Colne Spring Show 12th April 2014

  Colne Spring Show moved to a new venue at the Community Centre. This made a huge difference to exhibitors and what I believe is known as footfall, as there were many more visitors to the show. With Tom and Andrew having each had a Best in Show at Tottington (Andrew - Golden Joy) and Ramsbottom (Tom - Golden Joy) it was up to the third musketeer at Colne and I was lucky enough to get Best in Show with Inverpolly below.

  There always seems to be one show where you have plenty of flowers and this was it for me. Another new one for me which I will grow again was Alston, a new 2W-P below. I used it in my 3x3 Championship entry (in fact I put in two entries). I could have put in thirty-three, as I was unplaced behind Alan Greenwood, Andrew and Tom.

In the six single blooms class Tom beat me into 2nd place by one point. I thought his stuff was actually a lot better than mine.  I rallied in some of the other classes, winning the 3 x Div 1 with Corbiere below.

In the three Div 2s I thought I was home and dry with three good Gold Convention (below) but then Tom staged a fantastic three Cape Cornwall to take first place. I should have taken photos of other people's flowers as I usually do but forgot in a senior moment.

   Bala is not often shown in the Div 4s. I managed to sneak a first with three of these, below.

 Another new flower for me this year was Cadgwith which I liked very much.

  Avalanche takes some beating in the 'other classes' section and I snaffled another first with the one below. It's a bit tender and I have found it does not like the cold so I don't plunge mine at all. You need a good twelve flowers open at least  on the stem to win with it. I had one a few years back with nineteen open but that was exceptional for me.

 Here is Alan receiving his trophy for the Championship.

   Tom, as usual cleaned up with two trophies and umpteen firsts.

  I in turn received my medal from the mayor, who was impressed with the show.

  Catforth and Colne stood out for me as the two best shows this spring. We had very little left after Colne so couldn't make it to Harrogate. I either have nothing or hundreds for Harrogate. This time all I had was a few miniatures - not enough to warrant the trip. I must time them better. Anyone who had flowers for Harrogate this time has my respect. In this warm weather, even standing them outside didn't slow them up enough.