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MYSTERY PLANT MINI SHOW
At the end of July our members had the chance to display their efforts with the cuttings of an unknown (to us) cultivar that had been handed out during our monthly meeting in the middle of March. The only information given at that time was that it was a single cultivar, so we could get our stopping times right!
With such a difficult year for growing fuchsias, dismal dull weather once again being the order of the day, we were pleased to see so many plants back. And to our great delight most were in full flower.
Our judge for the evening was Mr Charles Jenkinson from Barnsley, who made himself instantly popular with the audience by declaring that everyone deserved a prize! Firstly for bringing the plants back, but also because it was a tremendous feat having such quality plants when they had been in our possession for a mere 18 weeks, barely enough for two stops, in a year when everyone seems to be struggling for flowers.
Charles' initial thoughts had been that the variety, which turned out to be Susan Skeen bred by Peter Web (1993), would be pretty good as it had been described by Mike Oxtoby as 'nice and well worth a try'.
All plants were picked up in turn and some observations regarding its growth, condition etc. made to assist us - pointing out what mistakes we might have made and how we can learn from that and improve next year.
Hint and tips henceforth reminded us to:
Attend to regular turning - to avoid lopsided growth if e.g. placed against a wall.
Check all plants before exhibiting for debris, dead leaves and seeds pods - a few seconds well spent.
Remove dead or damaged flowers - in close contest this can be the difference between first and second.
Use soft florist tape, which looks like crêpe paper, to tie in standards, as this 'gives' to allow the stems to develop - wired closures will cut into the stem as it thickens and stem can end up being cut in half.
Though we welcome the tips to help us with the preparation for our plants for the Annual Show, the Mini Show is kept light-hearted, and Charles certainly made us chuckle with comments like "grown on the mantle-piece" when describing flat-backed efforts, "heavy water in Scarborough" or, au contraire, "on a water meter" regarding the apparent over and under watering.
The catchphrase for the evening became "nothing wrong with that", which ended up being applied to just about all the plants, even, in good fun, to the one that was no more than a few bare twigs! An early casualty, but someone being brave enough to own up to being less than perfect! Indeed Charles praised the "courage of conviction to bring it back" but swiftly followed that up with "but don't do it again"!
Lots of plants received deserved praise, while a few had potential for the forthcoming Annual Show as they were full of buds, or next year, like the mini standard which could have done with another stop.
Charles (such a nice chap) reckoned that all plants were wonderful, which presented him with a headache. It was no easy task to pick the 1-2-3 when a lot of them deserved a prize. But then, that's why we have such long tea breaks on Mini Show night!
Reminding us that it is the taking part that really matters Charles declared the 1-2-3 as "his personal preference" with in first place June Nash, second Joe Adams and third Stewart Walker. Congratulations!
Charles proceeded by giving us some more useful tips for our show e.g. adhere to the schedule, dress plants, put marker on pots for guidance with the turning, and if growing standards always aim to have length of stem as near as possible to maximum height - "it always edges".
Another interesting point raised was his own query whether we had experienced difficulties when potting up some purchased cuttings, as he and other fuchsia folk he had spoken to had found some to be extremely slow growing, not moving at all, nearly stopped dead, as if reluctant to get out of the initial compost. His solution is to take cuttings as soon as possible which if grown in your own environment from the start, seem to "take off like rockets". And suckers are another bone of contention with Charles. His advice is to remove them, as they never seem to shape up with the rest of the plant. (I like to add that these strong growths from below the compost surface often seem to have great vigour and therefore make excellent cutting material).
The parting shot was "Enjoy it - enjoyment is what it is all about" and thanks to Charles we certainly all enjoyed a very entertaining evening.
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