Chatting to local residents you get a real feel that there are memories that bring a big smile to the faces of residents as they tell you the tale and none more so that talking about the local flower farmers.
During one such chat with Frank 91 from Newton we got talking about the chrysanthemum farms on which his father had helped, the farms which at the time stretched from Tibshelf to Blackwell and consisted of row upon row of chrysanthemums.
Frank shared a photo from the ‘Johnson’s Chysanthemum farm of his dad and the owner standing in the field with a row of colliery houses behind
Following this chat we were able to do a little research and discovered that there were cultivars named after the local area so we had a chat to the Achieve team at The RHS who were able to find :
Johnsons Dahlia and Chrysanthemums
Tibshelf Glory (Chrysanthemum) was bred and raised by Johnsons Chrysanthemum Nursery at Tibshelf, it was registered in 1937 as a light bronze medium early flowering reflexed. Sadlyit no longer grown, it would have been superseded by other cultivars. Johnsons nursery began in 1911 and closed in c1976 They bred around 850 cultivars. Riley’s Chrysanthemums were at Woolley Moor, in Derbyshire close to Tibshelf, they closed in 1997, but many of they cultivars are still grown by growers all over the UK and Worldwide.
The Tibshelf Chrysanthemum:
This is indeed a very old variety by the looks of things – there is a brief reference to it in a chrysanthemum supplement from a nursery way back in 1952 https://ia804703.us.archive.org/15/items/CAT31399279/CAT31399279.pdf
We also spoke with The National Chrysanthemum society in the hope of finding a Johnsons chrysanthemum variety still out there.: they also spoke of another local Derbyshire grower Riley of Wooley Moor
Many of Riley’s varieties are still grown (here in the UK and Worldwide) – Matlock, John Wingfield, Max Riley, Gillette, Claire Louise, Chempak Rose, Venice, Cornetto, Pearl Celebration, Pennine Sprays – Pennine Oriel, Yellow Pennine Oriel, Pennine Swan.
Riley’s bred over 450 Pennine Spray varieties, and 1000s of disbud bloom varieties. Johnsons bred around 850 varieties.
Unfortunately were weren’t able to find a cultivar still being grown from the Johnson’s flowers.
It is clear that locals would have seen fields and field of stunning blooms throughout the summer months and with 3 current day local allotment sites Blackwell Parish has a passion for growing and a local resident also mentioned that the Brigade Hall held an annual horticultural show when she was young.
Next we would love to explore how we could reignite this tradition in collaboration with local allotment holders, gardeners and enthusiasts.