Southport Flower Show

   Southport is always just a little bit early for me in terms of the bigger glads. Some years I don't have anything to take. This year I thought I'd take some short prim and 200 seedlings that maybe had some novelty value for the public though they wouldn't win. I  also took three good sized early 200s of a variety that I'd bred, one decent prim, some PFs and a few Sweet Peas. Because of the large number of shows I'm doing this year, I decided to not stop overnight but came home arriving back after midnight.

Peter (Forrow) texted me with some news and photos on  the morning of the show. I was shocked to find that my single prim had won its class. I had spent quite a time trying to twist the second floret into shape. Anyway, win it did and I contacted the person it is named after, Anne Milton, and she was very pleased. You can see what I mean about the second floret below.

'Anne Milton'.

I didn't have any others with that kind of bud count but I sneaked three out of a cormlet tray and stuck those together and managed a third with them. Again 'Anne Milton' was the cultivar. Of course, I don't know. There might only have been three entries! Desperate times: if I'd had anything else I wouldn't have put these in. A right ragbag of short, underflowered prims.

So the only other glads I had were short seedlings and more spikes from the cormlet trays. I put these together in the six class. I'm sure the judge only gave them a passing glance but I'm also sure that plenty of people coming to the show wouldn't have seen these sorts of colours before. I might even make a thing of doing this. An entry for the public's delight. So, here is my 'novelty entry'.

 Graham Anderson had said to me as we were staging that the spike at the top right was the most interesting one in the show. Informal, gappy but very different. The others were all prims or pseudo prims. The middle right one is called 'Mari Lowri' (when it's got some buds) and the bottom left is 'Sally's Orange' (when it's got the buds and more than one open). The others are out of my seedling pots or beds.

The judges didn't give me anything for my other entries and rightly so. I had bred an early 200 that I put three in, in the three of one variety class but apart from being early it has no real redeeming feature. I might just cross it on, onto something like' Ever So Sweet' which is going to be flowering in a couple of days. We'll see.


I was only able to do two entries in the PFs as I didn't have enough in flower. I was lucky enough to win the Six Grower's Choice class with two Schubert, two Lavender Schubert and two Unfinished Symphony, below.

I don't know whether any of the big PF growers turned up so I'll have to wait to see when the results are published by Southport.

No such luck in the three Grower's Choice class where I was unplaced with these two Heracles plus one Olivia. They were uneven and certain judges don't like the modern commercial varieties like Olivia. I was happy with one first from my two entries.

I

I also put in a vase of nine mixed Sweet Peas, the first time I've grown these for maybe twenty years. I know I didn't get anything for them as the other entries were miles better. As I put my one humble vase in, John Robson, one of the best growers,  was selecting nine white ones from about thirty under the beady eye of his main adviser, his wife. And all thirty of these whites were fours. Not just fours, perfectly opened fours. He must grow thousands.

There were some surprises in the glads classes. I was very surprised that Peter only got a third in the nine class. Graham Anderson I imagine won it. He had in his nine a very impressive white called 'River Dove' which was spot on. But Peter had some quality flowers including three big Pink Elegance, and three nice Our Les.  I'm surprised that stuff like Secret Lady and Careless got the nod over these. But I wasn't judging and no doubt when you got into the detail of it there was more than met the eye.

I was pleased that Ron and Glynis Taylor had travelled up from Devon. I should have spent more time with them but I was a bit pushed for time. Len, Terry, Jim and Karen all turned up while I was there and no doubt others did later in the night.

I enjoyed myself with these and with Peter whom I cooperate with the most in our selection of spikes etc. We did say that it's about time you were able to put more than one entry in the glads (in fact in everything). Peter had lots of very nice spikes but couldn't put them all in which is silly.

I'll have to try harder to get a hotel for next year. My usual place was full when i tried to book a few months back.

Tomorrow (Friday) I will be pootling up the motorways to Hartlepool where I'm judging the Northern Gladiolus Show on Saturday morning. I'll have some plants for Brian Bland in the car as he's going to try a few Borders and I'll be returning some pots from stuff I was given last year.

It's a really great show Hartlepool, though this year we will be missing  Paul Webster and Bill Grahamslaw, two of my favourite exhibitors who passed away recently. Let's hope the other exhibitors bring plenty to fill in the gaps left by those two lovely men. I've no idea how many years I've been judging this show but it's always a great honour and a real pleasure. I'll post some photos on here soon.

Yorkshire Carnation Society Late Show, Sunday 13th August.

