Cyclamen Society - Midlands Group

[ian mcenery]

Today the Midlands local group of the Cyclamen Society met in Stourbridge. We  meet every 6 months and the meetings include plant stall a couple of talks in the morning and finish off with a visit to Ashwood Nurseries for a look behind the scenes with the chance of buying some nice plants. In the morning we were given a talk on Cyclamen hederifolium in Corfu by Roger Brook which was followed by Vic Aspland on the subject of Cyclamen graecum in the wild with a discussion about cultivation needs. The following pictures show behind the scenes at Ashwood where we were able to look at the stock plants and some youngsters which are held in a glasshouse approx. 150 ft x 60 ft.

The picture show general pictures of the glasshouse
 C graecum
persicum
libanoticum and a close up
and a deep form of pseudoibericum with strong markings

naturally we all bought plants. We also went on to the Hellebore stock area 

The final shot shows Diane Clement, Ron Beeston, Ian McEnery and Joan Beeston clutching new hellebores. Well it is difficult to resist 

[Lesley Cox]

Oh Crikey!!!!!

[Diane Clement]

Some more views of Ashwood nursery this afternoon
First, coum as far as the eye can see

[Diane Clement]

More coum, larger stock plants

[Diane Clement]

C coum Tilebarn Elizabeth
C coum white

[Diane Clement]

Some seedlings
And some in a pot showing variation

[Diane Clement]

The hellebore tunnel
and a double pink hellbore
that's it for tonight, some more pix tomorrow.

[Oron Peri]

Fantastic photos,
Thank you Diane and Ian.

[Luc Gilgemyn]

WoW - very impressive pictures Diane and Ian - thanks for showing us around in this grand nursery.

Do these plants all need to be sold before the season is over ... 

[Diane Clement]

WoW - very impressive pictures Diane and Ian - thanks for showing us around in this grand nursery.
Do these plants all need to be sold before the season is over ...   

I think most of them are sold and they start afresh each year, with the majority of the seed raised plants. 
We were told they sell 10,000 hellebores each year, all raised from seed.  I think the figure is similar for Cyclamen coum. 

[ian mcenery]

About half of the space in the main house was for stock plants (not all were Cyclamen) but there is also another large polytunnel where seedlins are brought on for sale. You should see it in the autumn