Delphinium Shows List Return to Home Page

THE DELPHINIUM SOCIETY'S MAIN SHOW in 2007

This Show was staged in the Hillside Events Centre at the Royal Horticultural Society's Garden at Wisley, Surrey on 16th / 17th June 2007

CONTENTS

Click on the appropriate section IN THIS LIST to see pictures of some prize-winning entries.

INTRODUCTION

Weather conditions during the spring, with little if any rain from early March to the end of April, resulted in slow plant development in many areas. This was followed by heavy rain during May and June that produced a sudden spurt in growth that ensured delphiniums came to flower at just the right time for this Show in many gardens in South east England. In our own garden, no delphiniums were sufficiently far out even to consider making an entry! However, there were enough entries to provide a colourful display in the Hillside Events Centre that was greatly enhanced by the dislay boards on the benches around the walls and the lovely flower arrangements.

THE SHOW

This account is based on a visit to the Show during the second day and it was disappointing to find that quite a few blooms were badly wilted and not a pretty sight.

SECTION A

Class 1: Four spikes. Two entries. FIRST PRIZE went to Jimmy Fishenden's set of four blooms of 'After Midnight', two being shown on the left below. SECOND PRIZE was awarded to Terry Blissett for his set of pale blue 'Pandora'
Class 2: Two spikes, light. A FIRST PRIZE card was awarded to the only entry, a well matched pair of blooms of' 'Sandpiper' from Jimmy Fishenden.

Class 3: Two spikes, dark. The only entry of 'Purple Velvet' with a deep cranberry pink seedling provided another FIRST PRIZE for Jimmy Fishenden.
Class 4: One spike, light. Four entries seen in the left-hand picture below. The bloom of a white seedling from Terry Blissett won FIRST PRIZE. Ray Joslyn was awarded SECOND PRIZE for his bloom of the dark eyed, pale lavender 'Gemini' and THIRD PRIZE went to a small bloom of 'Min' from Warwick Brench. Sadly, Jimmy Fishenden's large bloom of 'Gertrude Sahin' had wilted badly.

Class5: One spike, dark. Three entries. FIRST PRIZE went to a bloom of 'After Midnight' from Jimmy Fishenden. It was very unfortunate that it had wilted badly by the second day and visitors could not understand why it had been selected as the Best Bloom in the Show. SECOND PRIZE went to Terry Woolley for a seedling that has now been named 'Purple Haze' with strongly patterned violet-purple colouring producing a picottee effect. THIRD PRIZE was awarded to a 'Summerfield Oberon' from Terry Blissett.

Class 6: Two spikes, pink. No entries.

Class7: One spike, pink. Three entries seen in the right-hand picture below. FIRST PRIZE went to Jimmy Fishenden for an un-named deep cranberry pink seedling. SECOND PRIZE went to Ray Cook for a nice bloom of pale pink 'Our Deb', while Terry Blissett gained THIRD PRIZE for a pink seedling , the smallest of the three blooms
Class 8: One spike, cream. FIRST PRIZE went to Ray Joslyn for a nice bloom of 'Kennington Classic'.

Class 9: Three spikes. Total height must not exceed 1.07m (3.5 ft). One entry only, the vase from Ray Joslyn containing two cream flowers with a bloom of 'Min' was awarded FIRST PRIZE.
Class 10: One spike & six florets. FIRST PRIZE went to Stan Ellison for a fine bloom of a very promising seedling from a cross between purples, 'Summerfield Marjorie' x 'Summerfield Oberon'. SECOND PRIZE was given to a bloom of 'Sandpiper' from Ray Joslyn seen on the left below and THIRD PRIZE to a dark blue, possibly 'Fenella', from Warwick Brench.
Return to Contents List

SECTION B: BLOOMS OF UN-NAMED CULTIVARS (SEEDLINGS)

Class 11: Three spikes, distinct. No entries.

Class 12: Two spikes, distinct. The only entry from Terry Woolley seen in the left-hand picture below was awarded FIRST PRIZE. Both seedlings had strongly patterned colouring providing a picottee effect.

Class 13: One Spike, Seedling excluding white. FIRST PRIZE was awarded to a nice cranberry pink from John Flowerday seen in the righthand picture below. SECOND PRIZE went to Stan Ellison for a pale blue bloom. The THIRD PRIZE card went to Terry Woolley for a purple tinged blue seen with the winning bloom below.
Class 14: One spike white. A SECOND PRIZE card was awarded to the only entry, Terry Blissett's white seedling with a black eye.

