North of the border....

[KentGardener]

Yesterday I have travelled up to Norfolk to spend this weekend with Brian Ellis – I’ve woken early, as always, and don’t expect to see Brian or David for at least a couple of hours  .  Seems the perfect opportunity to write about last weekend.  

Some of you may have read that last weekend I ventured up to Scotland to stay with the lovely Maggi and Ian Young.    It had been 34 years since I last travelled north of the border - the last time being when I was 8 years old so I don't really remember much about it.  The trip looked like it could be doomed when the pilot at Heathrow came over the loudspeaker to say that we were being delayed while we took on extra fuel, as Aberdeen airport was closed due to a sudden heavy snowstorm.  Fortunately by the time the plane arrived above Aberdeen the airport was open again - the plane before mine had been diverted to Edinburgh!  Ian Young was waiting to meet me at the airport and we then got stuck in traffic for over an hour as cars were slipping and sliding all over the place due to the 6 amount of snow that had fallen in just a couple of hours.

There was something that amused me at Heathrow airport – this hanger that was too small for the planes! (1)

We eventually arrived at the house to find Maggi and little Lilly waiting to give me a warm greeting.  Maggi said she was getting ready to send Lilly out into the snow with a small barrel of rum strapped to he neck to search for us (in the style of a St Bernard!).  A large plate of warm home made scones and jam awaited me and I immediately felt at home   .  In my room was a vase of snowdrop flowers that made me feel doubly welcome (2).  A hearty roast dinner and an early night saw us ready for a 7am start to Dunblane.

The coach trip was fun and I met various SRGC and forum members while enjoying the Scottish countryside. (3)

We arrived at Dunblane in good time to find the hall bustling with activity.  I started with a quick look at the various plant nursery offerings and then Anthony Darby found me and showed me where the ‘show plants were on display.  The first plant that caught my eye was the one that I really hoped to see while in Scotland – the wonderful new find of G. woronowii ‘Elizabeth Harrison’ (4).  I felt a little embarrassed as I walked into the show room and said in a loud voice full of admiration and longing ‘WOW, ELIZABETH HARRISON’ – to which the real Mrs Elizabeth Harrison turned to me with a slightly confused expression and said ‘hello, have we met before?’   We were soon chatting and my embarrassment eased.

Another plant that got my attention was an unnamed elwesii – short with big shapely flowers. (5)

Also on the show bench were various other plants – some pictures of a few:

(6) – Augustus
(7) – Alexander the Great
(8 ) – Wedding Dress
(9) – Lady Dalhousie
(10) – Crocus

We arrived back at the Young’s in Aberdeen too late to consider cooking so decided to have fish and chips from a shop.  I was amazed at the number of different things you can buy covered in batter and deep fried – everything from ‘Pineapple Rings’ to ‘Haggis’!  I shall have to go back and be more adventurous than just fish and chips next time.  

My next post will be on the trip to Brechin Castle the following day.

[Paddy Tobin]

Well, enjoy the weekend and I look forward to a good report - finishing last weekend's and another for this one with Brian. I do wish I could travel and see all these gardens, plants and people (and, of course, that little dog up in Scotland). I actually have to go to work today - and I thought I was retired!

Paddy

[Brian Ellis]

What cheek that boy has!  I am so jealous that he has seen that lovely Elizabeth Harrison, I know I keep saying that you can't tell from a photograph and you need to see the snowdrops in the flesh, but you can tell that this looks good.  It is of course raining in East Anglia, but we can't complain as it could have been a blanket of snow.

[Anthony Darby]

It was good to meet you John. What a shame the weather had played such a part in reducing the numbers of plants on show and on the sale benches.

[mark smyth]

Lovely photo of Wedding Dress an albino rather than poculiform

[Martin Baxendale]

Yes, thanks for those John. Especially the pics of Wedding Dress and Elizabeth Harrison. I like the combination of those yellow ovaries with the bright green woronowii leaves - makes it a very showy, colourful and eye-catching plant.

[Paddy Tobin]

We couldn't get Elizabeth Harrison in a wedding dress,  could we? - purely in the sense of plant breeding, of course.

'Wedding Dress' strikes me as a very nice snowdrop but 'Elizabeth Harrison' is simply in a completely different class altogether; it is an outstanding snowdrop, one of the very, very best, beating the socks off the very fashionable favourites of the past few years.

