Getting it wrong

Being preoccupied with other things going on in life, it is so easy to miss messages from the plants who tell you they are not well by behaving differently in their growth , colour and so on. This year my borders were much poorer than usual and clearly suffered from a nitrogen deficiency - weak stems, small flowers, split calyces etc etc. I rashly continued using an old stock solution from the year before and I think the nitrogen had weakened. The solution also didn't have any Magnesium or Boron in it and the plants certainly showed their dislike for the mix. So, come the border shows I struggled to put anything worthy on the bench and was rewarded with a number of seconds and thirds and not very many firsts. Others have found this a challenging season with the low light values but my flowers were even worse than theirs. 


The joy about gardening, whichever way you choose to do it, is that there is always next year and we are always planning ahead. The plants are the best teachers and every so often they teach us a little humility.

The first show was at Doncaster - the Yorkshire Carnation Society early show. I managed two 1sts 14 2nds and 5 3rds and as there were only two or three entries in most classes you can see how poor this is. Phil Cross thought the quality was down on his stuff though it was miles better than mine. Bill Stokes had a few in and one or two others.

The following Wednesday was the BNCS Summer Show at Chesterfield, a new venue in a new garden centre. For a National show this was very poor and reflected the poor season we've been having. I didn't take any flowers but went along for a look. Only Phil Cross had any borders in quantity and not that many, and Graham Davies had one or two in. In the PFs only Ivor Mace covered the classes, with just a few singles from others. This shows how poor things are this year.

A nice three Braeside Boy from Phil Cross at Glapwell.

Mary Conlon from Phil Cross at Glapwell.

Phil Cross (left) talks to judge Ray Knight, breeder of  Nichola Ann and Jean Knight.

The following Sunday was the Notts Society show at Glapwell near Mansfield. A similar tale to Chesterfield though Bill Stokes and his mate Peter had a few more in. I got 2 1sts 4 2nds and 8 3rds and whilst I would say it was a bit better than Doncaster and clearly better than Chesterfield the quality was down. Phil had some very nice blooms but generally we still didn't see a top quality show. The pinks were better and filled their section. It's still a bit early for PFs for most and the section was thin but not too bad.

We are into a very busy time now: pinks cuttings, border layers and cuttings, tying up glads, keeping on top of the weeds. I hope to enter several of the earlier gladiolus shows this year but it all depends on the amount of sunshine we get in the next three weeks. Even if I don't make it to these early shows, I have some 300 glads seedlings flowering for the first time so there is plenty to look forward to. I will be putting a lot of photos on here next month. Enjoy your flowers!

Tottington Spring Show

Passionale: a good, cheap, late daffodil for deocrative work.

Sun Disc: very reliable, cheap late miniature.

Gay Kybo by Tom Alti: always good.

Excellent entry in the 'other divisions' class.

High Society: another reliable performer.

Andrew Clark in first and myself in second in the six class.

Three entries in the nine.

Downpatrick: one of the few late Division 1s.

Colne Spring Show



Tom's Carole Lombard

 


Doctor Hugh

 




Doctor Hugh, Desdemona, Gay Kybo

 



 









Downpatrick

My next show was to have been Ramsbottom but the weather after Catforth messed up things first with a heatwave and then torrential rain. However, Tom Alty did go and said he was made very welcome there. The next weekend I had a choice of going to the Bartop or to Colne. As I had to leave early to go on to Blackpool for some dancing, I chose to go to Colne as vases were supplied there so I didn't have to bother about taking my own vases but then asking someone else to collect them for me at the end.



Tom's favourite Stanway

At Colne, the exhibitors included Alan Greenwood at his last ever show, Tom, Rosie, myself and a couple of other bulb fans. Alan came out on top in the big class and received a special award which was most fitting considering the support he has given this show over the years. I managed a medal for best bloom in show with a rather large Doctor Hugh. Tom did very well as usual.



