Growing Primulas for Showing

[David Nicholson]

..................The plants are overwintered in a cold frame from which the ends have been removed but the covers are left in place. They need careful watering so that the leaves do not get splashed and marked. After the show season I take the plants out of the frame and display them on the patio so that they can be appreciated and be subject to the full fury of Scottish summer weather.................

David, I'm not sure that I would get away with leaving my plants uncovered over the Summer both from a weather point of view and a pest point of view. The only Primulas I have ever had suffer from root aphids and vine weevil have been ones left out in the open at ground level.

Do you, as I do, often think that as Autumn comes a plant has gone two steps back instead of one forward?

[David Shaw]

I don't think a response from Cyril would really help any of us, David. Cyril plays in a completely different ball park and we are both need to absorb the Foundation courses before we go for the Master degree.
If you want to add another important 'point' to your list it would be 'attention to detail'. I am thinking of the times I have watched Fred Hunt, and Cyril, touching up their plants on the show bench before judging starts. They are finicky to the extreme. Personally I can't be bothered to go to the lengths that they go to - on the other hand they have multiple more first than I do. If you are aiming for the top then keep on inspecting and tidying the plants until the last minute and remove even the tiniest flaws.

[Maggi Young]

Don't be daft, David S. if you cannot learn from the best, you are you going to learn from? If I want to be a top F1driver I want to learn to drive like Lewis Hamilton, not his father, even thought his dad has a driving licence and gets to go about in fast cars.... stand to reason!!

Anyway, David N. ,......

But, wouldn't it be nice, for example, for a novice like me to be able to read an article in The Rock Garden by, say, Cyril Lafong on how to grow plants for shows.

So, you mean like the article Cyril wrote for the Rock Garden in 2004, entitled, "Growing for Showing"

I have this very evening emailed the man himself to ask if we may reproduce it in the forum in some form....watch this space.

[ChrisB]

Cyril gave us a very good talk at the Discussion Weekend in Glasgow in 2007.  I still remember a few of his tips, but it sure would be nice for them to be in written form as my memory isn't the best these days  .  Mind you, having now read all this about showing primulas, it is likely to be a frosty Friday before I put one on a show bench.  I had no idea so much was involved, though I have been to shows and looked at the plants, I've never really watched them being placed all that attention to detail boggles my mind.  I think I'll just stay as an admirer, they need spectators as well as participants don't they?

[Paul T]

I don't know how you all feel about shows, but I put plants into our show that I know aren't going to win anything.  Ours is only a small show, so everything visitors can see is a bonus.  I enter plants to show people other plants, not to necessarily win anything (although it is nice to get a first.  ).  If only those who already knew everything about showing put plants into the shows then the shows would slowly disappear as no-one new comes along.  Even if your plant isn't perfect, still put it in there.  You might just get advice on how to improve it, but at least it is another plant that people who come to the show can see. 

[David Shaw]

Well said, Paul. All the shows need plants on the bench, not just Forrest medal winners.
David, if you take one or two plants to the show you will get in early to stage them and then you can wander round watching the 'experts' setting up their own plants. Ten minutes observing at staging time is worth an hours looking at plants after the show opens and is worth more than a thousand words of text.

[David Nicholson]

Thanks Maggi. I, for one, would love to read Cyril's article.

[Maggi Young]

I have just found Cyril's reply,  scooped up in our spam filter -- oops,  I didn't check there yesterday, sorry...... Cyril, I am pleased to say, has no problem with the posting of his article on the Forum.
I will do so, using the pages divided into jpg files, so I can easily post the photos included, in a new thread......
 I will post the link here later!

[Lesley Cox]

I've been away from the Forum for some time as I've had to make weekly flights to the North Island for the last month, away for 3 or 4 days at a time. Just trying to catch up.

