Yet another cold week to follow the previous one, and the plants had just stopped growing. Flowers that were good last week were still fine this week but the promising buds of last week decided to stay tight for another few days. Nevertheless, a few intrepid exhibitors circled the M25 to Theydon Bois to show off their treasures and a somewhat reduced entry was put in place. Section B was well supported but the large Open Section was quite sparse. There was a goodly crowd of visitors who filled the car park and patronised the show, the plant sales and excellent catering which was put on by the local members. I was particularly pleased to be able to chat with many retired exhibitors and several new members who clearly found the current exhibitors very approachable.

The large pan classes in the Open Section may have had fewer than normal entries, but they were more than made up for by the quality. A tremendous 6-pan exhibit shown by Ian Robertson was the first that  caught the eye as one entered the door. It comprised an unidentifiable hybrid Fritillaria, the lovely, probable hybrid: Narcissus alpestris ‘Nadder Moon’ and four huge Cyclamen, two of which, Cyclamen coum and the pale-flowered C. pseudibericum var roseum received Certificates of Merit. The Cyclamen coum was particularly noteworthy as it had numerous quite small dark flowers which were well complemented by the small, pewter-centred, leaves. This huge plant was grown from seed sown in November 2006 so is still only a teenager!

Ian specialises in these wonderful Cyclamen and I did manage to get a few tips out of him. He grows most of them in frost-free conditions.  He also tends to grow them in pots that many of us would consider too large but then he can leave them for several years before disturbing them again. The crucial thing here is to avoid overwatering when the compost has little root in it as deadly rots can appear unobserved under such conditions. I am sure that I don’t need to repeat the old adage that excellent drainage is of the essence. A well-deserved AGS Medal was awarded by the judges for the whole of Ian’s exhibit.

The 19cm pan AGS Medal class was a closely fought two-way contest and frankly, it could have gone either way.

Bob & Rannveig Wallis were the winners with Ian Robertson this time just trailing into second place. Both of these 6-pan exhibits contained some terrific plants. Very few exhibitors have managed to tame Crocus pelistericus over the years but Ian has a striking white form which has so far acclimatised to life in his Dorset garden. It is a native of northern Greece and North Macedonia where it grows high in the mountains in acid soil thriving in the cold snow melt water. Ian grows it in a clay pot outside in summer. The pot is placed on capillary matting which is kept wet. He finds that evaporation from the matting and from the sides of the clay pot keep the corms cool enough even through last year’s record UK temperatures. He repots when needed in early August, this being when the plant is most dormant although it is never completely quiescent. He uses a mix of equal parts John Innes Ericaceous Compost, Seramis (in this case a commercial cat litter), perlite and peat substitute. Feeding is with balanced fertiliser in autumn and then ¼ strength tomato fertiliser after flowering.

The standout plant in Bob & Rannveig’s sextet was Narcissus atlanticus. This was pointed out for me by Joy Bishop, one of our retired exhibitors. This rarity was discovered by EK Balls in 1936 near the village of Amizmiz in the foothills of the High Atlas mountains in Morocco. Seeds were given to Sir Frederick Stern who raised and named it and it was grown for many years by specialists. This stock may well still be in cultivation. The type locality was never refound, despite many people having searched for it, until 1994 when Chris Lovell stumbled (literally) on the unbelievably steep and hidden slope that had allowed this lovely thing to survive.

The plant shown was derived from this later introduction (SBL 290). Narcissus atlanticus is notoriously mean with its flowers so a well-flowered plant is one to be celebrated and I wonder if it will do it again next year! It is grown in standard Mediterranean bulb conditions with a John Innes, loam-based, compost with added grit sand for drainage. The pot is plunged in sand the year round and watered from mid-September through until dormancy in early May. Liquid feeding is carried out as with Ian Robertson’s Crocus.

Sticking with a bulb theme for now, it is worth noting that the botanists have decided that the plants that we all grew up calling Chionodoxa are now part of Scilla and, incidentally, some Scilla that we knew are now no longer Scillas but Fessia or Prospero! Are you confused yet? Two of the ex Chionodoxa were on display.

The pick of the bunch for me was Scilla lochiae (shown by both Ian Robertson and Bob & Rannveig Wallis), a native of Cyprus where, in common with most of its relatives it favours copious irrigation by cold snow melt water when it is in flower. It is a wonderful deep blue and slow in increase which keeps it fairly scarce in cultivation.

The second was Scilla sardensis.  This is one of the three ex Chionodoxa from western Turkey and has probably been introduced many times in the past and grown under various names. Flora of Turkey has many interchangeable synonyms!  It differs from the SS. luciliae and forbesii by its smaller segments and is supposed to lack the white central zone of the flowers but the example shown did have some white here in spite of it having come from the type locality.

On the subject of name changes – in a conversation with Tony Hall about Juno Iris, he revealed that the plant that was exhibited by your reporter, as Iris bucharica, has now been described as a new species: Iris chrysopetala. It comprises those plants with yellow style lobes, haft and standards and includes that form propagated and supplied by Janis Ruksans as I bucharica ‘Sanglok’.

The name Iris bucharica is retained for those with a white ground colour where only the fall is yellow.

There were a few hardy orchids on display and it is worth commenting on Steve Clements’s hybrid Pterostylis curta x coccina. The seed parent is spring flowering whereas the pollen came from an autumn flowering species. Pterostylis is quite a large genus from the antipodes and, in general, has proven surprisingly straightforward in cultivation. The exhibited plant had been grown in a mixture of composted bark, moss and sand and is grown frost free in winter. A dryish summer in a shady place is all that is required. Steve had shown several orchids and many bulbs winning the Geoff Smith Salver for the best bulb in the Intermediate and Novice sections with Narcissus ‘Snow Baby’, and the Epping Trophy for the aggregate of first prize points in section B.

I was really surprised to see a healthy-looking plant of the rosulate Viola cotyledon in the intermediate section. Alex O’Sullivan had acquired the seed from Vojtĕch Holubec in November 2019. This is a widespread species in Patagonia where it grows high in the mountains in low nutrient, very free draining soils. Alex has grown it in a long tom pot to accommodate its long tap root and used a mix of 10% JI, 25% coarse lava (sourced on eBay), 25% fine lava, 10% sand and 10% perlite. On a very close look at the rosettes, I think that I saw developing flower buds in the axils so this is one to watch as it develops.

Diane Clement produced her lovely, spicily-scented, Ypsilandra thibetica once again and whilst a close contender for its third Farrer Medal, it was just pipped at the post, but received a well-deserved Certificate of Merit.

Yet again Dionysia growers excelled. Nigel Fuller exhibited a perfect pale yellow 10-inch dome of Dionysia ‘Monika’ and a Certificate of Merit was awarded to Paul & Gill Ranson for their Dionysia zagrica. The latter has proven particularly tricky to build up into large cushions and the 5-inch cushion was a tribute to the skill of these intrepid growers. Unlike the following species, it seems to only make small plants in the wild.

Dionysia tapetodes, on the other hand, can make immense cushions in the wild and John Dixon’s plant emulated this. Its huge, foot wide (and very heavy!) example was judged the best plant in the show and awarded the Farrer Medal. This 28-year-old veteran had been grown from seed by the exhibitor and reflects the care required to grow these wonderful specimens where a single mistake in watering, repotting or infection with pests or disease can wipe out decades of painstaking nursing. Congratulations John.

Show reporter: Bob Wallis

Show photographer: Jon Evans