AGS East Anglia 5th May

[Andrew]

I was not expecting to post a lot of photos but I see chief photographer was else where, so here are a few snaps of what caught my eye.
I'll start with the Iris .

Iris reichenbachii.

Iris acutiloba ssp. lineolata.

Iris acutiloba ssp. lineolata detail.

Iris paradoxa x Iris paradoxa ssp. chosab.

Iris paradoxa x Iris paradoxa ssp. chosab detail.

[Andrew]

The orchids were out in force, firstly the best plant in show.

Calanthe sieboldii.

Calanthe sieboldii detail.

Calanthe discolor.

Cypripedium 'Gisela'.

Serapias lingua.

Three pans, details below.

Dactylorhiza elata.

Calanthe tricarinata.

Cypripedium calceolus.

[Andrew]

Other plants on the benches.

Allium crispum.

Androsace bulleyana.

Dionysia involucrata alba.

Lewisia 1 pan class.

Lewisia 3 pan class.

A poor photo of Omphalogramma vinciflora.

Physoplexis comosa and Silene hookeri.

Saxifraga pubescens, no prizes for guessing which one, won the class.

A winning 6 pan entry.

x Ramberiea.

[Andrew]

Lastly, the prize for weirdest (IMHO) plant in show,

Dracunculus muscivorus.

Dracunculus muscivorus detail.

[hadacekf]

Andrew,
Beautiful plants and photos. I am happy to see them.
Thank you

[Joakim B]

Andrew thanks for taking us to the show and great that we have very similar taste (iris and orchids). Maybe they were the best thing at the show?
Great photos.
Take care
Joakim

[David Nicholson]

Andrew, thanks for pictures. I wonder, please, if you know any more about Iris acutiloba and Iris paradoxa. I have looked in my (very limited) Iris books and can't find any reference to them. My books are:- 'Irises' by Sidney Linnegar and Jennifer Hewitt in the RHS Wisley Handbook Series; and 'Irises: a Practical Gardening Guide' by Karen Glasgow. If there is another book you could recommend then recommend away (I did do some searching for the 'A Guide to Species:Irises' but the second hand asking prices were amazing-as they were for Brian Mathew's book)

[Paddy Tobin]

Andrew,

Great report and excellent photographs. There were obviously excellent plants on display and many thanks for bringing them to us.


I LOVE the dracunculus, by the way.

Paddy

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Thanks Andrew !! Great show - great plants - great pix !!

[Maggi Young]

Wonderful show pix, Andrew, many thanks! Super Calanthes, I do like them, though it reminds me that I am not aware of seeing our C. tricarinata in the garden this year.... will need to have a look tomorrow to see what's happened.
The Ramberlea, a hybrid between a Ramonda and Haberlea, was one raised by Brian and Maureen Wilson, fellow forumists and my nearish neighbours. They will be pleased to see one of their "babies" getting out in the world of shows, I am sure! They are the SRGC gesneriad growers par excellence....they have some great plants and have made several interesting hybrids, some to replicate older crosses and some new ones of their own devising.
That Dracunculus is extraordinary, you have photographed it very well to show us its wierd and wonderful hairy self but I'm not sure I'd like to meet it on a dark night!

[tonyg]

Brilliant Andrew - and you have saved me a job!!  I just have a couple of pics to add.
The BIG question is .... why didn't we get to say hello?  I was the greying guy chasing a small child around, well some of the time anyway.  I did go home for lunch  but I had been on-site from 715am and did bring the family back to help out at about 2pm.

The two plants I want to add are Iris paradoxa mirabilis (from Iran) - a fabulous plant which I had not seen before.  One of the flowers had faded (and been removed) by 3pm.

Also Amistostigma keiskei - about which I know zilch!

[Maggi Young]

The Iris is super, what a colour. New one on me, too. That's not a colour one would forget!
I can't say I've ever seen the Amitostigma keiskei in the flesh, either. It's a Japanese orchid species, trying very hard to look like a Pinguicula, though I'm not sure why! I think the spelling is wrong, though,on the label, I believe the asian terrestial orchids are Amitostigma not  Amistostigma ?

[Lesley Cox]

Great pictures above of super plants! Oh God! is that last iris REALLY orange and white? What a glorious thing. I hope you find it Tony, remember me when you have masses of seed to spare But what a shame the flower head had been removed. After the judging it wouldn't have mattered much and the posibility of that one setting seed was lost.

David, the irises you mention are bearded species from the Oncocyclus group. A few years ago they were thought to be almost ungrowable, but, praise the man upstairs, they are being seen on UK show benches quite frequently nowadays and also in various specialist seedlists. I doubt if they will ever be in "general" cultivation however.

[Maggi Young]

I knew Lesley would be pleased with the iris pix, especially the Iris paradoxa mirabilis .. I keep going back to look at it, too!  Lovely veining on the "sails", as I prefer to say.... and would you look at the darkest chocolate triangle at the tips of the orange ... how beautiful is that? Anybody remember who was growing this fabulous creature? Just shows how many great plants we might still have to discover from Iran....given the chance!

[t00lie]

Great shots Andrew and Tony.

Seeing the Calanthe sps.reminds me that in a cool shaded spot i have a large healthy clump of Calanthe discolor which puts on generous yearly vegetative growth but never flowers.

Do they require a fair amount of sunlight to bring into bloom i wonder?.

Cheers Dave.