Northern Show
Saturday & Sunday
20th & 21st June 2009 - Provisional Dates & Venue
Organisers: The Society's Yorkshire & Lincolnshire Group

This important Northern Show of The Delphinium Society is at Temple Newsam  Park,  Leeds, West Yorkshire.  This large Park is the home of the famous National Collection of Delphiniums and is historically notable for its features such as Temple Newsam House, now a museum, and formerly the ancestral home of the Halifax family.  The 21 class show will be located in the Show Building which is located on the left hand side of the park near to the big rose garden and National Collection.  Temple Newsam Park is just off the A63 Leeds to Selby Road and 5 miles from Leeds City Centre and within 15 minutes drive of the A1, M1 and M62.

Entry to Temple Newsam Park is free, no prior show entry form is required and the Show Building will be open from 3pm until 7pm on Friday, 19 ^th June and 8am until 11am on Saturday, 20^th June to enable staging of exhibits.  Instruction on staging blooms and florets will be given from 3.00pm on Friday,19^thJune, to help new exhibitors.  Entries will be registered on the Saturday morning. This is an open show. More than one entry per person per class is allowed.There is no entrance fee but any donations will be gratefully accepted. Show vases, plates and bowls will be provided. For further details, please contact the Show Secretary, Mr Fred Hirst on ( 0113 2876107.

The 75^th Anniversary Trophy will be awarded to the best exhibit in class 9.
The Two Counties Trophy will be awarded to the exhibitor gaining most points in classes 7 to 21.
The Chevin Delight Trophy will be awarded to the exhibitor gaining most points in the Novice classes.
The Society’s Bronze Medal will be awarded to the best spike in the show.
The Philip Ledgard Trophy will be awarded to the best spike in classes 16 to 18.
Rosettes will be awarded as prizes.

Open Classes for Young Exhibitors (Up to Age 21 Years)

1          One spike, any colour
2          Six florets, any colour(s)

Novice Classes

Open to anyone who has not previously received a first prize for an exhibit of
delphiniums at the Society’s shows and competitions.  

3          One spike, blue or pink
4          One spike, white, or cream
5          Two spikes, seedlings
6          Six florets, any colours                                                  

Open Competition

7          One spike, white
8          One spike, dark
9          Anniversary Trophy Class::Three spikes, any cultivar or cultivars, to be staged in one vase
10        Two spikes, pink any cultivar or cultivars
11        One spike, light excluding white
12        One spike, blue
13        One spike, cream
14        One spike, pink
15        One spike, multicoloured
16        One spike, seedling pink
17        One spike, seedling cream or white
18        One spike, seedling blue
19        Six florets, all same cultivar
20        Six florets, not less than two distinct cultivars
21        Six florets, mixed                                                      

NB: Wherever named cultivars are exhibited, please so name.  This is helpful information for the general public visiting the show and is an aid to judging.

The Society’s Seventh Yorkshire & Lincolnshire
Delphinium Championship
Organised by The Delphinium Society’s
Yorkshire & Lincolnshire Group

In partnership with
The Great Yorkshire Show, Harrogate
14^th, 15^th & 16^th July 2009

This Championship is open to all members of the Society.

Schedule of Classes                                                              

1       One spike, seedling.  To be grown from Delphinium Society seed.
2       One spike, light, excluding white, any cultivar
3       One spike, dark, any cultivar
4       One spike, blue shades, any cultivar
5       One spike, pink, any cultivar
6       One spike, white or cream shades, any cultivar
7       Six florets, three different cultivars.
8       Six florets, all the same cultivar.

For advice on the staging of florets, contact either Mr Gordon West on ( 01845 578303 or the Promotions Secretary on ( 01895 464694.  Alternatively, attend the workshop at Temple Newsam on Friday, 19^th June at 3pm.

Named cultivars and seedlings should be labelled as such on the bench.

The Championship Silver Cup will be awarded to the exhibitor gaining most points and will be held by the winner for one year.  It is a perpetual cup.

