South Wales Alpine garden show (Caerleon)

such a lovely cheery blog, pleased you had a good day, love them all in their little pots and so bright and shiny and made me want to start some pots off for myself. lol will these sort of plants survive in my unheated greenhouse Brian? I know they are alpines and should survive but wonder if that is true of all areas and temperature variances..

Oliveoil
The majority are well happy in an unheated glass house it is excessive damp that kills them, because true alpines in the wild have a covering of snow in winter they are dry and cold.
Many are better taken out of a glass house in summer unless it is heavily shaded otherwise they scorch
B

Brian.I've been following the show pictures on other sites and yours are a welcome addition.Were you not tempted to take something with you?
Harlow in 2 weeks so as long as my car is still alive,I shall pop along and report back.

Phil the thought is always there but for me lugging heavy pots around is a thing of the past.
I don't pretend to be good at spelling but I could see a few labels spelt incorrect in my days that would have been corrected before the public entered, I know i am getting old and miserable.
Also have a look at Cyclamen alpinum pic it is well overfed if it is,will take a pic of true alpinum and post it.

thanks for the advice Brian maybe I shall have a go just need to get organised. :O)

Brian,when I take plants to our group,I always check that I have the spelling correct and written out correctly,ie genus,species,variety whatever.It may be petty but do it anyway.Although name changes can catch you out.

I see what you mean about the Cyclamen.Looks very loose.I'm probably wrong,but the only plants I feed are the bulbs.Some potash after flowering and that's if I have any and remember to do it.

Thank you for showing the photos. Don't they look lovely en mass in their pots, love Mitzy, C. vernus and the Hepaticas. My Hepaticas, outdoors are flowering, but very 'moth eaten' flowers, maybe a round of gravel would help. I assume it's slugs doing the damage.

Siris agree about the hepaticas outside slugs have a feast off of them ,another reason I grow so much under cover in pots

Phil perhaps it is on steroids....
as for labeling i had a right telling off by a judge in the late seventies for abbreviating the word variety to Var he said that if my plant and another were of equal merit he would award the prize to the correct spelling on the label,I did not appreciate it at the time but came to understand what he was getting at ,keeping up standards, he would be turning in his grave if he saw the ones saturday.

Your photos are wonderful Brian. A delight to behold. :0)

They are all so beautiful - thank you for taking the trouble to photograph them all. Scotsgran, I hope you found it a worthwhile journey, and great to go along with Brian too - being with a fellow enthusiast adds such a lot to an outing.

Exquisite!

I love the flowers with the swept back look! I love all things delicate and dainty, you must have had such an enjoyable time.

Beautiful displays - sounds as if it was a great and unexpected day out.

Fabulous collection of alpines, must have been a wonderful day out.

Thank you Brian. A real cheer up. Roll on Spring !

What a fabulous collection of plants Brian just goes to show what you can grow in the winter months , What a lovely unexpected treat I'm glad you enjoyed your day out .......

Thankyou Brian for sharing your day out - what a wonderful display - reading your blog and looking out at the sunshine here seems like a very good start to the day - I am off out into the green house to repot my begonias and shall take a detour past the cold frames to see how my alpines are doing !! - Jane

Brian and Pcw: Knowing next to nothing about alpines I thought the C. alpinum was beautiful. Please will you explain to me what is wrong with it and how you know it was overfed?

Steragram
We could both have a go at this and it could take about 10 pages,
i will start with a couple of basics, alpines grow in the wild at varying altitudes from high hills to quite high mountains often there roots are as much in stone as soil so they grow what we call tight there nutriment is washed down in the form of minerals from the ground above and other decaying matter in area around them ,there is no bottles Tomorite up there so they don't make lush growth.
Weather also plays it's part
Phil over to you

My thoughts are similar to Brians.A lot of these plants come from pretty barren areas.They are low growing and compact for survival reasons eg to escape the wind,grazing animals etc.If they are over fed they grow unnaturally large and floppy.Cyclamen tubers can grow quite large,dinner plate size for some species(hederifolium),but I think they still look better not flopping about.
There is a Cyclamen persicum in the blog that looks great.I think it won best plant in the novive section.

Incredible! The love and attention that some growers lavish on their collections is just amazing! Most of your photos are enough to make any plant lover drool Brian...couldn't pick a favourite from these, but one that really leapt out was the pit of very dark Iris towards the end. I think it was the colour...but I do love Iris. Thanks so much for sharing these. Going to my faves!

I think you're quite right about the labelling Brian. We shouldnt abbreviate things for public display as not everyone is familiar with the abbreviations. I'm guilty of doing it on here because I'm lazy, and I forget that this site is available to absolutely everyone. I shall try not to in future! :)

Karen
the Blue Iris is nice think it belongs to the Juno section and most are difficult in the UK some more than others.

Thank you Phil and Brian. I can see what you mean now, but have to confess I did like the pot full of flowers...

I had a yellow Juno Brian..it survived but didnt thrive in my first garden. I thought it. Must be something similar as the Juno foliage s very distinctive. That was lvely that you went with Scotsgran! Now I'm back online (halleluia) I shall be rejoining the SRGS ..probably too late for their early spring show, but you never know.

