The autumn shows have their own particular character. In part, there are masses of foliage plants, including those with autumn tints, dwarf shrubs covered in red berries and, at Newcastle, a class for fruits and seed heads (described a few years ago by one exhibitor as the harvest festival class).

The vagaries of the weather can affect exhibitors’ efforts more than in the spring, when we have a show a week for three months. At that stage in the year, a plant can flower several weeks later than previously and still appear at a show. This autumn, in just three weeks the shows had come and gone. So how would the remarkable summer of 2018 affect the plants? An almost tropical early summer had been followed (at least in parts of Scotland and northern England) by a wet August and a dry, warm September. Which of the various climatic features stimulates our plants to grow and flower?

The three backbone genera, Cyclamen, Gentiana and Crocus, were all represented. The first of these were not as dominant as in some years, with fewer enormous floriferous plants – for some growers these were past their best. The trophy for the best small Cyclamen went to an excellent plant of Cyclamen maritimum, part of a six-pan entry that won the E.B. Anderson Prize for Bob & Rannveig Wallis.

There was a good number of gentians (far more than at the Loughborough Show) including many large ones, though not perhaps of the highest quality. Generally, growers in the north and west of the British Isles, especially Scotland, find them easier to grow and keep. An award for the best small pan went to Ian & Maria Leslie for a plant of Gentiana ‘The Caley’.

Compared with many similar cultivars, this seems to be one of the easiest to grow to show standards. But the one that impressed me most was a specimen of G. rhodantha, exhibited by Alan Newton in the class for a plant new in cultivation. Only a few flowers were present, and, as so often with young Asiatic gentians, the plant was distinctly straggly. But instead of the usually vivid gentian blue, the flowers were pinkish. Widespread in China, where it is used medicinally, it responds to the same treatment as the general run of Asiatic species, but is kept outside during the summer months, then given winter protection in the alpine house.

Two crocuses stood out among those scattered around the benches. Alan Furness, who knows a thing or two about growing members of the genus, showed a plant of Crocus niveus JJA348.806 in the class for bulbous plants grown from seed. A nice potful, Alan had found it slow from seed. The accompanying notes informed us that the seed had been sown nearly 20 years ago (19.12.1999). Jim Archibald’s notes had said that this collection was from a bank where there were pinkish-flowered plants. Sure enough, these flowers, instead of the normal pure white flowers, had the inner three segments white and the outer three pale lilac-pink

But for presence as an excellent show plant, Don Peace’s Crocus cartwrightianus stood out. The symmetrical flowers, with neat red styles (not long and branched like some of its close relatives) and yellow anthers, were pale lilac with deep purple lines leading to a deep purple base. This is one of the few crocuses where the flower, once open, stays open, so the exhibitor avoids the need to seek out a warm sunny spot before the show to coax the flowers into opening – an exercise which sometimes backfires when the flowers open too much.

Don’s crocus was considered for the best 19cm exhibit in the show but it was beaten by Ian & Maria Leslie’s Sternbergia sicula subsp. graeca. Sternbergia is one of a number of genera from the Eurasian bulb belt (which stretches from the Mediterranean to Central Asia) that flower in the main late on and grace our autumn shows. Although sometimes reluctant to perform, this plant had been flowering heavily for a number of weeks. The exhibitors keep it in a sand plunge that is covered during the summer months.

Superficially similar, but from South Africa and a member of the Hypoxidaceae, was the Farrer Medal plant, Empodium flexile. Bob and Rannveig Wallis faithfully support the Newcastle show every year, despite the long distance from their home in South West Wales. Once again, they were well rewarded, not only in this regard (I believe that this constitutes a record number of Farrers awarded to an exhibitor in a year) but also, as mentioned above, with the Ewesley Salver, the E.B. Anderson Prize, and a Certificate of Merit for Galanthus peshmenii.

