Quite a good turn out for this show, with most classes having four or more entries and the big classes covered as well. Peter Forrow broke his previous Southport record with ten wins and one second out of the twelve classes, a truly great result. Other well-known competitors were in attendance: Terry Morris, Jim Moore and Graham Anderson. in addition to some good local support. I only had a few seedlings which is what I am growing mostly this year.
Class 100 or 'The Nine' is the hardest class. Pictured below are the three entries with Peter's winning nine in the middle: three Star Performer, three 400s and then three Snazzy. Second and third were Terry and Jim, both using Careless and a combination of Dutch and American 400s. Look at the difference between the exhibits just from a distant photo. If you can get three of a kind together in a vase, do it. It has so much more impact than a dog's breakfast of this and that.
Class 101 for the single prim had five entries. Peter was first with Marina, Bernie Wood second with an Atom and Jim third with Nikita. I was deservedly unplaced with a seedling past its best. Atom was bred in 1949 and is not often amongst the prizes these days.
Class 102 for the single 100/200 had ten entries. Terry was first with Pink Elf, Mr Ridsdale was second with Flevo Cool and L Bailey third with a well-grown example of the rarely seen Early Little Yellow.
Class 103 for the single 300 saw Peter's Snazzy first with Emir second and third for Bernie and Jim. There is a real need for a decent 300 that doesn't cost a lot. Supplies of USA 300s are poor. Snazzy is often too short. Emir (a.k.a. Purple Prince or Purple Flora) is mostly poor. I found when I tried last to breed some new ones that most crosses produced 400s (like my Peggy Roseby which was Lady Lucille x Cream Of The Crop). I may have to try again.
Class 104 for the single 400/500 had eight entries. Peter won with the 500 Socrates, a new but variable cultivar that can be very good. Second was Terry's Careless and third was Mrs Ellis with a creditable Esta Bonita. I tried growing 50 Esta for show two or three years ago. I think you need a hundred to get good spikes. It has a gap between the first and third floret on one side. It is also not the straightest in terms of its handle.
Class 105 below for three 100/200s is a difficult class as these flowers can fly open overnight and become overflowered as these were. Peter's Flevo Smile were first, then Terry's Mr Chris and then Jim's Bambino and Flevo Honey.
Class 106 for the three 300s also had four entries. Peter's Dion were first, then Graham's Red Velvet and third were Bernie's Emir. I haven't seen a good red Velvet this year so far: it's a bit informal.
Class 107 for three big ones saw Peter first with Drama, Socrates and Rosalind, Mr Cartmell second with Priscilla, Finishing Touch and Carelss and Terry third with two Careless and a Sophie. Rosalind has a lot of potential.
In the three prims in class 108, Peter was yet again first with three Shalimar, Graham second with three Little Jude and me third with three seedlings.
Class 109 calls for three of one kind. Terry was first with Careless, then Peter with Huron Mask then Jim with Careless.
The class for six prims below had just the two entries: Peter was first with Lady Millicent, Little Jude, Shalimar and Kathryn. Graham was second with four Shalimar and two Clare. Kath Brown was pleased that the flower I named after her had done the business.
Class 111 (The Six) was won by Peter with six prims. Second was Graham with six big ones including four seedlings and third was Jim with six Sophie.
Below are my three seedlings from Class 108. I have bucketfuls of reds and oranges flowering right now but the middle one had more like Little Jude colours, though a bit different. Too gappy for top flight work though. the orange one on the right had fair placement.
The gladiolus section was split either side of an entrance. Just as well there were no strong winds.
There was much interest from the public and from other exhibitors. Here I spotted Reg Willis from Filey, grower of outstanding pinks, having a look at 'the twelve'.
Giant dahlias were well exhibited as can be seen from the two photos below. The six Sir Alf Ramsey in the second photo were superb.
The dianthus section was down on previous years. Both the PFs and the pinks could have done with more support. I presume the hot weather did not favour these, as most are grown under glass or polythene these days. Sweet peas were good but not top class. Again the number of flowers per stem had suffered with the heat.
After Southport it was back home to sort out a few for Hartelepool, where I was off the next day.
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