Members Articles

My First Year as a Member of the BPFS

I hope you will bear with me while I tell you all about my first year as a member of the Bournemouth & Poole Fuchsia Society and of the enjoyment it has given me, (and to think it all came about by a chance visit.)

I should tell you that I have always enjoyed gardening and fuchsias were just another plant in my garden, along with all the others. However I was interested in the plants, so decided to join the BFS, and they kindly offered me three rooted cuttings from Beacon Nursery, Poole. I duly went along and immediately struck up a conversation with NF, who asked why I didn't come to the society's monthly meetings, to which I responded, "What society?" She soon told me and I turned up as a guest at the next meeting. How lucky I was, it was RP talking about growing pillars and rounding off his talk with slides showing plants 10 feet tall and covered with flowers! Well, I was hooked and became a member before the evening was over.

The next few months and meetings increased my interest, so much so that I persuaded my wife, who didn't know a corolla from a triphylla, to come along and meet the nice bunch of people with whom I spent every second Wednesday in the month.

The Show was soon upon us, and although I was in no position to enter anything, I was busy formulating my plans for a concerted effort the following year, copiously noting the cultivars that were gaining honours and which attracted me, which were mostly singles, while my wife was doing a similar exercise for her favourite big blousy doubles.

Then the AGM came along and I was co-opted onto the Committee as BR was keen to step down. I now had the opportunity to get involved in the decision making process and get to know my fellow committee members much better, so much so that I now regard everyone of them as very good friends with a mutual interest.

The highlight of the dark winter days were the Beginners' Evenings and a chance to have a private lesson with a master of his craft, AF. For any other hobby this would cost a tidy sum per hour, but he explained the history of the genus and demonstrated all the practical elements of growing and showing - what a couple of evenings they were!

I then found my way back to the 'afore-mentioned nursery to purchase the early spring cuttings that were going to be my "winners" for my first attempt at showing . I eagerly gathered up Rose and Pink Fantasia, Alison Patricia, Shelford, Waverley Gem, Katrina Thompson and many others, together with a couple of blousy ones to keep "her indoors" happy.

During the following few months I spent many happy and worried hours practising the art I had been taught, pinching back, repotting, taking cuttings, trying to grow straight standards, full and half baskets, hanging pots etc., etc., all of which were done in hope, as there is no substitute for experience, which I didn't have.

Then the big day was upon us - had my efforts been worthwhile, had the plants grown large enough, were there enough blooms, did they have any pests etc.? What a worrying week it was up to the Show. Then it was too late to worry any more and my wife and the two children were wedged into the car with plants on their laps and more in the boot, hopefully wedged in safely, and we drove gingerly down to Pelhams and attempted to "dress" the plants and stage them as we had been shown.

I was also fortunate in being asked to be a steward, which was another treat, to be there when the judges made their selections. I had said I was new and keen to learn, so they were only too pleased to pass on hints about what they were looking for as they went about the business.

Finally the show came to an end and I was very happy with two third places and a first in the beginners' single pot class with Rose Fantasia.

A couple of weeks later the Southern Show came around and once again I was a steward, with a little more knowledge this time, but ably supervised by PB. But the highlight of the day was when I was invited to have lunch at the top table, with GB and 3 national judges, well, who wouldn't be impressed.

Now the season is over and it is time for reflection on what a happy few months it has been, along with the things I have detailed above I should add that I have visited 3 other large shows, a number of members' open gardens, a couple of barbecues and two skittles evenings, together with many other meetings both locally and further afield, all in the cause of the fuchsia and the friendly folk who grow them. It has been an interesting and rewarding year and there are plenty of meetings to come before we can begin all over again, and I can't wait! Hope you all feel the same. Happy fuchsia growing.

JK (member)
First published in the October 1996 News Letter