Kent 2010 - Autumn Show South successes for our members
 

Photo:- Jon Evans  

Congratulations to Ian Robertson who showed everyone how to grow cyclamen at the Kent show winning the Saunders Spoon for the best Cyclamen with Cyclamen graecum ssp anatolicum and it also received the Farrer Medal for the best plant in the show. 

Photo:- Jon Evans

Ian also won the Halsted Trophy for best plant raised from seed :- Cyclamen graecum ssp. candicum.

 Photo:- Jon Evans

And with a third success Ian received the Keith Moorhouse Trophy for the best plant in a 19 cm pot :- Narcissus cavanillesii.

 Photo by Jon Evans

Paul and Gill Ranson were awarded a Certificate of Merit for Crocus banaticus.

Photo by Jon Evans

and in close up

The group show on April 9th 2010.
Once again our show brought out the best in our members with a wide range of plants filling the tables.

Ian's fine pot of Narcissus bulbocodium

Another of Ian's entries, Cyclamen schwarzii

Paul & Jill entered some lovely plants. Here is Primula allionii 'Crusader'

Paul & Jill's entry of Dionysia 'Purple Splendour'

Don & Heather's entry of Androsace robusta v. breviscapa

Iris suaveolens

Sempervivum ciliosum borisii

A fine blue hepatica

Dot's colourful flower arrangement

Ian produced the best plant in the show with Cypripedium formosanum

Pershore Show 2009
In spite of dire warnings of bad weather the rain soon turned off and the sun came out. This turned the sales tent into a very warm place, but the visitors came in.

Success again for Graham's campanulas with his Campanula hercegovina nana judged the best plant in a 19cm pot. This gave him a second AGS 80th Anniversary Award at successive shows.

Summer Show South 2009
Graham had success at Wimborne with Campanula 'Timsbury Chimes', a plant he raised from C. 'Covadonga' seed sown 19/9/03. His three pans from seed gained a first prize but one of the three, 'Timsbury Chimes' received an Award of Merit from the Joint Rock and was judged the best plant in a 19cm pot thus winning the AGS 80th Anniversary Award. 

Malvern Show 2009
There was success for our five exhibitors at the Malvern Show on 9th May.  Although it was a very long day, on the road at 6.15 am and arrive back home at around 8pm the show lived up to its high standard. Here are three of the Wiltshire exhibits which all received firsts..

Campanula carpatha 'alba' was exhibited by Graham and was grown from seed sown 7/9/06. It is a very tricky plant to grow needing careful watering and all dead or dying foliage removed straight away or else it will collapse in front of your very eyes. The species is usually blue flowered but about 5  years ago Paul gave me a white flowered plant which, as it turned out, could only be propagated by cuttings. This I have kept going from cuttings the original plant having since died. The plant exhibited and shown here has been grown from seed from another white flowering clone raised by Robin White. I bought the original plant as an unflowered seedling but Robin said 90% of plants raised from seed from that clone flowered white. Up to now this has been true and five plants grown to flowering size have all been white flowered which is unusual in the Campanulaceae family. Normally white flowered plants come as a 'surprise' from seed collected from blue flowered plants.    

Notothlaspi rosulatum was exhibited by Paul & Gill who supplied this writeup for me.  It is found in the northern part of New Zealand's South Island where it grows on steep, mobile screes composed of mostly large rocks. Although these appear dry, barren and inhospitable, below the surface are finer gravels though which water constantly percolates.
The foliage is waxy, almost succulent and it forms a single rosette, about 6cm in diameter of lilac-grey, finely toothed, hairy leaves which curl in on themselves. From the centre rises a dark purple, slightly fluted columnar stem about 3cm high on top of which sits a pom pom of dove grey four petalled flowers. It is usually monocarpic but can be perpetuated by removing the flowering stem before it opens. It is rare in cultivation but wild collected seed is sometimes available which is the only realistic means of propagation.
 

Myosotis albosericea was exhibited by Don & Heather. This plant is quite rare and comes from New Zealand. It resents winter wet and needs careful watering until in full growth. It has lovely silver foliage and is unusual for the myosotis genus in having creamy flowers instead of blue. 

And finally for a bit of light relief you could enjoy the exotic dancing in one of the show gardens. "nuff said me ole flower!!" 

Midland Show 2009

Great News at the Midland Show

Paul and Gill Ranson won the Trophy for the most First place points and Don and Heather Hyde was awarded a Certificate of Merit for a plant or exhibit of outstanding merit, Fritillaria affinis 'Wayne Roderick'

Congratulations to all of them.

The Westbury AGS Group Show on Friday 10th April 2009.
We welcomed Ron Beeston to judge our show last week and Joan came along to make sure Ron behaved himself. The show was at our new venue and in spite of the poor lighting (the lights are up in the roof beams being  a converted church) everything went well. The members enjoyed Eric Jarrett's talk before the show and then wandered around the show cup of coffee in hand afterwards. Here are a few photos. As I said the lighting was poor so the photos weren't quite as good as normal.

Class 1 for the Mary Byng Trphy. Three pans distinct.
There were more entries in this class than we have ever had before. and it was a very difficult job for Ron to select the winner. In the end it was Ian Roberton who came out on top in spite of forgetting to name his plants.

Dot & John Sample's Class one exhibit.

Paul & Gill Ranson's exhibit

Don & Heather Hyde's.entry.

The three runners up together.

This was the best plant in the show exhibited by Dot & John Sample. Pleione 'Tongariro'

This plant Androsace idahoensis x A. laevigata came near to the best in show.

Primula bracteata
 

A good example of how this lovely primula should be grown. Paul Ranson excels again.

Primula latifolia '

Loughborough Show 7th March 2009
Once again Paul produced some marvelous plants for the show. He won the AGS Medal six pan class with these plants.

Erythronium dens-canis 'Snowflake'                                 

 Cyclamen  coum Pewter group

Primula allionii 'Aries Violet'                              

Dionysia 'Annielle'

Dionysia tesmeana  

Saxifraga 'Allendale Charm'

Here are Paul's six from seed and although he didn't win the class he put on a lovely display of 5 dionysia hybrids and 1 D. tapetodes. If you want the dionysia reference numbers please ask Paul. 

Here is a three pan class staged by Paul of Hepatica japonica, Callianthemum anemonoides and Dionysia freitagii EGW91/7

And a nice pot of Trillium nivale staged by Graham in the 1 plant from the Americas class..

South Wales Show at Caerleon on February 14th 2009.

Success for our members at Caerleon.

Six of our members had successes at Caerleon on Saturday. Here are several of the fine dionysia exhibits by Paul and Gill Ranson.

First the the 3 pan class

then

                                 Dionysia 'Ludek Zvolanek'

Dionysia 'Sulphur'

                               Dionysia 'Judith Bramley'

Dionysia afghanica hybrid

Don and Heather had success with Cyclamen coum

and just to show they do grow other plants besides Dionysias here is their Crocus sieberii

                           and  Narcissus bulbicodium

     Ian won with two Cyclamen alpinum

                                  this one as well

and Graham won a first with his Callianthemum kernerianum (Baldo Form)

Finally Cyril Dart of the Exeter Group won his first Farrer Medal with this lovely pot of Iris 'Kathrine Hodgkin' showing thar you don't need to have a rare plant to win a Farrrer, just grow it well.