AGS Autumn South Show - Kent 24/09/11

[Maggi Young]

While the SRGC is enjoying our  Show at the Discussion Weekend the AGS will be having a good day out at the Autumn South Show in Gillingham which will be held on  Saturday 24th September at  Rainham School for Girls, Derwent Way, Highfield Road, Rainham, Gillingham, ME8 0BX.

Saturday, 24 September 2011 - 12.00 noon to 4.00 pm

Hope the sun shines on all show-goers!

Don't forget the fantastic Joint AGS/SRGC show at Ponteland on 8th October.... all details here
http://www.srgc.org.uk/forum/index.php?topic=6069.msg181192#msg181192

[Tim Ingram]

Maggi - thanks for your mention of our Autumn Show down here in Kent. It was a good day, the sun shone and even if a little quiet in terms of entries to the Show, the plants were as great as ever and some of the artistic exhibits extremely beautiful. A few of us (!) were tempted greatly by the plants available from the nurseries. Amongst the remarkable variety always grown by Robin White at Blackthorn was a new species of Geranium, lasiopus and the the Chinese shrub Leptodermis oblonga. Robin also grows a small and exquisite form of the little iris acutiloba subsp. lineolata, which I intend to try outside on a sand bed next spring. Nigel Rowland from Long Acre had some superb ferns along with his usual intriguing range of woodland plants. Those that found their way into my box included the Californian Polypodium scouleri, little Woodsia obtusa and the very fine Andrachnoides standishii. Beautifully grown plants by a fine nurseryman. Little Heath Farm (John Spokes) are unusual in growing many fascinating woody plants, as well as alpines, and had the interesting early flowering Abelia mosanensis which was new to me. Nicely scented and with very good red autumn colour, this looks a very worthy shrub for the garden. John also grows many North American alpines from seed, which are a fascination of mine too. Keith & Rachel Lever had their as ever wonderful and exciting variety of plants, always something new and interesting. By now my box was beginning to overflow! I am assured that Dryas integrifolia 'Greenland Form' doesn't actually require glacial meltwater to thrive (!), and another very different plant was Tuberaria lignosa, a small subshrubby relative of the cistus with yellow flowers but really the most attractive foliage. Choice Landscapes had a fine range of alpines including Saxifraga 'Hare Knoll Beauty', which lived up to its name with a second flush of pink flowers. Robert Potterton, Rannveig Wallis and Jacques Amand also had some good plants, and especially bulbs, and I think like most Shows this combination of plants on display and really enticing specialist nurseries makes for a most enjoyable day for those of us captivated by our gardens and plants.

Despite this we still find it very hard to capture the attention of a wider number of enthusiastic gardeners in the region, and are trying to question more why this should be and how we may begin to attract a greater audience. The answer must lie in many directions, but fundamentally in looking to the interests of those gardeners who are not members, as much as we do to those who are, and in convincing gardeners of the great benefits that come from viewing plants in a more thoughtful and insightful way.

There were a number of most remarkable plants on display, but not having a camera with me it would be much better (anyway!) to look at the images put on the AGS website by Jon Evans. however, I couldn't take my eyes off an extraordinary and superlative specimen of Cyclamen graecum, this time not grown by Bob and Rannveig Wallis but by Ian Robertson.

So a thoroughly enjoyable day and we look forward to next spring where the wonderful variety of plants should inspire us to spread the word of the Show more widely, and maybe liase more across the Society in thinking of new ways of convincing gardeners that we are a pretty interesting lot!

[KentGardener]

Did my usual stint as a volunteer on the AGS plant sales table yesterday. I Did not get to stay as long as as I would have liked due to my aunt and uncle attended the show and giving me a lift home so that Aunty D (Doreen on here) could have a nosey at my garden.

Great to meet the Lucs for my biannual handshake     Also good to see Steve Owen, Patty Peck and Anne Borrill out of snowdrop season.  

I didn't take as many pictures as in previous years as the sales table, and so myself, was really busy.  But as Tim says - the show plants/entries were down a bit on previous times.   Lots of empty space on the show benches - but still loads of wonderful plants to look at.

