This Show was held at the Hillside Events Centre of the Royal Horticultural Society's Garden at Wisley, Surrey on 27th/28th June 2009.
Click on the appropriate section of the CONTENTS LIST for pictures of some prize-winning entries.
Carolyn Clarke
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This Show was held at the Hillside Events Centre of the Royal Horticultural Society's Garden at Wisley, Surrey on 27th/28th June 2009. Click on the appropriate section of the CONTENTS LIST for pictures of some prize-winning entries. |
Carolyn Clarke |
For this report, Show Classes are grouped as follows:-
CLASS 1 - 6 13,18 & 21: Delphiniums of any colour.
CLASS 7 - 12; Flowers of a specific colour.
CLASS 14 - 25; Un-named Delphiniums (seedlings), Florets and classes for Novice exhibitors
Plants in our garden that provided blooms for floral display last year were not sufficiently far out so we had no flowers to take to the Show. Those delphiniums that flowered earlier were either past their best or not of real Show quality with the near drought conditions in our garden being an important factor. For many other delphinium growers excess rain in thiunderstorms was begining to be a problem in the days before the Show and the flowering season was rapidly terminated by a heat wave and torrential rainstorms in the following week. Nevertheless there was a much larger entry of blooms for the Show than for the 'Main' Show two weeks earlier, so there was a large and varied show of colourful delphiniums with some blooms of good quality.
Good pictures were not obtained for some classes, and pictures here will be replaced if other visitors supply better alternatives.
CLASS 1 - 6, 13, 18 & 21: Delphiniums of any Colour
| Class 1: Three spikes. Five entries. The FIRST PRIZE entry from Douglas Pounds consisted of three excellent and very fresh blooms of seedling that he has raised in recent years. SECOND PRIZE went to blooms of a dark-eyed white similar to 'Sandpiper' from Bob Banks but these were not in good condition on the second day.. The THIRD PRIZE went to large blooms of 'After Midnight' from Roy Redman that were showing signs of mildew on Sunday. Three fresh but rather gappy blooms of 'Carol Fishenden' from Grahame Case still looked good and deserved a FOURTH PRIZE. | |
Class 1. FIRST PRIZE |
Class 1. THIRD PRIZE |
Class 1. FOURTH PRIZE |
Jenny Hirst |
| Class 2: Two spikes, light excluding white. Six entries that ranged in size from small neat spikes to huge blooms. The quality of the small spikes won the day with the FIRST PRIZE going to Graham Austin for the two blooms of 'Gillian Dallas' seen below and the SECOND PRIZE to Howard Norton with neat blooms of 'Min'. THIRD PRIZE went to much larger blooms of 'Min' from Roy Redman. There were attractive pale violet blooms of 'Emily Hawkins', pale pink 'Summerfiel Diana' and light blue-mauve 'Vespers' among the other entries. | |
Class 2. FIRST PRIZE |
Class 3. FIRST PRIZE |
| Class 3: Two spikes, dark. FIRST PRIZE went to Bob Banks for blooms of
'Fenella' seen above . Roy Redman staged rather short
blooms of 'After Midnight' to take the SECOND PRIZE, although on Sunday these were
spoiled by mildew. Class 4: Two spikes, one dark, one light excluding white. Bob Banks again took FIRST PRIZE, although the reason was hard to see on Sunday as both blooms had dropped to pieces. The SECOND PRIZE entry from Graham Austin then looked superior, with a very nice bloom of pale pink 'Foxhill Nina' let down by the accompanying bloom of 'Bruce' that was showing mildew. |
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Class 5. FIRST PRIZE (L), THIRD PRIZE (R) |
Class 5. SECOND PRIZE |
| Class5: One spike, light, excluding white. Here
there were eight entries to perplex the Judges. The FIRST PRIZE was won by Graham Austin with a very nice
large bloom of 'Min' seen on the left in the picture
above. SECOND PRIZE was won by Terry Woolley with a small
bloom of a 'Min'-style seedling flower with a honey brown
eye. THIRD PRIZE was awarded to a loosely packed bloom of
'Carol Fishenden' from Roy Redman and this must have been
difficult to separate from Grahame Case's bloom of
'Gillian Dallas'. Class 6: One spike, dark, attracted six entries. FIRST PRIZE went a small, fresh bloom of 'Lucia Sahin' staged by Graham Austin and Roy Redman won the SECOND PRIZE with a bloom of 'Cassius'. Fred Hirst had brought a rather obese bloom of 'After Midnight' all the way from Yorkshire to win the THIRD PRIZE. |
