What hopes do we have for 2014?

The New Year brings fresh hope for the season to come. Will the flowers come on time? Will the weather be kind and not wreck our plans? Will the new seedlings produce that elusive outstanding flower we have been after? Will we enjoy a disease- and pest-free year?  Who knows? At least we can plan and try to produce good flowers on time for the shows. And if we don’t, we shall at least enjoy the friendship of like souls in the same predicament. 

   For me these days, winning classes at a show is not the be all and end all. If there are outstanding flowers well-grown by other exhibitors, then it is a joy to admire them, to see a cultivar at its very best. If the year is a poor one, then it is still a pleasure to see how others have coped with the problems thrown at them by the season and at least achieved reasonable results. 

  My own ground is never going to produce outstanding flowers of all sorts every year. It is what they call a very late plot. The season is short. The elements can be ferocious. Very high rainfall, cold winds, difficult ground to work. In cold weather, the plots at Egerton can be four degrees  cooler than where I live in sheltered Bradshaw. No matter. The daffodils are mostly in pots these 

                              Even an immature flower from a new seedling can get the pulse racing.

days. The border carnations and pinks under glass as  well. Auriculas are shaded under glass. Glads cormlets and sometimes maiden seedlings are grown in pots under cover if necessary. Only the medium sized corms and bigger stand a chance outside and then they rarely flower in time for me without resorting to bump starts and other trickery. If I can get them through the winter, older border plants flower really well outside. Sweet peas are a gamble. Spray chrysanthemums do well. Vegetables vary: the greens rarely do really well. Peas and beans are reliable. Root crops are hit and miss. Onions a waste of time. We all learn what does well on our ground and what doesn’t but sometimes it’s worth trying to get away with growing plants that don’t like the conditions.Sometimes. Whatever, your passion, I wish you beautiful flowers in 2014.

 A nice pink primulinus. Will it flower well in 2014?