Tottington Spring Show 13th April 2013

This show has a good daffodil schedule and an investment in more vases meant that we were well provided for. Free grub would help but not all shows are as good as Catforth. There were some six exhibitors in all but the bulk of the exhibits were supplied by the three musketeers in the first photo: Porthos, the young D'Artagnan and Aramis of course. We didn't have bucketfuls of flowers as we can have at this time of year as the season has been so difficult and good quality blooms were at a premium. There were 53 exhibits and 100 blooms on show. Normally, we would double that at this time of the season. 

In Class 1 the Walter Lea Cup, Best Exhibit and Best Bloom went to Keith Capper for his six which were Misty Glen, Banker (best bloom) Quantum, Dust Up, Abstruse and Detector. We hope Keith will do well at Warwick next weekend with flowers of similar quality to these.

The Tom Scholes Memorial tray for the most firsts in daffodils went to Aramis, a.k.a. Tom Alty seen here with his diploma awarded for three Crowndale. Tom can always be relied upon to stage winning flowers.

I managed a diploma for these three Mission Bells

Class 2 was closely contested by Andrew Clarke and myself and I just squeaked in to win the Miniature Championship with Pacific Coast, Pixies' Sister and Sabrosa.

Close-up of Pacific Coast

Pixies' Sister

In Class 4 Tom started his series of wins with these five Pink Silk.

Tom's Pink Silk were much bigger than my five Goldfinger, showing that it is not often a good idea to grow for a second year in a pot. The central flower was nice but the others too small.

In the three Div 2s it was Tom again with his 'Tideford' (that isn't) beating Andrew's Sportsman.

Three Division 1s had to be Pink Silk this time and Tom again snaffled the pink card.

The single bloom classes were not heavily supported. Here Tom's Misty Glen won over Andrew's Sportsman and my Sealing wax.

The single Division 1 again went to Tom with his stunning Kingham, a really good flower that kept fresh for over a week.

Tom's excellent Trecarra had the edge on my Doctor Hugh  in the Division 3 class. This Doctor Hugh kept its size despite being grown for a second year in a pot.

The 'anything except 1-4 and 6' class was mysteriously won by Tom even though I staged the judge's favourite Mondragon. There is no pleasing some people.

The three Div 6s was a nice class with Andrew's Trena, a very good exhibition flower, beating my Chickadee and Crofty.

Trena did it again for the young D'Artagnan in the single bloom Div 6, beating even Rapture. I had a lot of Division 6s and put four entries in and to my surprise the shortest and fattest Cotinga got a third.

In the three miniatures, one cultivar class, Andrew beat me yet again with his Tete a tete coming first over my Pacific Coast.

Here is Andrew with a fine vase of Trena.

The single miniature was won by Andrew with Mite, a very good cultivar.

We don't have a show this weekend locally and don't have flowers to take the National apart, so our next show is Harrogate in ten days' time. Our entries may not win everything in sight but we will fill the classes with honest flowers, we will certainly have, thanks to Tom,  the best home made food and soup in the showground and in years to come people will say: 'The Three Musketeers were here.'  And Mrs D'Artagnan of course.

Ramsbottom Spring Show

  

After Colne on the Saturday it was off to Ramsbottom on the Sunday. Tom and I took the best of what we had used on Saturday and one or two more. There was a good local turnout and a fair show was opened to the public in the afternoon. Tom's Kingham got the Best Bloom  pipping a large Australian white that Keith Capper had put in.

Keith was not to be outdone and he won the nine class with some very fancy and expensive blooms. Unfortunately there was no opposition.

An unusual Div 11a was benched which I think was called Sunny Girlfriend. It's a Walkers daff so that catalogue should give the right name.

I had brought along my three Xit from Colne and was lucky enough to win that class against quit a few other entries.

Tom had some nice Crowndale which I did well with last year. Still quite dear as a bulb but hard to beat.

Here are those three Xit which won me a massive 60p.

Trena did well and won the 'other than 1-4' class with ease.

Arkle was much in evidence. This daff can be grown to a very large size and took the three Div 1 class.

Honeybourne won one of the single bloom classes but I was not that struck by the colour.

