Glasgow Show 2007
lots of colour in the 'Dear Green Place'

Report by Sandy Leven

Held in Milngavie town hall, by the Campsie Hills and on the edge of Stocky Muir the Glasgow show is held in my wife's home territory. 30 years ago we would walk in the Campsies, listen to the birds sing, visit Milngavie and …….but back to the show…..

Cyril Lafong won the Forrest medal for the second year in succession with his Androsace studiosorum 'Doksa', a fine form which has been introduced by Margaret & Henry Taylor.


I expected to be in Prague at the Czech Conference but couldn't go, so that unexpectedly ,I was able to go to the Glasgow show. As usual it was well worth the visit. Entry numbers were slightly down but the plants on show were of the usual high standard.
Our shows are very dependent on the support of several 'core' exhibitors and if some or more are absent then this is reflected in the number of plants on our benches. I would encourage everyone who is interested in the shows to make an effort and support their local show at least. Like Perth and Edinburgh, the Glasgow show had good entries in Section 2, so that bodes well for the future. I confess that I had no entries at either Perth or Glasgow this year and felt suitably guilty.

What happens to old [former] show secretaries?
They wash dishes


Roger and Bob behind the scenes

What happens to old [past] presidents?
They sell stuff.


Glassford relaxes while selling labels and Anne Chamber's cards. [He also sells back numbers of 'The Rock Garden']

The Glasgow show has the best natural light of all our shows, even on the dark side of the hall especially in the afternoon.


Enthusiastic members take a long time to admire and inspect all the exhibits in a show

All our shows have had good entries of Primulas. There are few other Genera which offer such a diverse range of species which flower over such a long period.
Primulas also show variation in flower colour and marking within species. The other factor marking them out is their ability to hybridise. These are the reasons why gardeners find them so entrancing. Anyone can join in. Just collect seed from any garden Primula, sow it and wait for the results. Once you start growing auriculas and pubescens Primulas which have a very complicated hybrid make up you get wonderful surprises when they flower.


Primula sieboldii behind Primula auricula hybrids showing some of the possible the variation.

Stella and David Rankin must grow more Primula species than any other Scottish [even British?] growers. At each show in recent years they have exhibited such a diverse range of then that it is possible to catch a tiny bit the frisson which George Forrest, Frank Ludlow and George Sherrif experienced when the came across these species in China and the Himalaya. Their entries are always fascinating.


IMG_1184 6 pan primulas.jpg

6 pan class with Primulas exhibited by Stella and David Rankin.
Primula polyneura SDR collection, P pulverulenta, P watsonii. Back L - R
Primula auriculata, P. mollis, P. chlorantha ssp sinopurpurea Bottom L - R

Of these I would draw attention to Primula mollis. At first glance it looks like Cortusa mathiola. Although it has loose flower heads it has spectacularly hairy leaves and stems. SRGC member, AGS Immediate Past President and Primula expert, John Richards writes that it is 'widespread in the Eastern Sino-Himalaya, growing in shady situations on the margins of thickets and big streams'. He notes that it is clump forming or creeping and that it sets abundant seed. With its wee hairy scallop-shell-like leaves it would be an attractive occupant of any peat garden. [PRIMULA by John Richards, published by Batsford. First published 1993' if you like Primulas but don't have this book, look out for it]


Primula mollis


Primula sieboldii


Primula szechuanica shown by Jim Sutherland and judged the Best Primula in the Show won the Joan Stead Trophy [not John] as on the award card. What a splendid thing it is! Like a yellow P. maximowiczii, which was Best Primula at Perth. Indeed according to John Richards they are closely related. Both are in the Section Crystallophlomis subsection Maximowiczii! You will gather I had to look that up as I did not have John sitting next to me.

The Largest Pot or pan in the show must have been the pan which held Stella and David Rankin's Primula chlorantha sinopurpurea. It is also in the Section Crystallophlomis


Primula chlorantha sinopurpurea.