  Another early start for the second show at Doncaster the day after Huddersfield.. I had very little to take, just four PFs but had to go anyway as I'd promised some plants to Phil Cross and I also was presented for my British Border Championship win in the early show with an engraved glass tumbler. The PFs were a bit thin - only about 96 blooms and sixty odd of those were from Brian Duffy who swept the board in most classes.

Peter Gurnhill showed an interesting bloom with this Mojace.

The Championship class entry from Brian Duffy with Jess Hewins, Max Helliwell, Crompton Princess and Solway Star.





A nice nine from Brian Duffy.

His seven comprised Crompton Princess and Max Helliwell.

My unopposed single yellow ground fancy, Clara's Choice.

I scraped a third with these three unmatched Schuberts.

Liz Earl put in an appearance to win the same class for Brian Duffy.

  There was some consternation at the fact that one of the pinks exhibitors had all of their 25-30 entries removed because of red spider mite. I had some exhibits removed once because of RSM and you don't do it twice but it seems some people either miss it or don't worry about it.

Not the biggest of shows at Doncaster but it was good to catch up with people again. i hope next year we will all have more blooms for the shows.

The Yorkshire Gladiolus Society Show, Kirklees, Huddersfield Sat 12th August

 Leading up to this show, an issue on social media arose which gave me food for thought. One of the exhibitors posted on the BGS Facebook page photos of the glads he had cut for Huddersfield. He knew that I was irregular contributor to the BGS site but obviously didn't connect that to the fact that I would be judging the show for which his flowers were destined. This puts any judge in an unenviable position. Anyone could say that cards were given because the judge knew whose flowers they were in advance etc etc. As I see it there are two solutions: a) exhibitors don't post before the show or b) the judges stay off the social media until after the show. I'm not sure which to recommend but I won't be looking at the BGS site in the days leading up to Hartlepool as I'm judging there and sure as eggs is eggs some exhibitor will unwittingly post something about their flowers before the show.

Anyway, I love the schedule at the YGS show. There are thirty odd classes for glads: something for everyone. The only thing that stops it from being a really big show is that it's a bit early in the season for some.

I was flattered that some of the glads that I had bred were present at the show. I'm always particularly hard when judging these so that no one can accuse me of favouring my own varieties. 

Peggy Roseby was named after my wife's mother. This one had lost the colour in the bottom floret.

Kitty Rodely is a friend of my wife. The flower has lovely sharp colours but in this case  it didn't win because, amongst other things, there's no gap at the back of these florets where there should be one.

Mira is named after one of my Albanian students.

Best 400 and grand Champion was this Pink Elegance exhibited by Peter Forrow.

Best prim was the right hand spike of Shalimar, again by Peter Forrow.

Skalka is a newish 300 that may fit the bill if it's shown well.

This Star Performer was overflowered but held well and was admired by the public.

There was a fair amount of Snazzy in evidence.

The public also liked John Pilbeam's Angel's Kisses above.

In the prims we also had some Ruby

and some Lady Penelope.

Not loads of 200s, but these Hawaiian Sunset were nice and informal which makes a change.

A little surprised to see some Priscilla on the bench. Lack of height was one of its problems.

Some overflowered Dion were benched

and this is turning into the year of the giant sized Pink Elegance.

The odd Cream Perfection was seen.

I had no hesitation in awarding the best exhibit to the winner of the florist's class with these very evenly matched Lady Helen.

Plenty for the public to look at. The 500s and 300s were mostly overflowered and I had no option but to award the best 300 to an Emir / Purple Prince / Purple Flora  and the best 500 to a Flevo United which normally would not have been in the running.

A very enjoyable show. My thanks to Kirklees Council and to David Willoughby and his wife for running this show.

Dianthus Shows: Part Four

   As we come into August, in most years the Borders are coming to an end and then the PFs take over. The Pinks keep on going too of course. My last show for Borders was Bakewell, staging on Tuesday 1st August. I didn't have much of anything really, just a few PFs and maybe 15 to 20 Borders and they were only just hanging on in the heat. I wanted to support the new Borders Section which I hope in a better year will be well supported.

As it was I was the only entrant in the Borders. I put five Bofield Emily and two Show Girl in the seven class. In the three selfs I had two entries of 3 Rita Lilian May and Bradshaw Beacon. In the single self I put in two entries, Bradshaw Heartblood and Eudoxia Sport. In the three Fancies I put in 3 Show Girl and a mixed vase of Irene de la Torre, Mystic Mel and Mystic Dawn. In the single fancy I put what was probably my best bloom, a Bradshaw Sunset. I used Lucy Hogg for the three picotees and an Ann S Moore for the single picotee. Apart from the Sunset, these were not my best flowers, but all I had left.

