The World of Alpines

The Woking West Surrey Group and East Surrey Group are staging an all day event at the Hillside Event Centre at RHS Wisley on Sunday 11th March 2012.

There will be

- a display of plants of all types

- photographs of plants in cultivation and in the wild

- practical demonstrations

We hope to attract members of the public visiting Wisley; AGS members from other groups will be very welcome.

A warm welcome at the front door

Autumn in Yunnan
New display boards from two of our members, Stan and Patricia Fletcher - their latest trip.

The Primula Trap
What would we do without David Philbey's huge collection of Primula allionii and hybrids, providing a big splash of colour at this time of year, and a huge compendium of knowledge about them, for those willing to stop and spend the time.

The Bulb Table
An assortment of contributions from several members, this always contains plenty of interest. Group chairman, Alan Wolsoncroft is wearing his special yellow World of Alpines polo shirt.

Fishbox trough demonstrations
Mike Morton, in his World of Alpines hat, and Roger Cleaver spent all day explaining how easy it is to turn a supermarket waste product into a garden feature.

Examples of the final product
The one planted as a crevice garden is mine. More pictures later.

Cyclamen stand
Martyn Denney, a local group member but also a stalwart of the cyclamen society, brought along some great boards about cyclamen, and an interesting table of plants (which you can't see here).

Sales table
In one corner of the hall, a small sales table from Amands, to encourage group members to come and help, and visitors to the garden to come in and see us.

More photos in the back room
The back room housed more of my photos - a display of close ups, and opposite them my artistic section entries for this year.

Cards and bookmarks for sale
My wife Helen and my mother (90 last year) came along to help and sell cards.

Overall, the event was a success, though it is disappointing that when there are 7-8000 people in the garden on a nice sunny day, and the alpine house is so full that people are shuffling in a queue down both benches, only a few find their way over to the events centre.

We will be looking at new ways of improving this next year.

Wisley Crevice Garden

In my lunch break, I had a chance to get out into the fresh air, and make a quick tour of the new crevice garden, the alpine house, and the top of the rock garden before returning.

Here is a nice patch of white crocuses in the crevice garden. The garden has a lot of potential, but is very much dominated by the rock still at the moment, and badly needs some larger patches of green to soften it.

Crocus olivieri ssp. balansae Zwanenburg

Cyclamen pseudibericum

Narcissus papyraceus
Flowering well in a warm bed on the sunny side of the alpine house.

Tropaeolum tricolor
Inside the alpine house now. This Tropaeolum is one which has not thrived for me recently; I think I will have to start some new plants from seed.

Ipheion sellowianum

Ornithogalum schmalhausenii

Alpine house bench

Fritillaria karelinii

Fritillaria karelinii x. gibbosa

Fritillaria uva-vulpis Kew form

Tropaeolum hookerianum var. austropurpureum

Armeria pseudarmeria Ballerina Red
I was very taken with this scarlet armeria.

Hepatica nobilis v. japonica
Wisley have a large collection of Japanese hepaticas, and the alpine house was full of them. I didn't get the names of the first two.

Hepatica nobilis v. japonica Daishihou

Hepatica nobilis v. japonica Shihou

South African bulbs
Wisley also have a growing collection of South African bulbs, in part, no doubt, because of Paul Cumbleton's enthusiasm for them. First two Lachenalias.

Lachenalia Romaud

Lachenalia Rupert

Oxalis obtusa
A nice pale yellow form, one of several different selections in the display.

Babiana vanzyliae
or should that be vanzyjliae ?

Spiloxene capensis
A fabulous plant - I wish I could grow them - what is the secret Paul ?

Geissorhiza corrugata
Another wonderful plant. I have never managed to get seed to germinate.

Romulea fisheri

Freesia
Another I didn't get the name of.

Callianthemum anemonoides
This is the pink form I mentioned in the thread about the Loughborough show.

Primula hybrid Colin Field
A fabulous colour, and one that David doesn't know; where did it come from ?

Narcissus Englander

Eranthis Guinea Gold

Saxifrages
Moving outside the alpine house, the troughs and tufa walls were full of saxifrages in bloom.

Saxifraga oppositifolia
One of the finest and freshest (read least chewed).

Dionysia aretioides
In the landscape house, a plant of Dionysia aretioides was blooming in the tufa...

but what was attracting all the attention... a duck !

Local group programme
By the gate into the frame yard, there is a board with posters advertising the programme for our two local groups (and the Kent show).

Hepatica nobilis
Now a brief walk along the semi-shade bed at the top of the rock garden, before returning to the events centre.

Ranunculus ficaria - the Lesser Celandine
It may be a weed, but looked wonderful squeezing out of this angle beside the path.

Anemone blanda

Narcissus bulbocodium

Narcissus cyclamineus
The beds at the top of the rock garden are full of Narcissus cyclamineus at this time of year (well presumably all year, but now is when they flower).

Helleborus orientalis
Moving further along, the bank is dominated by hellebores at the moment.

Eranthis hyemalis
Punctuated by the odd clump of aconites...

and a Scilla I couldn't name for sure

Fishbox Trough
Earlier on I promised some more photos of my fishbox trough; the saxifrages have opened this week in the sun.

Miniature Garden
David's miniature garden is resting in my back porch between the Loughborough and Kent Shows; I didn't have time this week to return it to his greenhouse, and then collect it again.

Saxifraga Satchmo
Finally, one photo from my garden - Saxifraga Satchmo (unusual in that you can still see its label) - wow what a colour.

All these images were taken on the move, without a great deal of care and attention, using my little Fuji compact camera (which I keep in my pocket all the time). On the whole, it makes a pretty good job of shots like this, provided I pay attention to where, and whether it achieves a focus.