Dab hand with dahlias at age of 83

Armed only with a trowel, 83-year-old Ernest Cawkwell painstakingly planted two thousand dahlia seeds on his quarter-acre plot in the village of Askwith earlier this year.

It’s quite a leap from the flower’s natural habitat in the warm climes of central America to the windswept moors of Wharfedale.

But already, his colourful blooms are gaining national recognition both for himself and the tiny corner of North Yorkshire he calls home.

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Every one of the 40 varieties cultivated by Ernest is named after someone close to his heart, prefixed by the name Askwith – so if you ever come across a dahlia called Askwith Ian, Askwith Carl or Askwith Helen, you know exactly where it’s from.

His dahlias, in all their vivid colours, have toured the country this year as part of displays by the National Dahlia Society (Northern Committee), picking up a string of prizes.

The highlight came when the society collected the Late Mrs HL Musgrave-Hoyle Trophy at the Southport Flower Show for the finest exhibit of dahlias in the show.

“We’ve done very well really,” said Ernest, who lives across the road from his plot in the village near Otley.

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“I supplied quite a lot of the dahlias for our display at Southport in August, along with four others. We won a gold medal and then a gold trophy for being the best in the whole show.”

Ernest’s flowers have also been on display at the Holker Hall Garden Festival, the Arley Garden Festival near Manchester, the RHS Show Tatton Park and the Harrogate Autumn Flower Show during 2011.

They achieved a bronze award at the Tatton show, one of the largest in the country, and, more locally, picked up a bronze medal at the Golden Acre Park Show in Leeds.

The prizes suggest Ernest has quickly become one of the nation’s number one growers but he remains modest about his accomplishments. “Well, I suppose I’m getting that way,” he says.

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Ernest owned Askwith Nurseries for nearly 50 years, before selling the business when his wife Josephine died in 2007.

Since then, he has focused his energies on developing new varieties of dahlia by cross-breeding seedlings. “I still have a tractor and plough but on this quarter-acre plot in the field over the road I’ve planted everything by hand, all 2,000 plants.

“I’m concentrating on new varieties at the moment and have about 40 so far and I’m expecting to develop some new ones in the future.”

Dahlias are regarded as one of the easiest plants in the garden to cross-breed, but the unnatural conditions for their growing in this country reduces the chances of a large yield.

“It can be a bit hit and miss,” says Ernest.

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“If you plant 2,000 seedlings, you might only expect to get 50 plants. The rest have to be scrapped.

“But the return is getting better with experience and I’m now expecting 10 for every 100. I’ve always grown dahlias and chrysanthemums when I ran the nursery, but this is different.”

Having run a nursery in the centre of the village since 1958, it was only natural to try and get it on the map.

“I always include the name Askwith after the village and then a name of someone I know or have known.

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“For example, Ian and Carl are a father and son we once knew, while Helen is the name of my daughter.”

But despite tending to his plot five or six times a day, and in contrast to the striking photographs, Ernest isn’t too optimistic about this year’s return.

“It’s been terrible. We really are going to be struggling after all the wet weather and showers we’ve been having.

“Mind you, I’m hopeful of a few new varieties and a few more next year.

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“I pop across there five or six times a day, and hop over the fence. I have 58 varieties over there in total, of which 40 are my own, so there’s always plenty to do.

“Sometimes I wish I’d kept hold of the nursery, I’d have a bit more space then. It’s all landscape gardening there now.”

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