The following message was published to visitors on the day of the Show.

We welcome all visitors to this our second show in Scotland which is being staged in conjunction with the Open Day for the National Gardens Scheme for Scotland. We were established in 1928, chiefly as a result of the support received from the then commercial sector of horticulture. There were over 40 commercial growers and the stimulation for that number of nurserymen must have been due, in large measure, to the excellent breeding programmes, first commenced, as far as the current records indicate, by Victor Lemoine of Nancy, France. William Kelway of the famous firm of Kelways of Langport, Somerset, saw the potential in Lemoine's work. He went to France and elsewhere in Europe and gathered in all the cultivar and species material he could find. In the 1920s Watkin Samuel from Nth Wales also produced outstanding cultivars. All this work meant that by 1929 the ability to fill the RHS Hall at Vincent Square, London had been realised and the show was a spectacular success achieved in little more than a year after establishment of the then British Delphinium Society.

So, although some people talk about the English Elatum Hybrids, the origins of our modern cultivars are truly international. The Lemoine tradition and legacy, taken up, developed and adapted by William Kelway for the English scene and Watkin Samuel for Wales, continued to develop along different lines in France and Germany where strains such as Dr Foerster's hybrids reflect this difference in approach. Belladonna hybrids are far more popular there than they are in the UK which, in many ways, is unfortunate because their daintiness makes them a fine cut flower and favourite with floral decorators. We would like to see them popularised for the UK.

We are well aware of the fine borders of delphiniums throughout Scotland and we want to see Scottish breeders develop new strains for Scotland. The Delphinium Society is as important in Scotland as it is in any of the other countries of the UK and, for that matter, in any country where we have members.

We look forward to the continued growth of The Delphinium Society in Scotland and we regard Carnell as being the pre-eminent key to that progress. We shall develop our programme stage by stage as resources and support allow and currently our organiser in S W Scotland is concentrating a lot of effort on the establishment at Carnell of a Delphinium National Collection for Scotland.

We hope we can look forward to your constructive support which will contribute to the fine horticultural traditions of Scotland.

Roger D Beauchamp
Promotions & Publicity Secretary

S W Organiser's Message K