Tehidy









Catforth Daffodil Show



Goldhanger



The Spring Show season began for me on Saturday 24th March with Catforth Daffodil Show

run by Tom Alty and Andrew Clark which attracts a good quality entry from the best exhibitors

in Lancashire. In the past I have struggled to get blooms for this show as my allotments are

very late because of their altitude and exposure to the elements, so last autumn I got my 49

10 litre pots of daffs into their sandpit in late August and the first week of September, rather

than a couple of weeks later as in previous years. This paid off as I had a much better cut for

Catforth. My best results were 1st out of nine entries in the 3 x Division 1 with three Midas'

Touch and 1st out of seven entries in the 3 x Division 2 with three Goldhanger. After that,

however, it all went downhill for me and I was even  NAS'd because I had bought some Redhill

but in fact they weren't so some unscrupulous company had sold them under a wrong name.

Ian Tyler did not miss this error and rightly gave me the dreaded NAS. If I remember, I bought

them at South[port Show. Big mistake. I also showed various other daffs which Ian did not

judge to be as good as others there. I like Cotinga but it doesn't ever beat flowers like Rapture.

My Sealing Wax which were fresh and cheap and cheerful didn't get a red card but I managed

a second with some Martinette. 

Catforth is one of the best run shows around with proper food for exhibitors both during and

after staging, a brilliant raffle and terrific sponsorship which ensures that most exhibitors go

away with something extra. Keith Capper always brings some very high quality blooms and

Andrew Clark's are getting better each year. The miniatures were down following the demise

of Derek Roscow but I hope some of us will try to fill that section better next year. Tom Alty

is another very good grower who is hard to beat, especiaslly on his home turf. A great show

and one I would recommend to any daffodil fan.   



Martinette

Cotinga

Sealing Wax



Midas Touch





More Border Photos

As promised in the last post, here are some more photos of Borders, starting with an old classic, Cluny (above) a lovely apricot self.

These three above are all Grace's Scarlet Clove which has more scent to me than any other Border. I bought a number of named Cloves last year and attempted to cross them but like many growers didn't seem to get much seed this time. Of these other Cloves, some had no discernible scent at all while others were very feint when compared with Grace's Scarlet Clove.

This next one pictured above is a sport of the white Eudoxia and is called imaginatively Eudoxia Sport. It is a very rich colour and goes in the Self, Any Other Colour classes.

This white ground fancy is Alfred Galbally which at times has a heavenly clove scent. It produces a good round flower.

A personal favourite above, but one which not all growers get on with, is Show Girl, a yellow ground fancy. I find it responds well to feeding while others say it is too small. Mine were small until I gave them plenty of feed.

Another yellow ground fancy above is Ken Stubbs. Again it can be small without enough food. Very different from Show Girl in that it has a picotee edge as well as the splashes of red.

Above is a true picotee, the famous Ann S Moore. My stock of this is a bit weedy this year for some reason although almost all picotees are on the small side compared to the selfs and fancies.

I was lucky to be second in the Border Championships at Doncaster in 2010 with the above exhibit of 3 Annie Conlon, 3 Eudoxia and 3 Chesswood Lidgett Yellow and much to my amazement I was also placed first with the nine below.

Chesswood Lidgett Yellow, Julie Peverley and Chesswood Phil Dalby.

And then the worst thing possible happened in the hard winter of early 2011 and I lost a lot of stock including the very rare Julie Peverley, Annie Conlon and goodness knows how many more. The plants were frozen for too long. Borders are extremely hardy but I suspect a succession of mild winters for say 20 years means they may have lost some of their ability to cope with minus 10 to 15 for three months as they had to this time.

Fellow exhibitors came to my rescue and I was able to beg or buy some mother plants in the summer which provided cuttings and layers. Fingers crossed, I now have about 250 plants and a few two year olds which hopefully will let me put some on the bench in 2012. Having a good cut of say 100 blooms is what I like for a show like Doncaster but the weather can ruin one's plans. You can only delay flowering for so long (by using a secondary bud instead of the crown one) but I would much rather not have to do this. Ivor Mace's 'turbo feed' as I call it, was designed for PFs but works very well on Borders. You can find the recipe in one of the BNCS annuals but essentially it's a 2:0:1 sort of feed including calcium nitrate which gives good stiff stems and excellent blooms.