We have had some problems with daffs being misnamed by suppliers this year and this was supposed to be Tideford. It clearly isnt but was good enough to win for Tom. On the small side (in fact it might well be a Div 3 rather than a Div 2) but very neat and clean.

Colne Spring Show

Saturday 6th April saw the Colne Spring Show taking place. The season has been a particularly difficult one and many of us struggled to get decent entries on the bench. At Colne there were just four exhibitors in the daffodils: Andrew Clarke, Tom Alty, Alan Greenwood and myself. Tom and Alan had the bulk of the flowers. Andrew just put a few in and I only had miniatures and division 6.

It is frustrating when you are the only one in a class. Here's my 1 2 3 in the three miniatures with Xit and two vases of Sabrosa. Nothing spectacular.

In the big class for three vases of three it was between Alan and Tom with Tom coming out on top.

Alan's nine included Manly (D4) and Broomhill which he grew Bigger than I ever could.

Tom did it again in the six from the registered list but you can tell what a poor year it is from the fact that he used two division 4s and an 11a in his exhibit which is unusual but was necessary on the day.

Alan again was second to Tom.

I think this was Corky's Song but I could be wrong.

Alan scored with these two Strines in the single bloom Div 2.

In the div 3 it was Merlin for Alan beating Tom's Dateline.

Here is Tom's Kingham beating Bravoure and Pink Silk.

Andrew had some nice flowers and this Rapture and trena beat my Itzim into third.

Let us hope that next year is kinder and we can get some decent flowers in abundance to show to the public.

Best in Show was Andrew's Rapture, while Tom got an award for his nine flowers. 

Catforth Daffodil Show 23rd March 2013

No show will run well without its behind the scenes dream team, some of whom are seen here. Providing help and refreshment for exhibitors and the public, these are some of the unsung heroes who make Catforth a great show. 

Tom Alty seen here putting the finishing tweaks to his exhibit in Class 1. Several exhibitors were unable to attend because of the snow but the show still made well over £200.00 for Cancer Research UK thanks to Tom's efforts and those of Andrew Clarke and others. 

Given the late season and the weather there was a good display for the public to see.

Class 3 produced the best bloom, the Rapture in the centre of the right hand vase. It was close. There was another Rapture in the local classes almost as good.Peter Walker won this and other classes with some very clean flowers.

Only two entries in Class 2 and the big ones were much better than the little ones on this occasion.

Very nice Gold Velvet in class 3.

Enormous blooms of Demmo in Class 4. How it is classified as a division 2 I will never know.

Nice clean Trecarra in Division 3.

The art work by local pupils was extremely good. Some of them were only four years old, but their work already showed good control and imagination.

Class 17 showed the beauty of different cyclamineus types.

I was fortunate enough to steward for Judge Ian Tyler who gave every exhibit a good examination and was a fund of knowledge and expertise.I can really recommend stewarding as a great way to learn a lot more about your flowers, their likes and dislikes, their strengths and weaknesses.

A New Year: Daffodils

   2012 was exceptional in terms of the poor light we had to endure. Many of my new gladiolus seedlings did not flower in their second year as the light was so poor, so for 2013 I will (hopefully) be flowering those and the next batch which will mean space will be at a premium. You can flower 200s and prims in pots (preferably five to a ten litre pot and pro rata for other pots), but try it with 300s, 400s and 500s and you'll get very short flower heads. So one's seedlings for these last three sizes have to go out in the ground in beds.

   The joy of showing and gardening in general is that there is always next year and we can try something different. The trick is not to change too much at one time because if there is any improvement you won't know which thing you changed caused it, if any. One of my changes for 2013 involves growing more small and miniature daffs for shows. Since Derek Roscow passed away there aren't many growers in Lancashire who are planting miniatures, so the classes need some supporting.

Though the Bartop Show run so well by Keith and Margaret Capper finished in 2012, there will be a new show over at Chorley which Tom Alty and Andrew Clarke have instigated. Locals will thus have Catforth, Chorley, Ramsbottom, Tottington and Colne to go at besides Harrogate and the Pie Eaters if there are blooms left by then. I had a text from Tom the other day to tell me that Catforth is only 12 weeks away. Let's hope we all have plenty of flowers on time.