Malvern Autumn Show.

Anyone going to the show tomorrow (Saturday)?

Did you go Prophetfive?

Hello Baa,
Yes, and what a glorious day it was!
Plant of the show was undoubtably Hedychium. Everyone seemed to be clutching a bag with a Ginger in it! I came away with H. densiflorum 'Assam Orange', a couple of nice Blechnum spp. ferns, (spicant and nudum), and Leucadendron 'Safari Sunset'. The other half fancied a dabble with Restios, so, we bought Elegia capensis.

Loads to see and do. Good food, friendly atmosphere, and, the choice of plants...........phew!

Oh, and "Fernatix" won another gold medal!

We have friends who live near there, and they always rave about the show.

Sadly we've never been. You sound as if you had a great day out, and coming home with a bagful of goodies too, even better.

I rather fancy Restios too, I can remember seeing them on a gardening program.When I was in the Tresco, I asked the gardener there if what I was looking at was a clump of Resistios? No wonder he gave me a funny look, and shook his head.....never can remember the names right...
Aren't they ment to be slightly tender?

Hi sueone,
Yes, the Malvern Shows (Spring and Autumn) are a superb day out. The Spring show is a bit manic with many more nurserys taking part, and, punters looking to stock their gardens for the summer.

Restios are interesting. Most of those for sale quoted -5 to -8 celcius. I suspect it's a case of the larger and more mature the plant , the hardier it is. That's the general rule of thumb for anything you'd class as 'tropical'. Ours is going into a pot until it gets a bit bigger, then, we'll try it outdoors in a sheltered sunny spot.

If you like ferns then look for Blechnum gibbum, which grows like a clump of miniature tree ferns. Fernatix had two on their gold medal winning stand, but, had no plants for sale.
I've got a pic of it on my mobile phone. If I can I'll transfer it over for you to see. I don't think it's hardy though, but, would make an interesting houseplant.

We went to Malvern Spring Show a few years ago with some friends who live a couple of miles from the show ground. It is a lovely show, but rather a long way to do in a day from here.

I did go to a couple of local nurseries and bought some small un-named asters in lovely shades of blue and purple, some Gaura, Ceratostigma and Caryopteris, toad lily and a deep purple Lobelia Ruby something. These should boost the autumn colour schemes as I've been neglecting the herbacious borders a bit for a couple of years. I'm going to look up your plants now.

Pat

Hi Pat,

Blechnum gibbum is available from www.houseofplants.co.uk, priced at £8.80 each. I've tried to get the pictures off my mobile phone, but, it won't sync to the Apple Mac. Should have taken the camera, but, forgot.

I'm glad you had a good day, it's a beautiful part of the country isn't it!

One of my Hedychium gardnerianum flowered first time this year, I've grown them from seed, another Hedychium which I couldn't ID flowered last year but didn't survive. typical I could have just waited until the bulbs were more freely available LOL.

I like the Restios too, I had a couple in 2003 but they died too, I hope you have a better time with yours. I could start to feel like down here with admitting several failures but I'm still laughing at Sueone's Resistios LOL.

I've had to place a self imposed ban on going to plant fairs this year, I've way too many seeds to sow.