Class 15: One spike, pink. Again here the winning entry was awarded a SECOND PRIZE card, as Terry Woolley's bloom was rather small. A HIGHLY COMMENDED card was given for an immature pink with lovely large florets from Terry Blissett.

Class 16: Six florets, distinct. No entries?
 
Return to Contents List

 

SECTION C

Class 17: Two spikes, blue. Three entries in this class, seen in the left-hand picture below. FIRST PRIZE went to blooms of 'Fenella' from Grahame Case. A THIRD PRIZE card only was given for Terry Woolley's blooms of 'Joan Edwards', a mid-blue with white eye that was especially good this year in the Delphinium Trial at Wisley. HIGHLY COMMENDED was given for Stan Ellison's blooms of 'Fenella' that were showing seed pods in the lower florets and signs of mildew.

Class 18: One spike, light blue. One entry only of a very rough bloom of 'Crown Jewel'. The Judges considered it merited only a THIRD PRIZE card.

Class 19: One spike, dark blue. FIRST PRIZE went to Terry Woolley for a nice fresh bloom of 'Molly Buchanan'. . The other entries also seen in the right hand picture below were blooms of 'Fenella', with the SECOND PRIZE awarded to Ray Joslyn and THIRD PRIZE to Stan Ellison.

SECTION D

Class 20: Two spikes white, any cultivar or cultivars. The FIRST PRIZE went to a pair of neat blooms of 'Elizabeth Cook' from Stan Ellison seen in the centre of the left-hand picture below. SECOND PRIZE went to two blooms of a 'Centurion White' seedling from Terry Woolley seen on the right. THIRD PRIZE went to Terry Blissett for two rather untidy blooms with black eyes.

Class 21: One spike white with white eye. Ray Joslyn won FIRST PRIZE for a lovely bloom of 'Elizabeth Cook' but in the right hand picture below it is unfortunately obscured by the THIRD PRIZE bloom of a 'Centurion White' seedling staged by Terry Woolley. Another bloom of 'Elizabeth Cook', seen on the right of the picture, gained SECOND PRIZE for Stan Ellison.

Class 22: One spike white with coloured eye. FIRST PRIZE again went to Ray Joslyn for a large bloom of 'Sandpiper' (lefthand side of picture below). Terry Blissett was awarded SECOND PRIZE for a shorter bloom.

SECTION E

The pictures below show some FIRST PRIZE entries in the floret classes. At the left is Grahame Case's entry of 'Summerfield Oberon florets in Class 23: Six florets, all same cultivar. In the middle is Ray Joslyn's entry in Class 24: Six florets, distinct cultivars. On the right is John Flowerday's entry in Class 26: Six florets,seedlings, not less than two distinct cultivars.
Return to Contents List

SECTION F

Intermediate classes restricted to exhibitors who have not previously won a first prize in any of the open classes 1-27. This year it was a competition between Ray Cook, who took all five FIRST PRIZES and Steven Dorey, who also staged some nice flowers

Class 28: Two spikes. The two rather rough blooms of 'After Midnight' in the left hand picture below were the winners, Steve Dorey staging very immature blooms of 'Leonora' and a purple seedling.

Class 29: One spike light. Ray Cook's winning bloom was a very tall but immature bloom of pale violet 'Gordon Forsyth while Steve Dorey used a bloom of 'Min'.

Class 30: One spike dark. The winning bloom, dusky pink'Lucia Sahin', was out right to the top. Steve Dorey showed a very promising purple seedling raised from 'Summerfield Victoria' x 'Rosemary Brock' seen on the lefthand side in the picture below.

No picture were taken of the entries in Classes 31 & 32 for florets.

SECTION H -Delphiniums as Floral Art

This year, the floral arrangements that provide lovely displays around the Hall were 'rewarded' by the inclusion in the Schedule of four classes with different themes for the arrangements.

Return to Contents List

 

We would like to end this report by thanking the Show Secretary, Keith Boxall for organising the entries, setting out the benches and sorting out the problems that arose. Thanks are also due to Duncan & Ursula Hagan who set up the display panels around the Hall and contibuted some of the lovely floral arrngements.

We thank the Staff of the Royal Horticultural Society's Garden, who contribute greatly to making our Shows successful.
  Delphinium Shows List Return to Home Page