Loughborough enjoys a reputation of being the show to go to for alpine enthusiasts. Martin Rogerson and Neil Hubbard have continued the work of the peerless Doreen & Eric Webster, ably supported as ever by a small team of willing volunteers. Over 400 plants graced the show hall, with the benches full of both the usual suspects and the unexpected.

Those who grow plants for exhibition are used to overcoming obstacles, although locking yourself out of the car with your plants still inside, as one unfortunate exhibitor managed to do, is not a typical one. Rescue in the form of the RAC did not, sadly, arrive until judging was well under way. A more common challenge is of course the weather, this year’s heatwave being a hot (forgive the pun) topic of conversation around the hall. Many alpines suffered during the unrelenting heat, but others undoubtedly thrived.

First among these was Cyclamen graecum, easily the most frequent plant on display. It will come as no surprise to regular show-goers that Ian Robertson received the Farrer Medal for best plan in show, and the best Cyclamen award, for C. maritimum (which has now reverted to C. graecum subsp. anatolicum). This was the seventh Farrer Medal that this particular plant had won, but Ian is clearly succession-planning, as another of his stock was awarded a Certificate of Merit.

Certificates of Merit were awarded to two other Cyclamen, Ian Robertson’s C. confusum and Anne Vale’s C. maritimum/graecum subsp. anatolicum. My personal highlight among the genus, however, was Roy Skidmore’s C. graecum subsp. candicum, with its characteristically small, highly patterned foliage. All the C. graecum-type species have a long taproot and so, as well as a good baking in the summer, placing the corms at the top of a deep pot, covered only by grit, and only disturbing when absolutely necessary are key factors in growing them successfully.

There was also a noticeably strong entry in the silver and grey foliage classes. My pick was John Savage’s Leucophyta brownii, the only species in this Australian genus. This, to me, is a proper silver plant. While the winner of the class, David Charlton’s Salvia canescens f. daghestanica, was a worthy victor, and also an excellent garden plant, I have seen other specimens on the greener end of the green/grey foliage spectrum.

On the subject of silver plants, David Carver had an impressive Raoulia x petrimia ‘Margaret Pringle’ in the small Intermediate Section cushion plant class. Sitting alongside was Henry Fletcher’s eye-catching Bolax gummifera. As with some other southern hemisphere cushion plants, the flowers are fairly non-descript. The real attraction is in the effect of the densely-packed, star-shaped rosettes.

Centre stage in the Novice and Intermediate Sections, however, was another plant that benefitted from the heatwave. Sternbergia lutea was named best plant in the Novice Section, with the recipient, Sue Bedwell, also winning most points therein, while Michael Myer’s S. lutea was considered the best bulbous plant in both these ranks. The overall winner in the Intermediate Section was David Carver, one of the show scene’s rising stars, while Bob & Rannveig Wallis took the Open Section aggregate, despite having only a ‘small’ entry (at least for them) of 24 plants! This included an AGS Medal entry in the small six-pan class.

The Wallises can always be relied on to bring several members of the genus Biarum to the autumn shows. To the relief of many, not least the photographer, Jon Evans, who remembers having to carry a rather heavy plant at arm’s length because of the smell, their B. pyrami was not present this year. Several pots of the less odorous B. marmarisense were on the benches instead. This plant does very well in my own Bedfordshire garden, in a south-facing scree bed. New ones for me were their B. dispar, another beneficiary of the summer that has never before been seen at an AGS show, and Michael Myer’s B. ochridense.

Unless you are a judge – in which case the watchword is objectivity – beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and B. ochridense was my favourite plant on the day. More appealing to the public, however, seemed to be another unusual plant – Cyclamen hederifolium ‘Stargazer’, one of which was exhibited by David Carver. Personally, I am not a fan of its upturned flowers, but if nothing else it has a certain novelty value.

Exceptionally novel would have been the Leicester Group Trophy for best pan in cone, seed, fruit or autumn foliage going to ‘Galanthus’ procumbens – a typing error missed by both me and the day’s judging coordinator when recording the results, our blushes spared by the eagle-eyed Martin Rogerson. It actually went to Gaultheria procumbens, exhibited by Steve Clements.

Another genus that you might be surprised to see at the autumn shows is Primula, but in the three-pans grown from seed class John Richards displayed an eye-catching P. poissonii. Native to China, John’s plant, which was sown in January 2021, had darker flowers than other examples I have seen. It was accompanied by a white form of Lewisia tweedyi and Omphalodes luciliae, sporting a number of pale blue flowers.

Rounding off the day’s awards were two further Certificates of Merit. Dave Mountfort was able to add one to his collection with Petrocosmea longianthera/thermopunctata complex. I was also pleased to see a Certificate of Merit bestowed on Chris Lilley’s Sempervivum arachnoideum ‘Parson’s Form’. In an adjacent class, his S. arachnoideum subsp. tomentosum (syn. ‘Laggeri’) was equally impressive. Such plants, relatively easy to grow and enjoyed by the general public, should be celebrated by the Society. Last summer, I bought a S. arachnoideum from Aberconwy Nursery and in the space of a year it has grown to fill a 19cm pot. While I can no longer claim to be the Society’s youngest exhibitor, youth is still sufficiently on my side when it comes to growing plants such as this for showing.

Finally, just two entries made up this year’s Artistic Section, both from Rannveig Wallis. What the competition lacked in quantity, it certainly made up for in quality, with Iris narbutii receiving the Art and Craft Trophy. I remember stewarding Artistic Sections at previous Loughborough shows that occupied entire classrooms. With winter beckoning, I encourage all the Society’s budding artists to think about what masterpieces they can produce for next year’s season.

Author: Rob Amos
Photographer: Jon Evans