Maggi, the rotted willow wood isn't such a stupid idea. We all know about willow water which is a wonderful rooting encouragement to most cuttings and an old (late) friend who had one of the earliest alpine nurseries in NZ always swore by willow root, which she dug in peat-like blocks from river banks (would be frowned upon nowadays). This she chopped and included in her garden and chopped more finely and included in her potting mix. It added great humusy texture but as well, everything grew so well and so HEALTHILY. She NEVER had moulds or fungus diseases. I use it when I can find some.

[Maggi Young]

Lesley, I would not say ( did not say) that the willow wood was stupid... merely that I hade never felt the need to seek it out.... mostly because I'd never been advised to before! I do not doubt that willow contains a great many helpful chemicals for all sorts of things..... nature's like that!

[Lesley Cox]

Just possibly we're at cross purposes here Maggi. When we (in NZ) say something is not stupid, we really mean it's quite clever - a very good idea. When Roger suggests he might buy a cake of chocolate along with the milk and bread, I tell him that's not a stupid idea. (Well actually, he's NEVER suggested that, more likely a bottle of something, but that's not stupid either.

[Maggi Young]

Just possibly we're at cross purposes here Maggi. When we (in NZ) say something is not stupid, we really mean it's quite clever - a very good idea. When Roger suggests he might buy a cake of chocolate along with the milk and bread, I tell him that's not a stupid idea. (Well actually, he's NEVER suggested that, more likely a bottle of something, but that's not stupid either.

Oops! Another case of two folks divided by a common language! 

[shelagh]

Reading the wonderful extract from 1792 reminded me of a talk over 15 years ago at a NAPS group where the speaker recommended taking an old cowpat and cutting it down to fit the pot before repotting your Auriculas.  Not sure he specified how old it had to be.

Brian enjoyed the piece too and we had fun seeing if our maths was still up to the mark and if it all added up to 24/24th.  Him out-doors says he doesn't think the compost needs to be quite that complicated.  JI2, grit and maybe leaf mould if you can get it. 

Jack Wemyss-Cooke is a bit more complicated:-
'Compost A. 3 parts fibrous loam
                1 part sharp sand or grit
                 1 part half-rotted leafmould
Add a sprinkling of superphosphate and steamed bonemeal. Where moist peat is used in place of leafmould, calcified seaweed will supply additional trace elements.'

'Compost B. 3 parts fibrous loam
                 1 part sharp sand or grit
                 1 part rotted cowdung
When using either of these mixtures it has been found beneficial to add a quantity of crushed oyster shell or charcoal to keep the compost sweet.'

So we should all get the aphrodisiac oysters on the menu this Christmas, just in the interests of growing fine Primulas you understand.

[JohnnyD]

I just found this thread and couldn't resist adding my twopence worth, albeit a little late.

Following particularly the thoughts from David & Paul, I have spent a lot of time over the years trying to persuade local group members especially to show plants. (A lot of the time was devoted to miniature gardens - but perhaps more of that later.)

In most cases their reluctance appeared to be on two counts.
1. They were afraid their plants were not 'up to snuff' as has already been said, and
2. They were afraid to ask.
3. They were just afraid to enter the fray!

I put this latter point to one of our more eminent judges and was firmly advised this was nonsense. Since he was not afraid to start showing why should they be! 
On a few occasions I have managed to help people overcome their trepidation and found that it only takes a single foray into showing to convince them once and for all that there is nothing to fear, and I take as much pleasure from a new shower getting a first as I do when I get them myself.
One even managed an AGS medal with a six pan - a feat I have yet to achieve. It still gives me goosebumps.

We will be having sessions of 'preparing plants for show' at one of our meetings early next year, and I live in hope of convincing more new faces to get involved.

The best message has already been expressed most eloquently - take any plant that you yourself like but then, ask questions and crave assistance from anyone who smiles at you - and there are always plenty of them.

Incidentally, one of the measures we deploy at the East Lancs Gp. as a means to encouraging fresh blood to take part is to wax lyrical about the fun to be had at the pub on show days. The Pudsey Pig competition is but one example of the way we while away those restless hours in the middle of the day.