John, love your story of meeting the real Elizabeth Harrison - a classic.

'Alexander the Great' strikes me as one that would make a great clump in the garden, good size, good presence.

Paddy

[Roma]

John, the unnamed Galanthus elwesii was mine.  It was grown from seed at the Cruickshank Botanic Garden, probably in the early 1980s.  If I remember correctly the seed source was 'The London Botanical Exchange', but will check up next time I visit.  it is a good grower and set seed in the Cruickshank though I do not remember seeing seed on my own plants.  I must get it planted out again.  I lifted it a few years ago, gave some to a friend and potted the rest.  I thought I still had some in the ground, but it seems I do not.
A pic of the snowdrops side on and a close up of the flowers open.

[Paddy Tobin]

Good plant, Roma.

Paddy

[mark smyth]

What height is it, Roma?

[Roma]

Will measure it tomorrow, Mark.  It is shorter than usual this year but is normally fairly short with big flowers.

[Anthony Darby]

That wee gem caught many people's eyes, and I'm glad this thread has 'outed' Roma.

[KentGardener]

It was good to meet you John. What a shame the weather had played such a part in reducing the numbers of plants on show and on the sale benches.

Good to meet you too Anthony.  The benches did look a lot less full than the photographs I saw of last years day - but I still thoroughly enjoyed myself.  Thank you to you for giving up your lunch break to drive me on a guided tour of Dunblane and the visit to your garden.  And to your lovely wife for cooking me lunch.   

I was too busy yapping to remember to take many pictures - but here is one I did take of the view looking down into town before getting into your car.

[KentGardener]

Sunday saw us rise early again (Well Ian and I did – Maggi was a distant voice calling goodbye from upstairs!….) to drive to Ian Christie’s place for a 9am breakfast.  We arrived on time and Ann Christie treated us to piles of bacon rolls and fresh cooked cheese scones, and then fresh cooked plain scones with jam to finish.  The Scottish people definitely know the way to win me over.  After breakfast Ian gave us a guided tour of Christies Alpines – which was rather frozen – before we had to rush off to Brechin Castle just before 11am.  A few photographs taken at Christies:

1 – one of the Brechin finds which was tentatively named as ‘Annes Green Stripe’ but I think is now going to be ‘Castle Green Dragon’ at the request of the Dalhousies.

2 – A yellow find from the Castle grounds – completely frozen solid I’m afraid but still worth a picture I thought.

Then we had a 20 minute drive over to the grounds of Brechin Castle.  Our time there started with a lecture on the differences to look for in snowdrops (they don’t all look the same!) by Ian Christie that really enthused the audience of 18 people (who hadn’t yet caught ‘the white fever’) who then couldn’t wait to get out into the grounds to put their new learned knowledge into practice.

The lecture was followed by a rather nice buffet lunch with The Lord (Laird?) and Lady Dalhousie in the Castle’s dining room.  Our convoy of cars then drove a short way to part of the estate where we would be walking among the snowdrops.  This was not the place where the two Ian Christies had intended for us to walk – but with the snow and ice the planed walk would have been too dangerous.  I should probably explain at this point that Ian Christie of Christies Alpines was giving the lecture – but the head gardener / groundskeeper at Brechin Castle is also called Ian Christie – no relation!  Throw an Ian Young into the mix and it made for a confusing afternoon when people called Ian and three of them answered.

3 - The corridor outside the dining room.

4 – A piece of driftwood that stoked my imagination.

5 – A view from the courtyard

6 – Our group

7 – a 4 petal one that I noticed

8 – one with nice long petals

9 & 10 – give it a couple of weeks and the snowdrops will be stunning

[Paddy Tobin]

There are benefits in riding early - one gets to see John's postings early in the morning.

Good report, John, and obviously a lovely place and lovely people up there in Scotland.

I had a bit of trouble with your photographs: when I clicked to enlarge the photographs they simply changed to an icon.

However, even at the smaller size the green striped and the yellow ones look very nice.

Paddy

P.S. I've just gone back, after posting the above, and the photographs are enlarging as normal. This means that I can now see the one with the long petals and it is indeed a lovely one.

Paddy