Midlands AGS show 12th April 2014

[Maggi Young]

Saturday April 12   - in Solihull, 12 noon to 4.00 pm : the Midlands AGS show.
The Farrer Medal at Knowle has been won by Sebaea thomasii  shown by Tim Lever  - congrats Tim!!!

[Maggi Young]

Jim McGregor has tweeted a photo : https://twitter.com/JimMcGregorAGS/status/454930790334599168/photo/1

Super plant, Tim - you are catching up with  Cyril's Forrest medal Sebaea plants.
http://www.srgc.org.uk/shows/forrest2001/forrest.html

This charming member of the gentianaceae from South Africa is a plant which appears quite regularly on the show bench - here,again from Cyril, winning the Forrest Medal in Perth in 2004



and also from Tom Green - at Glasgow in 2010



The yellow is very bright and cheerful and the flowers have quite astrong scent - quite unusual in the gentian family as far as I know.

[Maggi Young]

Tim is  following in family footsteps too :  this photo from Cliff Booker of the Farrer Plant at East Lancs for Keith and Rachel Lever  in 2008 - also  on the 12th April !

[ranunculus]

Tim Lever and his first Farrer Medal winning exhibit of the beautiful Sebaea thomasii at Solihull AGS Show today.  Hearty congratulations to Tim and the excellent team that ably assisted Show Secretary; John Harrison and Diane Clement to make this such a successful event.

[Maggi Young]

Super picture of Tim - good idea there to get him fitted into the photo, Cliff - must be one of our tallest members!

[Tim Ingram]

Good picture of Keith too!

[ranunculus]

Show reports can, like liquorice all-sorts, be quite a mixed bag!!
 
There are the lengthy, meticulous and usually numerically based reports of the Veteran Vet that concentrate on linking images with data, facts with photos, thoroughness with factuality.

… And then there the other kind - random images that have no rhyme or reason, simply snapshots in time, usually taken AFTER a lengthy pub lunch.  Written (as if) by a local newspaper cub reporter, dispensing with facts, disregarding detail, deliberately obtuse, decidedly vague … these have become known (over the millennia) as Ranunculus reports.

My usual apologies for lack of detail - if I am certain of the species or the correct name of the exhibitor, then it may appear - if I am not, then please treat this report simply as a stroll around the show venue, taking furtive glances to the left or right, pausing for lengthy chats to all and sundry, sneaking gentle nudges at unsuspecting judges, stumbling into (and occasionally over) the equally unsuspecting general public, stooping to retrieve recalcitrant lens caps and generally causing uproar with an intrusive lens and boney elbows.

These are my show experiences … the things that caught my eye ... I may be a Veteran, but I've never been a Vet.  The other partners in the practice would have done the humane thing and put me out to grass … or worse.

The Midland AGS Show at Solihull through the eyes of an enthusiast ...

[ranunculus]

… two chats later ...

[ranunculus]

… after a collision with a wall and three more natters ...

[ranunculus]

… after a spilt coffee, two chats and a fumble under the show bench to find a lens cap … you would be amazed to see what is under those pristine green cloths … I never knew where Diane Clement lived!!!

[ranunculus]

A long chat with Brian Smethurst about narcissus … and a dropped lens cap ...

[ranunculus]

… A quick nap on the stage and a delicious cake … three more chats ...

[ranunculus]

… waylaid by friends - tripped up by Johnny D. - used satnav to regain my position in the hall … had a natter or two ...

[ChrisB]

Some cracking good plants Cliff thanks for posting....

[ranunculus]

Found the gents … chatted to a complete stranger ( ) … looked at wonderful books on display in the approach to the hall … used satnav again ...