I staged even less in the PF Section with just single blooms of Red Lips, Schubert, Nick Woodfield and Clara's Choice. I had two of the last one so one went in the the Yellow Ground Fancy and one in the Grower's Choice. Ivor Mace and Bill Bonas and the men from Stoke were also in the PFs so I didn't expect to win anything there, though at Tatton I had managed a red card against the big guns.

The glads exhibitors were there with Peter Forrow from Chesterfield having a hatful and Nigel showing some very nice seedlings. Unfortunately the best laid plans go awry. Peter was going back on opening day to get the results and let me know (I couldn't stay for the actual show). However, such was the rain that the car parks were closed and Peter queued for two hours before being told he couldn't park. A shambles really. You would think that such a show would have a Plan B for wet weather but no. Ivor posted a few results about the PFs but I will only know when the prize money and Borders Section silver medal arrives whether I got a placing in the PFs. Peter was also going to take the photos so that never happened. I only took two: one of my vase of seven and one of the Bradshaw Sunset but unfortunately reds and apricot ground fancies don't photograph very well.




5 Bofield Emily and two Show Girl

Bradshaw Sunset.

So I've now started taking my cuttings, mostly Borders but also a few PFs that have cutting material on them.  I don't have electricity at the allotments so I just take them early, shade from the sun and spray with water every day for three weeks. I add some Maxicrop to the sprayer from the third week. The cuttings mix this year  is three Perlite to one grit sand. Nothing else. They are usually rooted in four or five weeks.

No shows for me this first weekend of August. Next weekend I'm judging the Yorkshire Gladiolus Show on the Saturday and then I'm over to Doncaster on the Sunday for the Yorkshire Carnation Society second show with just a few PFs if I'm lucky. I think there will be a presentation of the awards from the Early Show and I'm in line for some fancy cut glass and hopefully a medal for something. It's been a lucky year for me so far with six medals for Borders and PFs. I'll be fortunate if I do so well in the glads as, like many,  I have suffered from late emergence after the dry spring. Southport is only 11 days away and I don't seem to have enough to compete in the big classes but the luck might hold and a few might open dead on time. And pigs might fly, I suppose. Still a bit early for my plot that only really gets going around the time of the National in late August. The seedlings are keeping me busy but most have been also rans so far.

Danthus Shows: Part Three

So, Sunday Doncaster, Tuesday Tatton and now Saturday 22nd July at Atherton for the Lancs and Cheshire Carnation Society Early Show. This is only half an hour away for me, so I was there bright and early and helped put out the tables. It ended up being a very good show for the PFs, but typical for this year, not so many Pinks or Borders. As usual for this year, I was the only entrant in most of the Border classes as others had flowered out. 

In the Borders, Phil only had a few singles but he still won with Golden Cross, beating this new one of mine below which I think was too small for the judge.

A shock  in the single fancy class where Phil had a lovely sport of Mystic Mel, plus a very good Mystic Mel itself plus a nice Forest Glow, three entries but the judge gave the class to me with this Lord Nuffield below which isn't even round.

I put three entries in the five class but didn't have five of the same for one vase so I put this seedling, now called Bradshaw Beacon, in with four Ann S Moore. The other two vases were five Lucy Hogg and 5 Bradshaw Heartblood. The Heartblood got the Best Exhibit in the Borders.

Here are my three vases of five.

Show Girl was still very young and on the small side but I didn't have anything else so that was my vase of three fancies. This is the middle bloom.

Another shot of the five Bradshaw Heartblood.

One Bradshaw Beacon and four Ann S Moore:

Five Lucy Hogg, the front right was a bit wangy.

The three Show Girl.

In the three selfs, I put in two entries: three Bradshaw Heartblood below

and the second entry was two Crimson Comets and a Heartblood.

 In the PF section I was happy with my results though I had mostly single blooms to put together. These three were Lavender Schubert, Crompton Princess and Unfinished Symphony, second in the Grower's Choice class.

I put these in the Grower's Choice as well: Bob's Highlight, Crompton Classic and Atletico Schubert.

My best result was probably this one: first out of seven in the three fancies with three big and blousy Crompton Classics.

I was happy with a second out of six    in the Grower's Choice below.

 
PF Section.

Phil Cross won Best Exhibit with these nine Heracles which he staged for Tony Derrick who couldn't come.

Kevin Earl had some lovely flowers there. This is Meg Earl, second in the nine.

Kevin also had some lovely examples of this sport from Crompton Classic.

I also got a second out of twelve in the single self class with a nice Heracles. I got a silver for most points in the Borders but as at Doncaster, it's not so much fun when you're unopposed in a lot of classes. Let's hope next year we can all flower our borders at the same time and have some proper competition in the shows.