Pat's dahlias impress again

Pat Maguire has seen success once again as his dahlias won best in show at Tullamore on Sunday. Pat said competition in the Horticulture category was strong, as competitors were from all over the country.

“The people who were second came from Belfast, they were from two different parts of Northern Ireland. There were people from Mayo, and all around Dublin, all over the place, you might say, there was a load of people.

“It’s a great time, a great show, it’s a great show for flowers.

Last month, Pat won at the Mullingar Show with his potatoes and had discussed his dahlias at that point. “I’ve been going to Tullamore for years,” he said. “I’ve won, I suppose between the potatoes and flowers, about 20 or 25 times.” Pat started growing flowers when in 2011 he was introduced to them at Tullamore but gardening has always been a part of his life.

“My uncle used to live in a thatched house and he was good at flowers – he’d spend hours and hours at it.

“And my mother and granny, they were all into flowers, so then when I won with potatoes in Tullamore in 2011, I grew them in the bog. “There was an old man there, and his wife and he had a whole heap of dahlias, so they started me off growing them.”

Pat won with an offering of miniature ball dahlias or dwarf dahlias. The rules stated that the flowers must be less than 2 inches wide.

When Pat showed us the plant it was clear why he won; they were perfect.