NEWCASTLE SHOW IN PONTELAND 2006
"It's o'er the border and awa!"
by Sandy Leven



Border country on the A68 as the sun pierces the morning mist

Gentians, Cyclamen and Autumn Bulbs provided the colour for the Ponteland show and there was no shortage of interest in these groups of plant.

Section 1 bench

It was battle of the nurseries - Christies v Aberconway- in the gentian classes. Ian Christie vied with Keith and Rachel Lever for the gentian honours.


3 pan Gentian class with Keith and Rachel 's winning entry on the right

Keith and Rachel won the 3 pan Gentian class with Gentiana 'Purity', 'Silken Skies' and 'Amethyst' but it was Gentiana 'Limelight' from Ian Christie of Christie's Nursery in Kirriemuir which won the Farrer Medal, a unanimous decision by the judges. The normally dark stripes on the petals are green in G. 'Limelight' and it is the appearance of the opening buds which give the plant its name.

gentIAN CHRISTIE's Farrer medal winning Gentiana 'Limelight'

Ian also showed the fabulous Gentiana 'Saltire' which won a PC at Pitlochry.

Gentiana 'Saltire'


Ian Christie beside Holden Clough Nursery transport!

Other fine autumn gentians in the show were G. 'Silken Giant', ' Silken night' and 'Saltire'. That's a lot of silk, perhaps enough for a court of law instead of a flower show!

Gentiana 'Silken Giant'

Gentiana 'Silken Night'

Gentiana 'Blue Sea'

Keith Lever's work with Gentiana farreri is yielding great plants. This excellent young plant won a Certificate of Merit. It is a fabulous colour!

Gentiana farreri.
I am sure Reginald would have been delighted with this wonderful plant. Maybe in 2 years time this farreri will win the Farrer!

Alan Furness maintained his reputation for producing wonderful and rare plants in excellent condition. This is Alan's Gentiana ornata. It has a stubby flower with fine rolled over petals.

Gentiana ornata

Another of Alan's treasures is this excellent golden leaved Celmisia. semi-cordata aurigans. It was the plant I would most like to have taken home. What a colour!

Celmisia semi cordata aurigans
worth 2 pictures!

The Millennium Trophy for Best Foliage Plant went to a Cyclamen rholfsianums with e
xceptionally well marked leaves shown by Ivor Betteridge.

Cyclamen rholfsianum
Beautifully dappled in pale and dark green they the leaves had a marvellous sheen. Not only that the plant was well flowered and very compact. Many forms of rholfsianums tend to show their leaves on long petioles. Ivor must have a secret.
Ivor also showed a fabulous pan of Galanthus reginae olgae.

Galanthus reginae olgae.

Bob and Rannveig Wallis took the Ewesley Salver for the Best Cyclamen in a 19cm pot with another C. rholfsianum. This plant was very well flowered for its size but had plainer green leaves with only a hint of marking.


Ewesley Salver for the Best Cyclamen in a 19cm pot - Cyclamen rholfsianum

They also won the class for 3 pan Cyclamen distinct with 3 forms of C. graecum - ssp. Graecum, candidum and anatolicum


Bob and Rannveig also won the E.B. Anderson prize [3pans bulbs 3 non bulbs]

E.B. Anderson prize

How about the leaves on these Cyclamen persicum!


Sandy Leven won the class for 3 pans Cyclamen different species with c. graecum africanum and hederifolium.


David Boyd included many different Cyclamen in his multiple entries. I liked his plant of Cyclamen cyprium with well marked leaves.

Cyclamen cyprium

David won the Ponteland Bowl for most first prize points in Section 1 and as show secretary Mike Dale said, 'He won it by a huge margin'. David's entries took first prizes in many multiple classes including 3pan Rock plants [small]. Well done David.


Here is picture of two of David Boyd's entries side by side winning first in the adjacent classes.


I always admire the white form of Cyclamen graecum the white flowers seem to make the leaves look even better.


Cyclamen graecum album

While we are on Cyclamen, Derek Pritchard had first with his exceptional C. graecum. It was shown in a large deep pot. The flowers outnumbered the leaves by apparently 10 to 1! ….and they were a good colour.

Derek Pritchard's wonderful Cyclamen graecum

In the bulb classes Bob and Rannveig showed a wide range of species. In the 3 pan bulbs they had Scilla lingulata, Narcissus brousonetii and Arisarum vulgare which I particularly liked. It seemed much finer and more less straggly than plants I have seen on Majorca.



Scilla lingulata, Narcissus brousonetii and Arisarum vulgare

AGS Director of Shows, Jim McGregor's fabulous Crocus goulimyi was awarded a well deserved certificate of Merit. These crocuses were all in perfect condition and what panful!