Points will be awarded on the basis:- 1^st, 3 points; 2^nd, 2 points, 3^rd, 1 point.
Rosettes will be awarded for prizes.
The judges’ decisions shall be final. Vases and bowls will be provided.
More than one entry per person, per class, will be allowed.

For information regarding entry to the Competition, please apply to Mr Fred Hirst, Brecks Farm, Swillington, Leeds LS26 8BY ( 01132 876107, Hon Show Secretary, The Yorkshire & Lincolnshire Group of The Delphinium Society.

The Eleventh Cheshire Delphinium Championship
Organised by The Delphinium Society

In partnership with
The Alderley Edge & Wilmslow Horticultural & Rose Society
5^th July 2009 - Provisional Date

At Wilmslow High School
(Marquee Show)

This Championship is open to all members of the Society.

We are now in the eleventh year of partnership (2009) with our affiliated society, the Alderley Edge & Wilmslow Horticultural & Rose Society. This Championship was founded as one of the first of our policy commitments to bring (or take, depending on where the reader lives in the UK!) the Delphinium Society closer to those parts of the country where we had been largely under represented. As matters turned out, the Yorkshire & Lincolnshire Group was founded and much of the impetus towards regaining our influences in the whole of the North of England has been achieved through the Group. As success has followed the increasing work of the Group, so has its influence in the whole of the North of England. We are, however, still wishing to improve, extend and generally invigorate our interests in Cheshire, Lancashire and Cumbria generally and the evidence now to hand indicates that we must maintain a policy of general Society activity in the North of England. Consequently, we would welcome any Member or prospective member taking an active part in these promotions; they would be welcome to work with Gordon West and his team. It should be pointed out that the Group have already supplied plants to a number of leading gardens in the North and one of these is Holehird Garden, the home of the Lakeland Horticultural Society. The adoption of the name 'Yorkshire & Lincolnshire' came about, as stated previously in these pages, at the inspiration and general hard work of Lewis Cain mainly because he lives in Yorkshire. Now that we are well into the 21st Century, it is to be hoped that the Society will develop its programme throughout all regions of the North.

Schedule of Classes

43   Three spikes, any cultivar(s)
44  Two spikes, any cultivar(s)
45     One spike, any cultivar
46    Six florets,any cultivar(s), to be exhibited in a circular bowl fitted with a heavy gauge plastic mesh, cut as a square and        bent at the edges to fit the bowl.

For advice on the staging of florets, contact either Mr Gordon West on ( 01845 578303 or the Promotions Secretary on
( 01895 464694.  Alternatively, attend the workshop at Temple Newsam on Friday, 19^th June at 3pm.

Named cultivars and seedlings should be labelled as such on the bench.

Applications for a Schedule and Entries

Show Secretary: Miss A E Myers, 16 Lacey Green, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 4BA
                             a.elizm@ntlworld.com::Tel: 01625 251126

Entry Closing Date: Wednesday, 1^st July, 2009

Pictures from the 2008 Northern Show
At Temple Newsam

At the Society's Northern Show	At the Society's Northern Show	At the Society's Northern Show
At the Society's Northern Show	At the Society's Northern Show	At the Society's Northern Show

The National Collection

The Society fully Supports
the work of the City of Leeds Parks Authority
in maintaining the National Collection at Temple Newsam

The National Collection 2008	The National Collection 2008	The National Collection 2008
The National Collection 2008	The National Collection 2008	The National Collection 2008
The National Collection 2008	The National Collection 2008	The National Collection 2008

Pictures from the 2008 Great Yorkshire Show
At Harrogate

A New Double Seedling from Fred Hirst	A New Double Seedling from Fred Hirst	Centre Piece View 1
Centre Piece View 2	Centre Piece View 3	Centre Piece View 4
Gordon West Explains	The Show Stand Large Gold Medal Award	The Show Stand A Seedling

 

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