Border Carnations

Phil Cross's vase of 12 Yellow Alice at Doncaster 2011.

Border carnation exhibitors are a rare breed. I would think not more than 60 people grow borders for exhibition in the UK. Their season is short - July and August - and they are a labour intensive plant in that you mostly grow them one up, that is one flower per plant. A few people grow some as two year old plants with more flowering stems but for the majority it is a labour of love whereby layers or cuttings are rooted in August and then potted up for flowering the following year. I only know of one grower who grows his plants in beds in the garden. The rest of us grow them in pots, either one to a 2 Litre pot or two or more to a larger pot. We either grow them entirely under cover or bring them in under cover at flowering time.

Border growers think that PFs - the perpetual flowering carnations - are not as refined as Borders. PF growers think that the flowering season for borders is too short. The Border pictured above is Robert Smith, a lovely white ground fancy.

This next photo of class 16 at Doncaster shows three Kathleen Sharpe a very striking fancy, while below is a photo of Jean Knight. I have been fortunate enough to acquire some Jean Knight from the breeder himself, Ray Knight and I look forward to growing them.

I will post some more photos of borders in the future.

The main shows are now over for 2011 except for the late chrysanthemum shows which go on into November. However, there is a lot of work to do to prepare for next year. I have just finished potting up my exhibition daffodils in 10 litre pots ready for their plunge period of ten weeks or so in the sandpit. Then there are the gladioli to lift and clean before storing; the border layers and cuttings now growing away which will soon need potting on into bigger pots; some late pinks cuttings to be potted up. Now is the time as well when the planning and ordering takes place for next year. Rotation of beds has to be decided on, and which vegetables to grow where. Beds need turning and manuring, a task which can last several months depending on the weather.

Tottington Show

The week after Chipping the weather always takes a turn for the worse and the autumn rains usually set in with a vengeance. I thus struggle to get anything in glads that is worth showing as I don't grow them in a polytunnel as some do. But my local show is at Tottington and I like to support them when I can. Above we see the eternal optimist, Derek Roscow, pondering in which class to put this Drama with most of its florets removed. It should be noted that at The Pie Eaters Daffodil Show which despite the name has a very high quality entry, there is a class which Derek has won many, many times, for the worst daffodil. Say no more.

Class 1 was for one spike, as in many of these local shows. I was lucky enough to win a silver medal for best exhibit with Romanka 545LM seen in the centre here, a new one from the Czech Republic. Second was Derek with a Sophie you can just see on the far right and third was my Golden Fringed 514LM, the yellow one on the left, which hails from Russia. The only reason these two spikes made it is because they are very ruffled and thus water resistant.

In the three spike class you can see the weather damage on the glads at the back. I only had these three underflowered ones at the front but the judge preferred them to the weather beaten stuff. Two Extasy (the Dutch spell it that way to differentiate it from Ecstasy which is an older American glad) and one Blue Isle. You can get Blue Isle anywhere and normally I would not have grown it but I was breeding blues amongst other things this year so I grew a few and it surprised me with its health.

After that I was struggling so went in the floret box classes. Above is Mallorca another new Czech glad. It got beaten by Marie Roscow's Drama after Derek and I pointed out that one of the florets was not the same as the others.

In the other floret boxes there was only me. This little gem above is Amelie. The photo doesn't show a lovely pink flush to the florets.

In the prims floret box I had three Maxton and three Gillian Brown of my own breeding but not a very good exhibit.

There were less pansy boxes than at Chipping but the blue is a nice colour.

I also had an uncontested win with three Flevo Primo in the 200s but any other three 200s would probably have beaten them. It's a bit short and big for an exhibition type.

Derek was awarded the Bronze medal for his two Video in Class 2 and he also had an NVS medal for his veg.

Mr Brooks who always bring a carload of stuff deservedly won the most points in the show.

I shall look forward to the Spring Show here on Saturday 25th April, having just planted daffodils in pots in preparation for this event.