Thank you for these photos Brian. You did a very good job of capturing the magic of the event. It is hard for someone who has not been at a show to realise that the scents and colours are truly mesmerising. My favourite out of the whole show was the Iris svetianae, the yellow one. It was gorgeous. I am not home until a week on Monday so have not had a chance to download my photos yet. My son has taken my computer to try and fix it or replace it. It has been feeling sick for some time so I am not sure that I can show any of the photos I took. I was very glad to have Bjs along for the company on the journey but more for the insight he was able to give me about the various plants we admired. Speaking to other visitors I found out that the snowdrop 'Sophie North' is a great favourite on the show bench here in Wales. Scottish wrote a blog about it after we had been at Dunblane Early Bulb Show one year. I was able to relate how it was named for one of the little girls who died in the Dunblane School massacre. It is a wonderful way to remember the children. There was disappointment that it is hard to get their hands on the bulbs. Bjs met lots of old friends whom he has not seen for a few years and it was lovely to see their high regard for him and his OH. I hope I can make it down again next year or maybe the following year. I have come down for my G'daughters appearance in her dance school biannual show. Looking at these photos I will be able to relive the happy memories I took away with me.
Karen the early bulb day in Dunblane is on on Saturday from 10am. If I were you I would drop everything to go as there is a speaker on reticulate Iris. Details on the website. I am sorry to miss it but kids come first. If you go be sure to take lots of photos.

thank you for this lovely blog. As I said to scots gran I normally go to this and then onto my eldest girl in Frome. But she came here for the long weekend so I missed it.

I'm like you they should spell names correctly etc.
Hopefully next year ;o)

and I always end up buying several plants. I just cant seem to help myself.

Scotsgran, I just booked my Club 50 £16 return train tickets to Dunblane! :) will make sure camera is fully charged!

I'm looking forward to seeing the photos. I hope you had a good day.

Disaster! Woke up at 7am Saturday feeling very unwell, so had to give it a miss. :(

What a wonderful collection of photos, Brian, from the Alpine show! I've never been to an Alpine show but the photos make me want to go to one someday! I really loved them all & some left me with my mouth open (well, almost!)

I thought I was very well versed in plants but a great many of the Alpines I've never seen before! Live & learn!

Poor Karen never mind there is always next year. Balcony look on the AGS website under events. I am sure there is one in Loughborough.

Balcony
Probably Saturday or Saturday week always an early one.

Balcony I just checked The show is on 5th March. Bulbs and plant sale from 10am to 3.30pm. If you do go make sure you check out the members plant stall. There are often good bargains to be had. The competitive show will be open after the judging around 11am until 4pm. Admission is £3.00 for non members and free for children and AGS members. LOUGHBOROUGH SHOW, Charnwood College , Thorpe Hill, Loughborough, LE11 4SQ.
Just realised the Harlow show is on this weekend - 27th Feb. It will be a bit closer to you. Pcw is hoping to get along to it. pm him for more info. I have to go as the kids are home from school and will need to get on the laptop to do their homework. The sat nav directions are CM17 9LR.

Balcony-I see your in cambridgeshire.Harlow is just off the M11.Probably about an hour from Cambridge itself.
The show opens to the public about 11 but plant sales open at 10.All the top nurseries will be there and are normally very willing to help if you are unsure.
Entry is £3.50 for non AGS members.

Brian I loved the blog, and your photographs were brilliant, as usual, we have grown alpines for many, many years, but not on this level, and as we do not have a glass house any more, they are just the common ones, which have to survive our wet winters......could I grow the Crocus etruscus here?

Dotty i have never grown it in this form although I am familiar with Crocus Zwanenburg Bronze (this is a cultivar of it) and very easy providing you don't have squirrels !!

more information about - CROCUS ETRUSCUS 'ZWANENBURG'
Foliage Colour:
Flower Colour:
Foliage Season:
Flowering Season:
Soil Conditions:
Shadiness:
Dry Shade:
Plant Height: Less Than 20Cm.
Scented:
Architectural:
For Cutting:
Late Appearer:
Early Disapearer:
Bomb Proof:

Thanks for that, unfortunately we do have squirrels !! lol

Thank you all for that info but I'll not be able to go as I have a hospital appointment on the Friday afternoon & I'm not very likely to want to go "gallivanting" around the country as I'm likely to be very sore! :-((

Oh dear Balcony, hope it is nothing serious....all the best.x

I hope you are feeling a bit better by now Balcony. There will be other shows for you in the future. I managed to download my photos to my rebuilt computer and I have succeeded in doing a little blog on the South Wales Show. Enjoy these to keep you going. I only bought one plant an Erythronium 'Margaret Mathew' She has three flowers and is exceeding expectations.

Sounds delightful Scotsgran......

Thanks, DD & SG, in the end I had to cancel the appointment & make a new one. I have had a very bad cough for the last week but it is getting better now. :-)) Just as well because I have another appointment at the hospital this Wednesday for some tests on my bladder.

Last Friday was also for my bladder but they wanted to put a camera inside it! Such a delicate operation wouldn't be possible if I were coughing constantly! When I explained the reason for cancelling the appointment for Friday the nurse didn't say anything so I imagine she realised the same!

I got a call from the hospital to remind me of Wednesday's appointment & I told the nurse the same but she said it wouldn't interfere with what they want to do. I expect to be much better for that appointment. :-))

I haven't felt like doing very much this last week but as I'm starting to feel more like my old self I'll now be playing "catch up!"

Hope that goes well Balcony and you get sorted out asap.

Same from me Balcony....... bladders are a pain in the bottom lol??

Now had BOTH procedures! Now I have to wait till the urology doctor at the hospital sends me an appointment to tell me what he results are & what the next step might be!

At least the last doctor, who did the camera test on Wednesday, told me there is no longer any infection in my urine!

The 3 tests I have had done have all come back, (unofficially, of course, according to those who did them) as OK! So, what is causing the retention of urine in my bladder? I hope the the urology specialist can tell me at the next appointment.

Oh dear, that sounds most unpleasant, I do hope they get to the bottom of it ...no pun intended!! just playing the waiting game, I do not know which is worse!

Thanks, DD. I had the final test done about 10 days ago now I'm waiting for the urologist to make me an appointment to tell me the results & where we go from there.