Chesterfield Alpine Garden Society Show 11th April 2015

[Maggi Young]

Feel my age Maggi, especially humping large pots around now, will have to have a sort out in the plant department and do some downsizing, but not just yet, the only trouble with big pans is getting many in the car!!!. Thank you for the Birthday Wishes

Haven't you access to a horsebox ?  Custom fitted with shelving, you could get a lot of plants in one of those!

[veteran vet]

yes have a horsebox, even got a habitation area, might be a problem parking at show venues though if yesterday was anything to go by.
Saxifraga magellanica from Mark Childerhouse (29) another C of M plant, from the south of South America as the name suggests
Astragalus coccineus from Peter Farkasch, winner of the Farrer, great plant, another picture cannot go amiss (30)
Anemonella thalictroides 'Oscar Schoaf', another from Don Peace, a nice, clean crisp example (52)

[veteran vet]

Never quite sure what I do to send the post when I had not planned it!
John Richards had a large
Draba cappadocica at the show
Trillium rivale, what I have left of what was from the Winnifred Murray group (22)
Iris iberica iberica from Brian Burrow (24) had as many flowers as I have seen on this iris, this is much more compact that the var elegantissima cultivar
Primula henricii var bracteata ( from Geoff Rollinson, this was a large pan
Soldanella carpatica from Clare Oates (51)

[veteran vet]

Saxifraga 'Allendale Duo', a new c.v. on me, not sure whether its up my street or not, from Mark Childerhouse (50) but worth a try me-thinks
Fritillaria crassifolia ssp Kurdica Talish Strain from Clare Oates (79)
Fritillaria hermonis Anti Lebanon Form (why do I pick ones with such long names) from Norman Davies in (97)
Fritillaria bucharica from Steve Spells, the Best Plant in the Novice Section (137)
Cyclamen rhodium peleponesiacum 'vividum' (138) from Denise Bridges may not have had many flowers but it still caught my eye

[veteran vet]

Ian Kidman had yet another good day, winning the Small Six and so an AGS Medal in 49, I show the six from back to front as three pictures
Back Row Primula 'Loisach' and Dionysia viscidula x freitagii
Middle Row Rhodothamnus chamaecistus and Androsace vandellii
Front Row Primula henricii and Kalmiopsis 'Sindelberg'
Among these six plants the
Rhodothamnus chamaecistus was the Best Ericaceae at the show, the Best Native to Europe at the show and the Best plant in a <19cm pan

[veteran vet]

I was runner up in the small six so feel I can at least post a couple of pics
Hymenoxis torreyana and a smaller
Townsendia spathulata 'Cotton Balls' than the one from the F&B Hoyle that I posted earlier, going to try to propagate this in the near future as never had any germination from seed I have collected over the years
Paraquilegia grandiflora from Derek Pickard (50), another that caught the eye
Mertensia alpina from Lionel Clarkson (72)
Primula erosa from John Richards (7)

[veteran vet]

Last two of my series
Androsace species Kirgistan from Dave Riley in 82 and his notes

That is all, to repeat it was another typical Chesterfield day, good venue and good hall, exhibitors and visitors from a wide area, I think the Trade Stands did ok but I did not get the chance to have much of a look around and most unusually did not buy a plant....not like me usually there is something I cannot resist despite my intentions of 'cutting down' on plant numbers!!!

[Graeme]

thanks for posting some great pictures - missed it again due to work commitments

[Stan da Prato]

Last two of my series
Nice pictures George - were they also using  the SRGC resizer and do you find it speeds the process up quite a bit?
Stan

[veteran vet]

Hi Stan, at our local AGS meeting last night so did not see your message till tonight.
I  have used the SRGC resize tool twice  now and I am impressed with the way the picture on the web site is so much larger but the meg size seems to be less!...does not bother me as what counts is what the browser sees. The tool is easy to use, I imagine that I could even resize the lot in one go but not got the confidence yet to try! My only real complaint of the SRGC tool is that it puts SRGC in front of everything and removes capitals, I know is being pedantic and I have to say so far I have removed the SRGC bit and at least started the plant name with a capital as an edit of my own, but what matters in the end is that the web pics come over at a decent size. As an addendum I have had quite a few comments from AGS exhibitors re my posts, in the main complimentary!, but a few have said my pics were too small so I will be interested to see/hear what folk have to say now I am using the SRGC tool