Northumberland Show at Hexham, 2010

[ChrisB]

Hi Everyone,

Just got back from a wonderful day at this show.  It seemed even bigger than ever, with lots of amazing plants exhibited.  The nursery stalls were heaving with plants when I arrived at 8am but by 3pm, many were gone completely.  

I took a few pictures, but not of the obvious cup winners, I'm sure others will provide pictures of the biggest and blousiest plants.

Here are a few of my personal choices:

First, Diane Clement let me watch her as she prepared her cut alpines for exhibit, and I learned a lot about how to present them.  She won a first - of course.

Then I spotted a N. bulbocodium that was much smaller than I had ever seen before, a beautiful sight and the flowers were upright and looking their best I thought

Brian and Shelagh were there, and Brian agreed to pose with a super fern, sorry Brian, I've not written down its name, but it was just lovely, as was its owner of course  

[ChrisB]

One view of the benches

Darren Sleep's tropeolum was a lovely thing

Couple of corydalis - too many to take pictures of, but these are a sampling of the range on exhibit

[ChrisB]

Lovely Cyclamen coum, pewter leaf form

Nice yellow dionysia

There were loads of hepaticas for sale and on exhibit, this one grown from seed by David Boyd  One sale plant nearly sent me reeling - £180!

An unusual narcissus, the nodding flower heads won't be to everyone's taste, but I liked their simple elegance.

[Maggi Young]

Glad you had a good day, Christine.... looking forward to more of your photos.

A telephone caller tells us that the Forrest Medal was won by a venerable potful of Trillium nivale, shown by Alan Spenceley..... to whom warm congratulations are in order.
We used to see Alan at  some Scottish Shows and he often used to attend the Discussion Weekends.... you are welcome back any time, Alan!

Christine: what happened about your primulas?

 Good to see the young Hepatica  cross raised from seed by David Boyd... that man is one good grower and I'm used to seeing much larger plants  from him, cyclamen etc....   

[ChrisB]

I loved the colour of this pulsatilla

And this Saxifraga was just exquisite

No spring show would be complete without a soldanella, this one beautifully presented

I'm not a townsendia fan, but this one was very tidy

And that's about it.  I'm sure others will provide more pics....

[ChrisB]

I put my primula 'David Valentine' into the general primulaceae class, but it lost out to some very showy dionysias that looked like they had been grown by a professional.  I decided not to exhibit my Barbara Midwinter, she looks nice, but didn't want to do the wrong thing.  Advice was that, as you quite rightly said, when a region is mentioned, they mean *species* from that region, not cultivars or crosses.  For newbies like me, it would be nice if it was spelled out in the literature though.... Its ok for more experienced exhibitors who know the ropes,  but for greenhorns like moi ......

Seven item breakfast for £3.20 at Tesco's across the road, went down well with a number of forumists......

[ranunculus]

A little birdie has told us that Clare Dower achieved her Gold Merit Medal at Hexham Show ... our HEARTIEST congratulations to dear Clare.

[Maggi Young]

I have asked for this to be discussed at the Show Secretaries' meeting in Edinburgh, Christine, so we should have clearer wording in future.


 Not at all surprised that a breakfast like that would go down well...... sounds good value.


Hurrah!
What good news about Clare's medal.... well done Clare .... perhaps medals should be worn for saturday dinner at the Discussion Weekend???

[ChrisB]

Good news, Maggi.  Thanks for that.  Not that I now need it, I've learned a great deal this week.  I suppose I should have known, but I really didn't.  Ah well.  It was such a good show, and all those responsible for it should get a hearty thank you.  Its the same with all the shows though, everyone pulls together and they really work a treat.  The only down side is I seem to have a lot less money in my purse on my return home.... there were some wonderful plants there.  I wonder how many of my precious purchases I'll manage to kill in the forthcoming year.  I'm quite good at killing things through ignorance.  Its an expensive hobby, this rock gardening lark.  Mind you, I've seen a lot of germination this last two weeks on seeds sown in 2009, so Ian is quite right, the snowmelt has helped.

[Maggi Young]

Tell me, Christine, did you see Shelagh in possession of any Birthday cake?
I would have thought that a combination of a birthday and a show day would have lead to a mass munching by those travelling Pudsey Piglets?

[ChrisB]

Nope, no cake that I know of.  We did know it was her birthday though.  I was doing things so didn't really get a chance to find out if any celebration took place.  But I did hear that some were going out for lunch a bit more up market than the Tesco cafe....

[Maggi Young]

Nope, no cake that I know of.  We did know it was her birthday though.  I was doing things so didn't really get a chance to find out if any celebration took place.  But I did hear that some were going out for lunch a bit more up market than the Tesco cafe....

 Ah, the burger bar by the station, eh? That Brian knows how to give a girl a good time.....

We did know it was her birthday though

Yes, well, the party hats and balloons will have been a giveway, I expect!

[Diane Clement]

Let's put the record straight.  Well prepared piglets sometimes bring appropriate items in their car boot, in preparation for any eventuality.  Today, a  bottle of bubbly and glasses had been stored away inbetween pans of ferns, sedums and a Brazen Hussey.

The joint celebration of Clare Dower winning her gold medal, AND Shelagh's birthday led to popping of corks in the car park before noon.

[Diane Clement]

And the plant that did it for Clare, was Primula "Wharfedale Village"

[Diane Clement]

Lots more pictures to follow tomorrow, but I must now go and catch up on much needed sleep (after 4a.m. start this morning and 450 mile round trip to Hexham)

Farrer Forrest medal winner  Trillium nivale, shown by Alan Spenceley, reputed to be about 40 years old