Showing isn’t really my thing and I don’t aim to grow specimen, show-worthy plants, but for once I thought I’d give it a whirl. I decided to enter just six classes, all for the other succulents, but had three entries in one class and two in another, giving a grand total of nine plants to transport, unpack and stage.
I got to the show venue at just after 10 o’clock, and was surprised to find that I was the last exhibitor to collect my show cards. It didn’t take long to get the plants onto the show bench, although I foolishly had three entries in the Agave class, and they were fairly heavy clay pots to transport around – good stuff for hernias!
The show opened at eleven and the judging was over by lunch time. So how did this ‘newbie’ perform under the tough competition at Zone level? Well, I came away with two firsts, one second and a third – I was well chuffed for my first outing at this level. How did I achieve this? Well, I’d say that the major factor was that I mainly entered unpopular classes so the competition wasn’t too stiff! In the Sansevieria class there were only four entries, two of them mine, and I took first and second here. Fortunately for me Barry hadn’t entered this class! (Ed: Yes I seem to remember that Barry had first, second and third at the last Zone Show)
There was even less competition in the Ceropegia class: just three entries. The prize-winning entry is shown in the photo: I’ve only had it for a couple of years; it’s not at all a tricky plant to grow, but it was covered in flowers, so I guess this is what caught the judges’ eyes; the other two entries weren’t in flower. In contrast, despite putting three entries in the Agave class, I won nothing, but there were around 12 entries in total, so here I faced stiff competition. A lesson learnt here is that if anyone wants to win prizes, you should try entering the unpopular classes, such as the Dorstenia and Peperomia class that attracted a single entry, and avoid very popular classes such as those for Agave, Gasteria, Mammillaria and such like.
All other NMK exhibitors performed well too. Tina, the other ‘newbie’, had an even better hit rate than I did: she entered just two classes and won a prize in both, one being a first.
One of the judges commented on the high quality of the plants on show, especially amongst the cactus classes.
Ceropegia ‘Spartan’, a hybrid, C. radicans x C. stapeliiformis, named by Gordon Rowley in 2003.