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Class 6. FIRST PRIZE |
Class 6. SECOND PRIZE |
| Class 13: One spike, any cultivar and
six florets of the cultivar. A FIRST PRIZE card was awarded to a bloom and set of florets of 'Beryl Burton', a deep dusky pink staged by Fred Hirst and SECOND PRIZE went to the only other entry, a small spike and floets of 'Bruce' from Warwick Brench. Class 18: One spike, multi-coloured or double flowers. This class attracted six entries and the FIRST PRIZE was won by Terry Blissett with a bloom from 'Blackberry Ice' x Cranberry seedling. To the amazement of Terry and probably many others, this bloom was judged to be the BEST SPIKE IN SHOW. Fred Hirst's large purple with a light brown eye took the SECOND PRIZE and a bloom of 'Franjo Sahin' gained THIRD PRIZE for Grahame Case. It was interesting to see the fully double florets of Graham Austin's bloom of 'Pink Ruffles' that were of good form compared to the flowers disfigured by virus on plants of this cultivar in the 2009 Delphinium Trial. The question of what constitutes a 'multi-coloured flower' is difficult to answer and makes it exceedingly difficult for any Judge to decide if a bloom complies with such a vague description. Surely it should mean that there are two or more distinct colours in the sepals rather than just colour shading or a difference in colour between sepals and the eye. |
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Entries in Class 18 (L), Floral Art (rear) & Class 10 (R) |
|
| Class 21:
Three
spikes in one vase, in a space less than 76cm wide and
less than 107cm in height above the table. FIRST PRIZE went to Steve Dorey for a set of three blooms of dusky pink 'Rosemary Brock' and Bob Banks took SECOND PRIZE with small spikes of dark blue 'After Midnight'. THIRD PRIZE went to a vase that included small blooms of pale violet 'Gillian Dallas', multi-coloured 'Giotto' with a seedling from 'Fred Hirst. |
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CLASS 7 - 12: Flowers of a Specific Colour
White & Cream flowers in Class (7) & Class 8 (R) |
|
| Class7: Two spikes, white or cream.
Two large blooms of selected seedlings from Doug Pounds'
allotment took FIRST
PRIZE. One was a
white with a well formed black eye, while the other was a
white with a pale eye. Fred Hirst staged blooms of
'Kennington Classic' for SECOND PRIZE, with THIRD PRIZE going to Bob Banks for blooms
of 'Sandpiper' that had dropped by Sunday morning.. Class 8: One spike, white or cream. Here there were five entries seen in the picture above, with FIRST PRIZE going to Roy Redman for a quite nice spike of 'Kennington Classic' that has such beautiful cream florets. Doug Pounds won SECOND PRIZE with a large, rather crowded bloom of an un-named white flower with brown eye and Terry Woolley took the THIRD PRIZE for a quite narrow bloom of cream flowered 'Sunkissed'. |
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Class 7. |
Anne Blissett. |
| Class 9: Two spikes, any blue cutivars. There were five entries, three seen in the foreground of the picture below, but the least said about the result the better. The first prize went to two blooms of 'Mighty Atom' which should have been disqualified and marked NAS, since this is not a blue flower,as should have been the blooms of Chelsea Star which is purple. These blooms should have been used in Class 3 or 4. Some quite nice blue flowers from other exhibitors gained no reward at all. For them it was a bit like Ireland losing to France in the Football World Cup qualifiers through a goal scored after Thierry Henry's handball. | |
Three entries (foreground) in Class 9 |
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| Class 10: One spike, blue. Despite
there being five entries, the best of them was a large
but rather gappy bloom of a blue seedling from Doug
Pounds that was given only a SECOND PRIZE. Another gappy bloom of
'Frank's Blue from Frank Dyton was awarded THIRD PRIZE. Class 11: Two spikes, any pink cultivar. There were six entries and the Judges gave the FIRST PRIZE to the neat and broad-based blooms of 'Claire' staged by Graham Austin. This cultivar raised by the late Colin Edwards has a pretty light brown eye. SECOND PRIZE was awarded to a pair of large, untidy blooms of light pink 'Our Deb' from Ann Cole and two more large spikes of seedlings from Doug Pounds took the THIRD PRIZE. Class 12: One spike, pink. FIRST PRIZE went to Ann Cole for her neat bloom of 'Rosemary Brock', seen second from left in the picture below. Roy Redman was awarded SECOND PRIZE for a spike of 'Summerfield Miranda' and Graham Austin's pretty bloom of 'Foxhill Nina took THIRD PRIZE, although on the second day it was the freshest of the eight entries. |
