Dickson Nurseries is a family owned rose nursery, notable for some of the cultivars it developed, and based in
Newtownards
Newtownards (; ) is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies at the most northern tip of Strangford Lough, 10 miles (16 km) east of Belfast, on the Ards Peninsula. It is in the Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish of Newtow ...
,
County Down
County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 552,261. It borders County Antrim to the ...
,
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...
.
The firms
The nursery was founded by Alexander Dickson I (1801–1880) in 1836. His sons Hugh (c. 1831–1904) and George I (1832–1914) both became interested in roses. The firm became ''Alexander Dickson and Sons''. A separate firm, ''Royal Nurseries'', was founded by Hugh in 1869. With the help of George's sons Alexander II (20 December 1857 – 1949) and George II they started breeding roses in the late 1870s. The main firm later changed its name to ''Dicksons of Hawlmark'' and finally became ''Dickson Nurseries'' when it moved from Hawlmark to Milecross Road,
Newtownards
Newtownards (; ) is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies at the most northern tip of Strangford Lough, 10 miles (16 km) east of Belfast, on the Ards Peninsula. It is in the Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish of Newtow ...
, in 1969.
The BB
reportedthat the business might close in 2019.
The breeders
Introducing themselves as breeders at the
National Rose Society Show in London in 1886, the Dicksons exhibited two
Hybrid Perpetuals and a
Tea Rose
Garden roses are predominantly Hybrid (biology), hybrid roses that are grown as ornamental plants in private or public gardens. They are one of the most popular and widely cultivated groups of flowering plants, especially in temperate climates. An ...
('Earl of Dufferin', 'Lady Helen Stewart' and 'Ethel Brownlow'). Later came
cultivar
A cultivar is a kind of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and which retains those traits when Plant propagation, propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root a ...
s like George I's famous pink
Hybrid Tea 'Mrs. W.J. Grant' (1892) or his cherry red
Hybrid Perpetual 'Tom Wood' (1896).
[.]
Alexander II worked for the nursery between 1872 and 1930. He became the most prolific of Dickson breeders (242 roses), most notably of the 'Irish' series of single Hybrid Teas issued between 1900 and 1914 (e.g. 'Irish Elegance' in 1905); of
'George Dickson (1912); of 'Kitchener of Khartoum' and 'Kootenay' (1917); of 'Kathleen Harrop' (1919); and of 'Dame Edith Helen'.
Many rose names such as Hugh's 'Ulster Gem' (1917) — and the name Royal Nurseries itself – show that the family regarded itself as part of the United Kingdom, not of a separate Ireland.
Alexander II was followed by his son, Alexander III (1893–15 October 1975), whose 57 named roses include 'Sir Winston Churchill' (1955), 'Red Devil' (1965) and 'Nana Mouskouri' (1975), though his career was inhibited by the Second World War.
From 1957 Alexander Patrick (1926–2012), called Patrick, bred 156 roses for the company, introducing varieties such as 'Sea Pearl' (1964), 'Grandpa Dickson' (1966), 'Redgold' (1967) and
'Elina' (1983).
Since 1977 Colin Dickson (1956– ), rosarian of the sixth generation, has been the main rose breeder. Cultivars created include 'Beautiful Britain' (1983), 'Sweet Magic' (1996), 'Irish Eyes' (2000) and 'Whisper' (2002).
Awards
Many cultivars created by the Dickson family are known worldwide and were granted several rose awards. The following table shows a selection:
GM - Gold Medal; PIT - President's International Trophy (Great Britain)
See also
Roses by Dickson rose photos sorted by breeder
References
Literature
* {{cite book, last=Quest-Ritson, first=Charles & Brigid, title=Encyclopedia of roses, year=2011, publisher=Dorling-Kindersley, location=New York, isbn=9780756688684. See especially page 120, "Dickson Roses".
Rose breeders