AGS Loughborough Autumn Show 2023 Report

It is a bit of a cliché at AGS shows for the exhibitors to discuss how ‘funny’ the season has been. Whatever the weather of the preceding months, those who grow alpines (myself included!) find some reason for complaint. This unpredictability, however, means that you never know what you are going to see on the show benches. There is always something new or unusual that keeps even the most seasoned of show-goers coming back for more.

Reviewing the report I wrote on the Loughborough Autumn show in 2022, it was plants that thrived in the prolonged summer heatwave such as Cyclamen graecum that dominated the show benches. This year, with many staple plants of the autumn shows already over due to the early flowering brought on by the cooler conditions of July, others came to the fore.

Perhaps to many exhibitors’ great relief (not that they would ever admit this publicly), Ian Robertson’s legendary Cyclamen graecum ssp. anatolicum, which has won more prizes for ‘best in show’ than any other plant, had flowered several weeks previously and was therefore missing in action. The Farrer Medal was consequently there for the taking, but proving that while the weather may vary other things remain constant, Ian still laid claim to it with an impressive display of Crocus mathewii ‘Brian Mathew’. When making my list of plants to include in this report prior to judging, I felt slightly guilty including a smaller pot of C. mathewii, also shown by Ian, because I knew it would be a pain for Jon Evans to photograph. The true appeal of this crocus only becomes apparent when you look directly into the flowers from above and see the dark purple, almost black markings on the petals.

It is not just the weather that influences what appears on the show bench, but fickle fashion. A number of years ago, multiple specimens of the Mexican Sedum furfuraceum appeared at many of the shows. While still a fairly frequent sight, it seems to have fallen out of favour with exhibitors and just Carol Kellett’s was on the bench this time. The flowers are non-descript – small, star-shaped and pale appearing in the spring – but the attraction of the plant is in its sculptural foliage.

There were only a handful of gentians at this year’s show and although the judges appeared unimpressed – no first was awarded in the large open section – John Savage’s Gentiana scabra still caught the attention of the public. Gentians can also be found flowering in the spring, G. verna being one example that appears at AGS shows, but to my mind it is the autumn gentians that are the more impressive.

Ferns are often at their best in the autumn months and there was a particularly strong contingent on display at Loughborough. Several exhibitors presented Asplenium trichomanes, a readily obtainable and easy fern that is happy both outside and in a pot provided that it has some protection from the full sun. My pick, and that of the judges, who awarded it a red sticker, was Cystopteris dickieana shown by Don Peace. While this species can be found throughout the northern hemisphere, it is rare in the UK and consequently protected.

Sadly, increasing rarity in the wild is a trait common to many plants loved by alpine enthusiasts. This includes David Carver’s Lachenalia corymbosa, which is disappearing due to habitat loss. Like many bulbs – dwarf tulips being another example in my experience – this tends to flower better when planted close together in a small pot. It was Henry Fletcher’s Sternbergia greuteriana, however, that took home the Minera Trophy for best bulb in the intermediate and novice sections. Sternbergias were few and far between this year – another consequence of the cooler summer.

South African bulbs, such as Lachenalia, are remarkably diverse genera. While L. corymbosa is very showy, with eye-catching deep red lines to its flowers, L. maughanii, exhibited by the indomitable Bob and Rannveig Wallis, is more refined but no less appealing with its pure white flowers. The Wallises, as they often do, also displayed my favourite plant of the day – Narcissus elegans. Very different to the dwarf Narcissus that frequent the spring shows, it was one of several of the autumn/winter flowering daffodils that Bob and Rannveig displayed, and contributed to them retaining the Derby Group Trophy for most points in the Open Section.

Saxifraga is another genus that is more closely associated with spring but was still represented at the first of the autumn shows. In the open three pan class, Don Peace exhibited three S. fortunei. The pale pink S. fortunei ‘Eiga’ was awarded the Saxifraga Group Salver. If I could have taken one home, however, it would have been the bright red S. fortunei ‘Tini’ (John Savage) that sat alongside it.

The diversity of the alpine world was also on display in Ian Instone’s pan of Cyclamen intaminatum, possibly my pick of the genus due to its diminutive size and the subtle markings that often appear on the flowers. For Ian Robertson, while his peerless C. graecum ssp. anatolicum may have been absent, his smaller C. africanum was still considered to the best cyclamen on show and was consequently awarded the Nottingham Group Trophy.

Steve Clements had two pots of the Spiranthes cernua odorata ‘Chadds Ford’ (apparently now named Spiranthes x bightensis ‘Chadds Ford’ – ed.) on the benches, which can be found growing in the woodlands of North America. My own plant of this was sadly not up to showing on this occasion. I suspect that it is sulking, as many orchids do, after being disturbed in what had become an unavoidable repotting last year. The best of the orchids was Pterostylis coccina, which earned Bob and Rannveig Wallis one of just two Certificates of Merit awarded at the show. The other went to Michael Wilson’s Blechnum penna-marina ssp alpinum.

The aforementioned David Carver, undoubtedly one of the show scene’s rising stars, met with further success, winning not only the Marjorie Dudfield Cup for most points in the Intermediate Section but also the Leicester Group Trophy for best plant in cone, seed, fruit or autumn-coloured foliage with Cryptomeria japonica ‘Green Pearl’.

In the Novice Section, it was Sue Bedwell’s Bukiniczia cabulica that caught my eye – another example of a plant where the real attraction is in the foliage – as this used to be a plant with which I met regular success. For the judges, though, it was Novice Section aggregate winner Mike Acton’s Hepatica japonica ‘Blue Sandan’ that deserved the Crosshall Goblet for best plant in that section.

Long-term exhibitors will remember fondly the stunning embroidery displays of Jean Morris that used to tour the shows. I was therefore pleased to see Georgina Instone entering an embroidered Primula vulgaris in the Intermediate Artistic Section. Rannveig Wallis continues to reign supreme, however, winning both most points in the Open Artistic Section and best entry with her picture of Galanthus plicatus. Another plant that reminds us that even as this show season begins to draw to a close, we will not have long to wait for the welcome start of next year’s.

Reporter: Rob Amos
Photographer: Jon Evans