Some random pics I took before I had to disappear at midday.

John

[Rob]

Thanks for doing the show report.

It looks like 3 of the tables were filled, with just the one near the photos a bit bare.

It's amazing that the mini garden has 36 saxifrages, in such a small space.

[Maggi Young]

Looks like a good show after a tricky season. How nice it is to see the sunshine coming in to the show hall.... makes everything look  nicer, I think!

[Luc Gilgemyn]

We had a great day again !  Nice seeing you again John !!
We were even kidnapped by some fellow Forum members who took us to Peter Moore's Tilebarn Nursery - another experience !!!

[KentGardener]

Luc - lucky you.  I have not been able to visit tile barn this year.  Not that I had any spending money left after buying at the show anyway!   

[Tim Ingram]

For those who haven't seen them there is a wonderful photographic overview of the Show by Jon Evans on the AGS website - many unusual South African bulbs quite new to me, a couple of extraordinary Biarum species, many fine Cyclamen and much more. If there can be this much fascination in the autumn how exciting is spring going to be next March?!!

[maggiepie]

After seeing the reference to Geranium lasiopus, am wondering if someone could point me towards a picture of said geranium.

I can't find any pics using google.

[Maggi Young]

That Geranium species, Geranium lasiopus was described in 1849, so it's a wonder there isn't more about it on the internet!

There are links to some herbarium specimens... for example....
http://apps.kew.org/herbcat/getImage.do?imageBarcode=K000729291   (interestingly, this Kew example shows a note re 1845.... before the plant was supposedly officially described.   )

 I'll see what I can find here, Helen... and keep you posted!

[Maggi Young]

I'd hoped for a photo here, but no luck, only a description:
http://www.kadel.cz/flora/g/kvCard.asp-Id=13739.htm

[maggiepie]

Thanks, Maggi, would be great if someone at the show took a pic of the plant and could post it.

Btw, good detective work 

[Maggi Young]

Here's a little more info.....
From : http://www.rjb.csic.es/Geranium/publication/GeraniumUnguiculataYeo.pdf

G. lasiopus is a plant of vertical and overhanging cliffs and has adaptations to keep the seeds within the habitat,

whereas G. glaberrimum, from the same area of Turkey, occurs on step-crevice and lacks these arrangements.


G. glaberrimum.

Compact saxatile perennial with glossy succulent aromatic leaves (to 6.5 cm wide); leaf-divisions flabelliform. Calyx uninflated; outer sepals winged and keeled as in G. lucidum but less prominently. Flowers c . 23 mm in diameter. Petals with patent blades. Filaments moderately exserted; anthers red. Mericarps variously sculptured.

G. lasiopus.

Like G. glaberrimum in habit, leaves and flowers, except that the leaves are no more than 3.5 cm wide and the sepals are apparently not keeled and cross-ribbed. Leaves densely clothed with fine, slightly curled hairs. Mericarps densely covered with crisped hairs that conceal a sculpture of weak ribbing.



Curtis's Botanical Magazine
Volume 24, Issue 1, pages 7–11, February 2007

573. GERANIUM GLABERRIMUM
Geraniaceae
Richard Wilford,
Graham Walters
Article first published online: 16 APR 2007

The rare Turkish endemic Geranium glaberrimum Boiss. & Heldr. is illustrated and described. Its close relatives, classification, distribution and cultivation are discussed.

All that is available "free" is this :

"Both species are found in Antalya Province and are rare plants, being restricted to cliff habitats in the mountains of SW Turkey.  Geranium lasiopus has a wider, though still limited, distribution, from near Fethiye in the Province of Mugla in the west, to the provinces of ..."

[Maggi Young]

Was hoping Jon Evans might have photographed it for the AGS reports, Helen, but it seems not.
Watch this space.... I have a cunning plan.....

[KentGardener]

Thanks, Maggi, would be great if someone at the show took a pic of the plant and could post it.

Sorry to say that I didn't take pictures of as many individual plants as I normally would.  I was whisked away earlier than expected from the show.  If we knew which table it was on I could zoom in on my pics to see if I have accidentally caught it in the background on any shots?

John