Mike Hopkins' big pans of Lewisia cotyledon and Fritillaria pontica [part of a 3 pan entry] dominated the sunny side of Bench 1.


Ken East sheltering behind Mike Hopkins' wonderful Fritillaria pontica

Cyril Lafong can be relied upon to produce wee wonders for the New. Rare or Difficult classes and this 3 pan entry is extra special. The Penstemon uintahensis is a true dwarf gem of a species in a genus which can produce big straggly plants. Have you ever seen a better flowered Aquilegia scopulorum? How does he keep the Viola alive far less healthy and flowering so well?
His entry well deserved the William Buchanan Memorial Trophy.


Penstemon uintahensis, Aquilegia scopulorum, Viola dasphylla

Tristagma nivalis [ a member of the Liliaceae] took my fancy. It is a bit untidy in its habit not showy but how many flowers have brown flowers? How many can you name which come from Tierra del Fuego? With their out-turning petals they are very attractive close to. John Forrest posted a picture of his yellow / green flowered bulbs, grown from seed collected by John Watson.



Graham Butler won the 2 pan Scottish native class with an excellent Silene acaulis 'Frances' and Mertensia maritima. Saves you trip to the North of Scotland. The golden leaved Silene's only draw back is that it is a shy flowerer. When I heard a lady at the show say to her friend that she would like to see it when it is covered with flowers, I almost butted in and said 'So would everyone else!' It is a great Scottish cushion plant from Orkney. I like the Mertensia as well and so do slugs in my garden.


Silene acaulis 'Frances' in front of Mertensia maritima

However it was Bob Meaden's fantastic pan of Orchis mascula which won the Ian Donald trophy for Best Plant Native to Scotland


Orchis mascula

The Orchis was in turn beaten for Best Orchid and the Charles Simpson League Cup by a wonderful pan of Cypripedium 'Emil', shown by Tony Darby. It is a hybrid between C. calceolus and C. parviflorum



Cypripedium 'Emil'

Show secretary keeps his Haastia pulvinaris in good condition. It appears regularly and always justifies its red card.


Haastia pulvinaris

This wee vegetable lamb is a member of the Compositae [Daisy] family but looks more like a spineless Mammillaria in the cactaceae family and to show what I mean here is Stan de Prato's Mammillaria plumosa hiding his card for gaining Most Points in Section2. Mind you the cactus does have 'daisy like' flowers although it is no relation.
Before I get an e-mail I realise that Mammillarias don't have composite flowers.

A good example of parallel evolution where the two species have evolved to counter different desiccating climates.


Mamillaria plumosa.

Here is Mike Hopkins' Erigeron leiophyllus, a first prize winner which shows composite flowers.


Erigeron leiophyllus



Just to show that other families evolve' to adapt to mountain conditions, here is a New Zealand cow parsley Anisotome haastii.

Anisotome haastii


There's always time for a chat.

Sometimes a good plant fails to win a prize because it doesn't fit the class description. Here are four entries in the class for plants with Silver or Grey Foliage. You can see in the picture that only the Helichrysun heldreichii at the back left is really silver. Two others are green and the Primula marginata has wonderful spiky leaves covered with farina but it does not have silver leaves.


Silver / grey foliage?

Several years ago Trillium expert Fred Case came to the Aberdeen Discussion Weekend when he showed several pictures of Trillium hybrids, as well as lots of species. At the time there were not a lot of hybrid trilliums evident in our gardens or at the shows. Recently we are beginning to see some very good hybrid trilliums. Margaret & Henry Taylor showed these four flowering stems of Trillium flexipes x erectum. You can see it has the flexipes habit but the red from the erectum has suffused the creamy flowers.


Trillium flexipes x erectum


A fine pan of Trillium rugellii

There was a very good pan of Trillium luteum in Section 2 shown by John di Paula.