|
Class 12 (1eft); Class 11 (right) |
Class 11. First Prize ('Claire') |
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SEEDLINGS
| Class 14: Two spikes, seedlings, any
cultivar or cultivars. As was to be expected from
blooms shown in Classes 1 - 12 where seedlings from Doug
Pounds won prizes, FIRST
PRIZE here
went to Doug pounds for a very nice white seedling paired
with a light pink bloom. SECOND PRIZE went toTerry Blissett for two
seedlings from a cross between our cultivar 'Blackberry
Ice' and one of John Flowerday's cranberry pinks. These
were rather small blooms. Class 15: One spike, seedling excluding white or pink. The only entry, a nice purple brought from Yorkshire by Gordon West was awarded a FIRST PRIZE. Class 16: One spike, seedling, white. Again there was no competition but the only entry, a seedling from Doug Pounds having white florets with a brown eye in a well-packed spike, was rewarded with another FIRST PRIZE. |
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Class 14. |
Jenny Hirst |
| Class 17: One spike, seedling, pink. A FIRST PRIZE was awarded to Fred Hirst for a pink seedling from 'Cherub' x 'Titania' but none of the other entries justified the award of prizes. | |
FLORETS & FLORAL ART
| Class 19: Six florets, all the same
cultivar. Ann Cole was awarded the FIRST PRIZE for her set of florets of 'After Midnight'. SECOND PRIZE went to Kate Brooks for a nice set of florets from Bruce that by Sunday were showing distinct signs of mildew. Gordon West took the THIRD PRIZE with a set of florets from a puple seedling with a contrasting white eye. Among the other eight entries it was interesting to see the rather unusual double florets of a seedling raised by Joyce Bott, who brought them all the way from Durham. The fantastic display of flowers on the plants of her fine new blue cultivar 'Raymond Lister' in the 2009 Delphinium Trial at Wisley must have been a real treat for Joyce. |
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Class 19: 1st Prize |
Class 19: 3rd Prize |
Joyce Bott's Double |
| Class 20 Six florets, not less than
two cultivars. FIRST PRIZE went to Kate Brooks for a set of seedling florets in pink and violet/mauve shades and Gordon West took the SECOND PRIZE for a set of florets that were spoiled by mildew on Sunday. A set from Fred Hirst took the THIRD PRIZE, which meant that all the prizes here went to florets from Yorkshire. However many of the other entries, such as those awarded HIGHLY COMMENDED from Grahame Case and Howard Norton seen below, looked much fresher on Sunday. |
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Class 20: 1st Prize |
Class 20: HC |
Class 20: HC |
| Classes 30 - 34: Delphiniums as Floral Art attracted a record number of participants staging a varied selection of dislplays around the Hall to complement the single bloom exhibits and a number of these are shown in this report. Thedelphinium Society members who produced these attractive flower arrangements deserve congratulations for their efforts. | ||
Anne Blissett |
Carolyn Clarke |
 Jenny Hirst |
Carolyn Clarke |
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NOVICES
| Rita Dyton, a long time member of the Society Committee, was the only entrant in Class 22, that was given a FIRST PRIZE and her bowl of florets in Class 25 was also given a FIRST PRIZE |
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 |
There was
still a wonderful display of blooms on plants in the
Delphinium Trial just a short walk away in the Trials
field that visitors to the Show could also enjoy. Among
them were several new entrants, such as Joyce Bott's
lovely cultivar Raymond Lister seen here. Thanks are due to Keith Boxall, the Show Secretary, who had the unenviable task of trying to organise a Show when far more exhibits than had been expected turned up on Saturday morning. Instead of turning them away as he would be entitiled to do, Keith ensured that all were found places on the Show bench to produce a colourful display of blooms. Thanks are also due to the Staff of the Royal Horticultural Society's Garden for their cooperation and assistance |
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