Crocus goulimyi

The Greek Crocus laevigatus 'Fontenayi' was in wonderful condition and was perfectly lit for the picture. Crocus robertianus [also from Greece] was just as pretty but had suffered a little bit but in Section 2 Trevor Harding had a small pot with 2 good flowers.

Crocus laevigatus Fontenayi


Crocus robertianus

Crocus serotinus salzmannii [N. Africa and S. Spain] is a beautiful white with strong yellow anthers and stamens.

Crocus serotinus salzmannii

The 3pan class for crocuses, which was won by AGS President John Richards, provided lots of interest with its excellent selection of species.

Jean Wyllie had a wonderful pan of the still very rare, Crocus gilanicus, from Gilan province in Iran and introduced in 1973 by Per Wendelbo

Crocus gilanicus,

One of the most outstanding ]literally] bulbs in the show was this fine Nerine humilis ssp. humilis which is an excellent addition to the range of autumn flowers. It is tall but not even half the height of Nerine bowdenii.

Nerine humilis ssp. humilis
More pans of autumn snowdrops are appearing here we saw Ivor's excellent pan of Galanthus reginae-olgae [N. Greece] and this is [SW Turkey]

Galanthus peshmenii

The little white form of Allium thunbergii is a true gem. It sparkles and dazzles. I wonder if Thunberg [who was trained bt Linnaeus] actually saw this fabulous white form of the usually purple species, when he travelled in south Africa 300 years ago with Francis Masson [from Aberdeen, Kew's first plant hunter]?

Allium thunbergii album

Mason himself was represented by the intriguing Massonia pustulata. Pity about the species name!

Massonia pustulata.

Two forms of yet another south African bulb were Polyxena odorata and Polyxena longituba


Polyxena odorata and Polyxena longituba

As well as flowers Ponteland always has lots of very good and interesting foliage plants. Some are grown for shape and texture but many for their fine colours. This years there were several fabulous Coprosmas. My favourite was Coprosma 'Fire Burst' one of 3 shown by former Newcastle Show secretary Ray Johnstone, Whom I think of as a Cyclamen man.


Coprosma 'Fire Burst'

The small 3pan foliage class was seized by Ivor Betteridge. His entry contained the intensely hairy Mamillaria plumosa. Not many plumes but lots of hair. A real delight to behold. I love cacti and to see one winning at an AGS/SRGC show is great!


Ophiopogon planiscapens nigrescens is normally shown for its black foliage but this time we had a plant with its dark berries which qualified it for the Rock Plant in Fruit class. I don't think it won but it was nice.


Ophiopogon planiscapens nigrescens

Derek Lockey's plant of Gaultheria procumbens was immaculate.

Gaultheria procumbens

Pellaea rotundifolia was plant new to me. It is fern from New Zealand and Australia, where its colloquial name is Button Fern. It perfectly fitted its description of ''A tough little fern with rounded leaflets neatly arranged on dark brown stems.'' To me, it did not really look like a fern but I did admire it.

Pellaea rotundifolia

At autumn shows forms of Saxifraga fortunei can give a super frothy show. This year Keith and Rachel Lever showed 2 forms Early Ruby and a nice pink flowered variety, while Alan Newton showed a fine plant of Sax. fortunei alpina. I have forgotten who showed the fine compact from 'Autumn Tribute' but it is an nice addition to the forms available. I find that they are martyrs to vine weevils! … but that's me

Saxifraga fortunei

Alan also had some very fine plants of Petrocosmea. These had to be among the most beautiful flowers exhibited at our shows and Alan grows them to perfection. Unfortunately I did not make a good job of photographing them.

Petrocosmea and Cyclamen.

Best Plant in Section 3 was Jim Watson's Cyclamen mirabile. This was a great wee plant in a excellent form and what flower power! No wonder it was awarded a Certificate of Merit

Jim Watson's Cyclamen mirabile.

I don't suppose that W. Wilson was US President Woodrow Wilson but none the less here are two happy gentlemen. After all Ponteland is not far from Washington!

Glassford and Harvey

That's what the shows are all about. Friendships grow over the years and there is always something to talk about. You don't have to agree with the judges but it can be good fun finding plants which they must have been blind to overlook. Everyone has favourites but without the judges nobody would get any prizes. So thank you to everyone who supported this show and all our other shows during the year. A very big thank you to the show secretaries and their teams of helpers as well as to the judges. For my part a special thank you to those who made the lunches and teas, cakes and scones which I enjoyed at the shows.

Ponteland church


…..or perhaps a small libation


Next event for the SRGC the AGM and soon after that it will be February and the Early Bulb Display in Dunblane [17th February 2007] will be upon us. So pot up your irises, snowdrops and crocuses and bring them to the display.
If he doesn't fall and break any bones this winter our guest lecturer will be Janis Ruksans from Latvia. See you in Dunblane on Saturday 17th February.

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