Similar neglect was suffered by my borders which got potted on miles too late after I recovered. When it came to the shows, the only borders I had in bloom were seedlings for the Yorkshire Society Show at Doncaster. I managed three 1sts four 2nds and two 3rds but generally the entry was thin. Phil Cross, Liam Leger, Bill Stokes and myself supplied the borders and Phil had an excellent new pink that he had bred which was christened Mystic Ray Knight on the day.
Mystic Ray Knight from Phil Cross, a lovely new pink.
Liam Leger had some nice flowers: this is Billy Boy, bred by Bill Stokes.
Liam again with a nice vase of Crimson Comet.
I was second and third in the single clove with a couple of small seedlings. Liam had a good Grace's Scarlet Clove.
This was another seedling in the single White Ground Fancy class.
Another ruby coloured clove seedling without much form to it.
A fair WGF seedling.
An apricot ground fancy seedling that I will probably get rid of at the end of the season.
Yet another seedling.
A nice seedling from Phil Cross.
The following weekend I was on my own at Atherton for the Lancs and Cheshire Carnation Society Early Show as Phil and Barrie were up north judging in Newcastle. I managed to do all the classes but again there were only two flowers that weren't new seedlings. It's no fun being unopposed on the show bench. At least I kept the borders section alive. The PFs were similarly late and apart from a tremendous set of Joanne's Highlight from Brian Dean they were good but not outstanding. The pinks were there in numbers - twice as many entries as last year. I think there were 200 odd entries altogether in the show.
A better show than last year at Atherton with loads more pinks.
Only me in the borders section unfortunately.
Three WGF seedlings were a bit blousy.
Apart from the one Billy Boy in the middle of the front vase, these were all seedlings.
WGF seedling
Brian Dean liked the heavy clove scent on this seedling and kept sniffing it.
Pinks in abundance.
Brian Dean with a fabulous nine Joanne's Highlight: best exhibit in the show.
I told Graham Davis that this pink of his would win the class despite the numerous entries and of course it did!
Another view of the show.
This apricot self has a slight clove scent. However, the centre is a bit darker and I'm not sure whether it will make it as a self.
Some of my new red seedlings have good round shapes to them. and plenty of petals.
This one smells very clovey as well.
Next year, the Atherton date goes back to its original 23rd July. Let's hope therefore that other border growers can be there. I am very tempted get a few PFs so that even if my borders are early or late, I can still get plenty of stuff on the tables.
Today (25th July) I did my first border crosses of the year. I hope to get a lot of seed this year. Seeing a new seedling flower for the first time is an absolute joy for me. Every one is a surprise and a delight. I was amazed to get so many nice clove-scented seedlings this time. I will probably save and propagate further around seven or eight of these.
Only a few weeks and the new gladiolus seedlings will be flowering for the first time: these will all be prims and 200s this year, whereas next year I will have hundreds of new 300s and 400s to look at plus a few 200s (hopefully some green ones).
As for the gladiolus shows, I suspect we are going to struggle with the early shows: Huddersfield is a fortnight away and I have no sign of a spike in any of the beds. The concertina patterns on the leaves bear witness to the cold nights in May and even frosts. So it is a late year. And as they always say in a late year, 'Harrogate is going to be very good'. We'll see. Still time for a heatwave or floods.