The genus Empodium consists of seven species from South Africa, though probably only two are grown in the British Isles. Empodium flexile comes from upland areas of the Karroo and Namaqualand, so is fully hardy (in the alpine house) here. Its name in Afrikaans translates as ‘The little ploughing time flower’ as it flowers at the time when ploughing should commence, flowering quickly in response to moisture in the soil. In cultivation, this characteristic is useful, as it is kept dry until mid-September in order to trigger flowering three weeks later.

The general regime deployed by Bob and Rannveig is typical bulb cultivation; in fact, the Empodium is grown in the same frame as their large collection of Cyclamen graecum. Potted up in June every other year but kept dry, in a sunny plunge bed, until watering time, this is a nigh-perfect show plant but does have one vice: the flowers emit a rather unpleasant smell.

As well as the scattering of autumn flowering bulbs (Galanthus, Sternbergia, Allium, Colchicum etc.) there are also a few regularly-exhibited dicots such as Oxalis, Petrocosmea and Saxifraga fortunei. Although not as numerous as in some previous years, there were some very nice plants of the saxifrage. Maggie Duguid, a first-time exhibitor, had a nicely balanced small plant of the variety ‘Fumiko’, recipient of the award for the best plant in the Intermediate and Novice Sections. A larger plant of this was shown by Christine Boulby, while the large Saxifrage class was won by Bob Worsley’s exhibit of S. fortunei ‘Rubrifolia’.

Saxifraga fortunei is not as easy as it looks. In the north of England it often flowers so late that it is cut down by frost before it can come into its own. It is also vulnerable to vine weevil infestation. But I suspect that we also are inclined to keep it too moist. Perhaps we think, because it is leafy, we should treat it like Micranthes or other genera in the Saxifragaceae. Christine, who has a large collection, keeps them outside in deep shade during the summer, where she only waters them sparingly before bringing them out into a light place and watering them comprehensively at the end of September. The other two plants mentioned above were both kept in the alpine house, one at least in a very shady place.

Saxifraga fortunei is not as easy as it looks. In the north of England it often flowers so late that it is cut down by frost before it can come into its own. It is also vulnerable to vine weevil infestation. But I suspect that we also are inclined to keep it too moist. Perhaps we think, because it is leafy, we should treat it like Micranthes or other genera in the Saxifragaceae. Christine, who has a large collection, keeps them outside in deep shade during the summer, where she only waters them sparingly before bringing them out into a light place and watering them comprehensively at the end of September. The other plant mentioned above was kept in the alpine house, one at least in a very shady place.

Many of us only give a passing glance at the cushion plants on show, enough to marvel at the large, rock-hard cushions of various Dionysia species. We marvel that the growers manage to keep them alive, let alone verdant and healthy. But this time, the judges were asked to consider something rather different as a candidate for the best plant in the show. Although Ian Instone’s plant of Arenaria alfacarensis missed out on that, it did receive a Certificate of Merit. A green symmetrical cushion formed of tight rosettes with opposite leaves, the effect is neat, even if the cushion is soft. For some people, cushion plants must be hard, even though we don’t like the cushions on our seats too hard.

A. alfacarensis comes from the Sierra de Segura (Jaén Province) in Spain and is sometimes known as the Spanish Sandwort: I understand it could be grown as a ground cover plant in the garden, perhaps forming a mat over rocks. Ian’s plant grows outside during the summer months and is watered by immersing the whole plant in a bucket of water; a rather alarming operation which may account for the softness of the cushion. In summer the leaves are bright green but in autumn they turn slightly greyer.

This was not the only foliage plant to get a Certificate of Merit. George Young’s Ozothamnus coralloides, a venerable specimen and a veteran of many show seasons, received both a Certificate of Merit and the Millennium Trophy for the best foliage plant.

Once again, credit to the two Alans and all the helpers for an excellently run show; to the judges and photographers for their commitment; and to the exhibitors, without whom there would be no show.

Author: Peter Hood

Photographer: Peter Maguire