A major dahlia show will be staged in Waikouaiti later this month, a first for the town, writes Gillian Vine.
When Stuart and Lesley Brown down-sized a couple of years ago, they thought they would just take a handful of favourite dahlias from their old Waikouaiti property to the new one a few blocks away.
Somehow, the number expanded and they now have several hundred plants embracing almost 50 varieties.
That probably is to be expected, given that Stuart is president of the Dunedin Dahlia Circle and Lesley is a national judge of the couple's favourite flowers.
When the new garden proved too small for all their plants, they were offered space on two neighbouring properties, a win-win situation, as one family is away a lot and the other feels unable to cope with a very large section.
The bonus is a glasshouse on each of what Stuart calls their allotments, so they can grow lots of tomatoes.
The Browns are keen exhibitors, having been showing for nearly 30 years.
This year, they're juggling producing top-notch blooms with work commitments and staging the South Island National Dahlia Show at the East Otago Events Centre, Waikouaiti, on February 21 and 22.
The National Dahlia Society of NZ (NDSNZ) holds two national shows annually, one in the North Island, the other in the South.
This is because dahlias are sometimes difficult flowers to transport: they have to be kept in water and upright.
''You soon learn which ones travel well,'' Lesley says.
Although few North Islanders attempt to bring their blooms this far south, there are exhibitors from Blenheim and some visitors from Canada will be coming to see the show.
The last time the Dunedin Dahlia Circle held a national show was in 2009, when Stuart Brown recalls ''it rained all day''.
He is hoping for better weather this time, although the critical period is the weeks leading up to the show, when rain, wind and even too much sun can damage blooms.
''For any national show, you think, `I hope everyone's going to have [lots of] flowers', as you want it to be nice and colourful,'' he says.
He describes the East Otago Events Centre as ''an ideal venue'', being spacious and well-lit, important for the team of 19 judges from throughout New Zealand who will begin judging the 108 classes at 10.45am on Saturday.
They'll be working under pressure to ensure that by 1pm the premier blooms are chosen.
''The show promises to provide a brilliant display of colour, with dahlias ranging from the giant decoratives the size of dinner plates to the tiny pompons and micro dahlias,'' Stuart says.
When the Waikouaiti show is over, there are two more dahlia shows for Otago.
The Dunedin Dahlia Circle's own show will be held on March 7 at Forbury Park, and on March 14 there is a combined Otago-Southland dahlia show in Owaka.
The Owaka event, run each year in conjunction with the Catlins Horticultural Society's autumn show, is always colourful as dahlia fanciers from the two provinces line up in a friendly competition.
