Edinburgh Show, 14 April 2007

[DaveM]

Phew, what a scorcher of a day. Not exactly what exhibitors had expected as they drove to Fairmilehead in Edinburgh this morning, cars bulging with plants. All was enshrowded in the dreaded haar!!! However, this soon burnt off and the stage was set for yet another very successful show. A month later than our usual date of late March, the mix of plants was different: long gone were the hoards of crocus, corydalis and Primula allionii, to be replaced with trilliums, tulips and many other delights.

A few pix of the hall to start with.

[DaveM]

Best plant in show was a lovely Androsace vandellii, exhibited by the Glenrothes greenfingers. This was Cyril's twenty something Forest. Many congrats to him once again.

[Maggi Young]

I think that is the Glenrothes Greenfinger's 24th Medal!!  Well done Cyril, it's a beauty.... did anyone check if it is real??


How did Carole B. manage with her leg in plaster?

[DaveM]

Yes, it checked out well, maggi. Cyril had a further THREE slightly smaller pots of same in other classes and all equally well-flowered. There's no doubt about it, The Greenfingers is tops just now, with such superbly grown entries.

Carole soldiered on bravely, I must say. She had a "walking" cast put on yesterday and with the aid of crutches she went about her duties as best she could. I think though she was a little wary of all the photographers....... not sure whether there'll be any posts here.... But seriously, if you're lurking Carole, all best wishes for a speedy recovery!!!

[DaveM]

Alan Newton amassed a massive 700 points with his entries. Among the many interesting plants exhibited were the following trio in th enew/rare/difficult class

Dionysia crista-galli
Dionysia caespitosa subsp caespitosa
Dionysia hybrid

All were from Josef Myers, the first two from seed collected in Iran.

[Maggi Young]

WOW! Way to go, Alan!! well done, Friend!! Wish I had been there to see it all.

[DaveM]

A couple of orchids.....

Pleione Shantung
Cypripedium formosanum


....and a plant that really took my eye: a bigeneric hybrid between Ramonda myconi alba and Jankaea heldreichei raised and shown by Brian and Maureen Wilson. The pic shown is the paler of their two entries. What a cracker!

[DaveM]

And a few of my favourites from the show

Primula auricula which was judged the best European primula
Trillium pusillum, awarded best bulb corm or tuber in Section 1
and
Anemone x lipsiensis 'Pallida' one of ten or so plants that went before the Joint Rock Committee. The Anemone was given an AM.

[Maggi Young]

Good to see that Anemone x lipsiensis 'Pallida' got an Award of Merit from Joint Rock... it is an excellent plant, looking good in a pot and making super ground cover for the early season in the garden.

[Anthony Darby]

Is there a list of show categories on line?
Not as yet. M

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Thanks a lot for the pictures Dave !
So many gorgeous plants but I was particularly impressed by that potful of Pleione shantung !

[David Nicholson]

And a few of my favourites from the show

Primula auricula which was judged the best European primula........

Dave, great pictures, thanks. You had a slight slip of the keyboard the plant is Primula auriculata.

[Maggi Young]

You had a slight slip of the keyboard the plant is Primula auriculata.

I think Dave is correct, David, the plant is labelled as P. auriculata, but I believe it to be a  P. auricula form.
See this page for a photo of Primula auriculata in the wild from Michael Almond :
http://www.srgc.org.uk/journal/almond/fig95.htm

[Joakim B]

Lovely pics
I have a question about the show rules:
After seeing so many lovely plants I just wonder if one can put together plants to a pot that are only "cousins" like having pleones of different cultivars and a few hybrids with one parent being the same and then call it "pleone(xxx) and hybrids" and have that in ONE pot.
All the bulbous plants (or any plant that is a seedling) might not be exactly the same in a pot if there is more than one individuaal so why not do it even more (with different plants?).

Pardon my ignarance but after seeing so many lovely pleone I would not mind to see a rainbow pot of pleone. Maybe there exist a class for this mixed things aswell?
Kind regards
Joakim

[Maggi Young]

Joakim, as a general rule, there should only be one plant  in the pot... or clones of a plant...this, taken to extreme, of course, would mean that one should show only one bulb , say one single bulb narcissus, which is not likely to receive much credit from the judges....and this leads to problems with plants like Iris,,, when does one rhizome become more than one plant, does it ever if not broken up? You see that this business of showing is a strange one, indeed!

 There is room for pots of different seedlings, especially if the class is for plants grown from seed, but, by and large, there is a preference for clonal pots... a pot of completely mixed cultivars would be thought wrong, however pretty it might be!
Hope this helps a little... it is difficult to explain , since in practice there are many contradictions in rules and judging!