EARWIGS, EARWIGS EVERYWHERE

A trip down Memory Lane by MONICA REDMOND A, O.I.F.A    é

 I remember well the first Horticultural Show I ever attended. It was held in the early fifties under the auspices of the Artane & District Householders Association in Kilmore Hall. My Dad (Christy Clements) and some of his friends were asked by the Association to stage a show. My excitement before the show was not like Dad's who was thrilled with the entries coming in. I was to present a bouquet of flowers to the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Alfie Byrne, who was to open the show. I got a new yellow dress for the occasion and was delighted afterwards when I received a box of chocolates all for myself. The first show was a great success as there were quite a lot of entries and there seemed to be flowers growing from the walls. "llle Show" became an annual event and was moved to larger premises in St Brigid's Hall, Killester. There was no problem filling this hall and before we knew it classrooms were added.

As young children we were always anxious to help and watched the post everyday for entries through the door. We would be delighted reporting how many came in each day and loved "helping" to sort them out for each class. We felt very grown-up when we were allowed to fill out the class cards and enter the names in the book of entries. Our days before a show were spent getting our own entries ready as we were all "encouraged" to enter. Classes for hand writing, miniature gardens, Meccano items and paintings were the main features. The kitchen was rifled for trays, biscuit tins or baking tins to present our gardens in. We were out gathering bunches of wild flowers to present in jam jars and leaves of trees. These had to be named and stuck to cardboard. Not only were we entering these to boost the entries but it also kept us occupied prior to the show.

Dad in those days grew a large variety of flowers. One side of the garden had herbaceous plants and dahlias, which were grown separately. The other side had chrysanthemums, gladioli and sweet pea plus a small greenhouse. There was not a blade of grass in sight. But we were lucky as we had fields all around us to play in. The garden at the height of the show season was off-limits, hence one of the reasons we were "encouraged" to take part ourselves.

We could play near to the house but if we ventured down through the garden well God help us if we hit off a flower and broke it; particularly so, if it was being guarded for a show. Our chrysanthemum blooms all wore fancy hats in those days in the form of bags to keep them perfect. This was a great conversation piece to the Mass-goers who could see over the garden wall as they went to the Church.

The day he won The Blue Ribbon Award for the best exhibit in the show was a very proud one in Dad's life. It was for three vases of Sweet Pea. He was so shocked it was his sweet pea and not dahlias that won and also because he had beaten his old comrades - Jim Brohoon, Jim Lynch, Dickie Durham and of course Vinnie Murray who usually won for his collection of vegetables.

Throughout these early years his love for dahlias was developing. Slowly but surely they started to take over the whole herbaceous section. First thing in the morning Dad was out before going to work to lovingly tend to them. When he came home in the evening he went straight out to the back to check up on them before his dinner. My mother was warned not to cut particular ones for the house or for mends she was visiting. , Our garden was a kaleidoscope of colour during those months. I think every form and colour of dahlia was grown.

The great love and patience that Dad always showed us was now also been showered on his dahlias the other love of his life He spent hours scrutinizing these blooms always on the lookout for damaged petals. Sizes of blooms were watched developing to make sure they were right for the class category. There was great joy if there were seven blooms on the go and he only needed five and of course disappointment if the one he was depending on opened up too soon. As show day approached he was up early to prepare. As the blooms were cut they were shaken very gently to remove any earwigs. We loved watching this as children and were fascinated at the amount that could be hidden in the folds of the petals. Such was the innocence of children that we took delight in this feat of nature. But my poor mother was in consternation as they always managed to come into the kitchen no matter how much care was taken to make sure this didn't happen.

In those days we didn't have a car so getting these prized blooms to venues was quite a task. Sometimes my uncle was available with his car but on other occasions we took the bus. I remember one particular time showing in Malahide, and then going across the city to a show in Rathgar, and yes we carried the flowers on the bus! They were so big we could hardly be seen behind them. They drew gasps of admiration everywhere we went. No show was too far from Finglas to Malahide Balbriggan and Rathgar and of course the one he loved in Clontarf. Then on to the R.H.S.I. shows which were held in the RDS Grounds Ballsbridge.

When transporting by car large plastic drums were used with the criss-cross of canes over the top to support the heads. As children we ran around the show benches counting up all the prizes he won and adding up scores to see if Dad had gained the highest points. A lot of the times he did. We felt so proud and always got a great buzz when his photograph appeared in a National Newspaper with his prized blooms. One judge spent an awful long time at a show trying to award the best exhibit in the dahlia section only to discover afterwards that the two contenders were Dad's exhibits! Dad of course was chuffed when he heard this.  The local show was expanding and soon another venue was being sought. Chanel College kindly offered its Hall and before long a new society was being founded. This encompassed a much larger area than Artane and was now called Dublin 5 Horticultural Society to take in other areas within the postal code. Spring Shows and early summer shows were being run as well as the autumn ones. In our world of dahlias of course the autumn Shows were the big ones.

When I think back now to these days and remember all the post-mortems after the shows I am reminded of golfers and how different holes are won and lost and how they remember then slow and fast greens etc, etc. It was the same story with the dahlias. Somebody's bloom was not curved right at the back of the head or it was not the right size for the category or horror of horrors there were holes in the petals eaten by the earwigs or slugs. I had forgotten the slugs and the snails the bane of all dahlia growers. Dad solution was a good hard crush of his heel and a little help from slugtox! One such post-mortem that raged for a long time was a result of a certain judge disqualifying seven entries out of a class of eight. It was for a collection of herbaceous plants and each of the seven had included dahlias. Unfortunately, the judge did not know Dad was one of the entrants and on this occasion proved the judge wrong.

Dad's love of competing and showing his dahlias went from strength to strength. Next came the formation of a Dahlia Society here in Ireland. Like everything he was involved with in life he put a lot of hours into getting this off the ground. He was then on the road to compete across the water in England. By now we had a car so this became easier. Just as all roads lead to Rome he went on to become a judge. As a judge he travelled all over the country North and South and over to England. He was also sought out by different societies to give talks on the growing of dahlias and purchased a camera and projector to show slides of his work. He was also very proud of his contribution to the planning of the Rose Garden in St Anne's Park, Raheny together with Clontarf Horticultural Society.

Another highlight among all the awards of cups and Blue Ribbons was when The National Dahlia Society of Great Britain awarded him with a specially commissioned medal set in a Perspex cube in recognition for his work in the Dahlia Society. He had certainly come a very long way from that first nerve-racking show in the Kilmore Hall, particularly when one considers that when Mum & Dad moved into their house, Dad knew nothing at all about gardening. At that time it was Mum's father who came out, dug and planted our garden mainly with vegetables and some herbaceous plants. The one thing he did have back then was a great love of the outdoors as he had been a Scout-Master for many years. On leaving the Scouts he was presented with some gardening books, which I still use today to check up on some plants. From those days as a young child fascinated by earwigs living in Dahlias I am still exhibiting at shows. My earliest memory of the Flower Arrangements at these shows was one I stood in awe of, as it was an interpretation of a Song Title. The song the exhibitor chose to interpret was the number one hit of the day - "A White Sports Coat & a Pink Carnation". I could not believe someone could take this popular song title and interpret it with flowers. Now almost half a century later I am standing looking at blooms to make sure there are no holes in them and I think I’d die if an earwig emerged.