Like so many successful fuchsia exhibitors, Dave has now diverted somewhat into hybridising. And after the break he gave us an insight in this aspect, starting off by emphasising we ought to be looking for something different. In this respect he points out that we should not be satisfied too quickly, but embark on back crossing for that is when things really happen.
To start off think carefully about what you want to achieve and select parent plants accordingly i.e. for upward looking fuchsias Bon Accord is often used. Bear in mind the mother plant has the stronger characteristics. Isolate the plant you intend to use. Put netting over windows and door to avoid bees entering. Pollinate your plant by brushing pollen onto the stigma which when receptive will be sticky, then cover with tin foil. Eleven o'clockish, on a rising temperature, is supposed to be the ideal time. Add a label stating both parents, attaching it to the pedicel. Hopefully it will drop off with the pod! It will take 6 to 7 weeks for the seed pods to develop. Dave reckons the success rate is about a third. Cut open the fallen pods and put the extracted seeds in a little water. The viable seed will sink to the bottom, the rubbish will float. Retrieve viable seeds and dry out on kitchen towel. Some people store seeds in an airtight container till spring but Dave prefers to sow them "pretty quickly". Just scatter seeds on top of compost, do not cover and put in fairly warm propagator. Germination is erratic varies between 10 days and 3 to 4 weeks.
Dave currently has quite a nice selection of his own seedlings on the go, as it ought to be, being tested out for a few years prior to release. As with all his plants, grown to such perfection they are  sure to catch attention when appearing on the show benches over the next few years.

The audience was most appreciative of Dave standing in (again) at such short notice and got more than their penny's worth when a short question & answer session rounded the evening off. It revealed Dave's favourite varieties to be for hanging pots, Katie Elisabeth Ann, for baskets, Linda Grace and best triphyllas, Bornemanns Beste. Upright varieties he really likes at the moment are President George Bartlett, Leonora and Brookwood Bell (which needs hard strong wood to keep its shape). New cultivars to look out for Dawn Fantasia and Doreen Gladwin.

Our guest speaker for the October meeting was Sarah Hopps from Beech House Nursery, Sowerby, Thirsk. Sarah was already well known to most of us from the Radio York Down to Earth Gardener's Question Time. She started off proceedings by giving us an account of how she set up in business. The teacher training showed through as she produced the note books, in which she had recorded it all, to back up her story. She had started of in 1991 with a stocklist of 28 varieties, including well-know easy to propagate cottage garden favourites such as Campanula Glomorata and Astrantias. Now the nursery stocks over 500 varieties of shrubs and herbaceous perennials!
Some lessons she very quickly learned i.e. no good spending hours on writing out your 'for sale' signs with felt tip pens in your best writing and leaving them out in a thunderstorm. On the first page of listed customers were mum & dad, aunties and the choir, now of course the bus loads that come to visit her beautifully stocked garden are countless. Anyone setting up in business of course needs to explore where the market is going to be and one of Sarah's early inspirational gems was to take a tray of plants with her to choir practise and to put a collection of seasonal gems in the doorway. Just too difficult to resist for neighbours and passer-bys. She still enjoys this as one of her favourite jobs, displaying a collection of complementary plants in the courtyard entrance. Another 'cunning ploy', fondly remembered (!) was the special offer of a free Alchemilla Mollis plant when purchasing ten other plants.
The only way to learn is by hands-on experience and all her plants were initially raised by herself, fully exploring the easy way plants could be propagated. Finding self sown seedlings, slicing up fleshy plants like hostas, sowing seeds and inspired by Geoff Hamilton taking semi-ripe cuttings. Mixed success with the latter.
Using the 'cover with opaque carrier bag' method, she recalled how thrilled she had been at times when the success rate had been near perfect. And,…..how at other times she could have wept when on opening up a bag, all she would see was a browned off mess. (I think we all know that feeling!)
Even after all these years Sarah still very much enjoys the pleasure of being able to proclaim "I grew this from seed", though she has diversified somewhat now.          continued on next page