Trillium luteum

Paris quadrifolia has the same feel about it as Trillium except that it leaves and flowers have 4 bits instead of 3, except the flower at the front which has 5 tepals.



Paris quadrifolia

I have no proof but looking at it I am sure this Paris is dangerous. It looks as if it wants to grab an unsuspecting visitor and ensnare him or her. Quite splendid in a morbid way!


Paris polyphylla stenophylla

Anne Chambers is passionate about 'Cobra Lilies' - Arisaemas. She grows a range of them and manages to have them in perfect condition for the shows.


Arisaema nepenthoides. You can see that the Primula marginata behind it is still green!


Arisaema taiwanensis.

The purple blotching on the stems matches the lowers perfectly. Notice the 'tails' on the leaves. Anne lent us some Arisaema for Gardening Scotland and in the morning you could see drops of moisture on each leaf 'tail'.

I don't think we see or grow enough Dodecatheons, the flower of the 12 gods. Here are two fine Dodecatheons D. meadia the pale one in front of D. Purcell.


Dodecatheon meadia

At Edinburgh an Perth shows I admired Peonies. Here is another. This time a single but beautiful Peonia obovata alba. I am sure I have one of these somewhere but I am not sure mine has red leaves. Perhaps I have the wrong thing?


Paeonia obovata alba


Sometimes a change of viewing position helps! It helps visitors if all labels are horizontal as the show schedule indicates.


So far, I have held off writing about bulbs but here we have two great Iberian Fritillarias


Fritillaria Lusitanica

My dad went off to the war on the Mauretania because the Lusitania had been sunk off Ireland. The Scots at Inverkeithing broke up the Mauretania


Fritillaria pyrenaica Picos Form, shorter than straight pyrenaica. Quite good to have two mountain ranges in your name….. If that were I. I could be Andes Himalaya!


Ornithogalum nutans. I remember it from Crete.

David and Stella Rankin showed a truly magnificent potful of Bluebells labelled Hyacinthoides hispanica x non-scripta. With a warning that it had come to them as bulbs of Fritillaria ruthenica and that it would soon be illegal to plant Spanish bluebells in the wild in Scotland.


Hyacinthoides hispanica x non-scripta

When you see the bright Lewisias at Glasgow you know that summer is on the way. This year Bob Meaden showed a splendid pink L.cotyledon.


Lewisia cotyledon

Dai Davis showed a grand plant of Lewisia nevadensis in Section2 and as soon as I saw it, I asked myself, 'Where did mine go?'.


Lewisia nevadensis

And here is plant which seems to defy its name, Tropeolum sessilifolium


Tropeolum sessilifolium


Down at the darker end of the hall two bright yellow plants lot up the end of the benches. Daphne aurantiaca and Coronilla minima.


Daphne aurantiaca


Coronilla minima

The next plant I consider to be an achievement. Daphne alpina grown from seed by Alison Ward. Well done.


IMG_1274 Daphne alpina.jpg IMG_1274 Daphne alpina 2.jpg
Daphne alpina

Even when they know a plant has a daft name, taxonomist insist on the laws of nomenclature so that the name given to a plant when it is first described is its 'correct' name. Thus this Spanish Scilla is called Scilla peruviana because the botanist who described it first was under the misapprehension that it came from Peru. It reminds me of the SRGC /AGS show at the Gateshead Garden Festival many years ago because that is where I first saw it. For me it might just be 'Scilla portacapitiana'.


Scilla peruviana


The rhododendrons in section 2 provided a big splash of colour



Glasgow is unique in having a section for cut stems of Rhododendrons and it is well entered and keenly contested each year especially between Mike and Sue Thornley from Glen Arn Garden and Jamie Taggart from Linn Botanic Garden. To add spice to the rivalry, they live quite close to one another [as the crow flies].


The Rhododendron section at Glasgow.

Lots of interest. Lots of Chat. Loaded down with purchases.
Well done everyone! You deserve a rest at the end of the show.


Dishes done!

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