AGS NORTH MIDLAND SHOW at CHESTERFIELD 14th April 2012

[veteran vet]

A few of my own
Helichrysum sessiloides...had the misfortune to be in the same class as the Farrer Medal plant so came second of the two entries in the class...everyone else had taken one look at the Benthamiella and moved to another class, I coild't think where it would go and it was too heavy just to pick up for fun
Hesperochiron californicum grown from seed off the parent plant which is still in bud
Hymenoxix lapidicola....11 years old now and I syill struggle to get it to flower well, 50 odd flowers is not enough for a pot of 25cm is due a repot soon, might be a bit of an adventure
Jeffersonia dubia alba, another from Ian Leslie, another plant to lust after
Lewisia cotyledon shown by Barry winter...it has to be close to maximum allowed pot size of 36cm, rumour has it that Barry goes to weight training three times a week to build himself up to carry his many very large pots!
Lewisia stebbinsii from George Young in the rare in cultivation class....much easier to carry
Ju Bramley believes in catching them young when it comes to introducing youngsters to growing and showing. To that end her grandson Joseph Bramley has has taken up the challenge so well that he won the most points in Section C two examples of which are
Trough...Ju just wishes he was strong enough to carry it! and
Morisia monanthos 'Fred Hemmingway'

[veteran vet]

Continuing on the trough theme the Dower clan, who have done so much to encourage folk to plant up troughs for showing, have run into some stiff competition this year from Peter Hood with, it seems the winner alternating from week to week so I show their troughs but leave you to guess who got the red sticker this week
There were some interesting specimens of Ophrys on display, unfortunately only one picture is good enough
Ophyris tenthredinifera, hope the spelling is right, again from the Dowers
Della Kerr had a lovely pan in the 1 pan from Europe class which won the red sticker and that was
Paris quadrifolia
As I said at the start, primula were short on display but Geoff Rollinson still managed to produce
Primula bracteata 
Primula juliae from Clare Oates was awarded a certicate of merit, it was in extremely fine condition...the few plants for sale on the nursery stands did not stay for sale for very long
A couple of Rhododendrons
Rhododendron cephalanthum crebifolium fro Diane Clement (again not the best picture)
Rhododendron 'Snipe' John Savage

[veteran vet]

Getting through them. The small six had a couple of entries, one from Ian Kidman, the other from me, its a good job we were in seperate cars
I also had a three pan of 3 from seed
Geoff Rollinson produced a lovely
Saxifraga porophylla to win the saxifrage class
Another maximum size pot, this time carried by Chris Lilley won the best bulbous plant award
Trillium grandiflorum
Viola pedata from Lionel Clarkson
x phylliopsis 'Sugar Plum' shown by Dave Mountfort is another plant we used to see a lot, this was a lovely plant but will be even better next week, pretty sure it was a Barry Starling hybrid
Thats my lot, good timing, ready for a little whisky, just had a phone call from John Richards to say he would like to bring tomorrows speaker at our group, Pam Eveleigh, for a look around...had better find time to do some tidying up!!!

[ronm]

Thank you for these pictures George. An awful lot of effort in posting them all, much appreciated.

[David Nicholson]

Many thanks Cliff and George. George, if ever a bit falls off your Lewisia stebbinsii I'm your man

[veteran vet]

Many thanks Cliff and George. George, if ever a bit falls off your Lewisia stebbinsii I'm your man

David, you may have to join a list of folk. I nearly lost it this spring because of rot at the cuadex but as I did not like what it was doing decided to tip pot out for a look and cleaned up plant and still there. As it happens seed from it sown in 2010 has germinated this year...problem is I can't remember what I did the first time to the germinations...so I just have potted on 'en masse' into a larger pot and hope they return next year. Last years seed I hope will come up next year. As I don't have many lewisia...1 tweedyi and 1 cotyledon...might be close to the real  thing if I can keep them going.....watch this space 

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Thanks for posting Cliff and George !  Some really cracking plants on the show !!! 

[annew]

Some really cracking plants on the show !!! 

Luc! Your Yorkshire language classes are working very well!

[Luc Gilgemyn]

 

[David Nicholson]

Ja ze zijn.

[JohnnyD]

Gardens well represented again with lovely pics posted already, however, I couldn't resist posting this one of 11 year old Joseph Bramley with his red sticker effort.
Jell done Joseph, and a great start.
Watch this space - the competition is hotting up.
JohnnyD

[peter hood]

Further on the miniature garden theme, one visitor to the show suggested that this class was "flower arranging for blokes!" I'll leave you all to decide.
I'd like to share John's congratulations of Joseph Bramley's garden. A really fine effort.

[Maggi Young]

A few more young chaps like Joseph, to follow in the footsteps of his lovely grandparents, Ju, and the late, Mike, and our clubs would be in a very happy position, that's for sure.

Congratulations to Joseph Bramley... the coming generation of stars !

[Tim Ingram]

Now there's a lovely picture John! I remember you saying at the Membership Symposium that something like this on Blue Peter could introduce a whole new number of children to the magic of alpines - I don't think that is so far-fetched. It might introduce some parents too!

[Lesley Cox]

If it's flower arranging for blokes, that's great, and young Joseph is continuing the trend in a great way. Best of luck to him. I wish we here could encourage the same thing as most of our alpine meetings, throughout NZ have a high proportion of women members and attenders, compared to men. If the blokesses don't like it, it's up to them to do something about it. In fact, now I think about it, I might bring up the subject of mini-gardens at our OAGG comm meeting next, and perhaps arrange a competition to be judged next year so there's time for planting and development. Maybe we could invite schools to take part in this and perhaps foster some interest.