Events

RHS January London Flower Show

Report and images: Tim Sandall

The flower show season started in earnest again this week (17-18 January) when the RHS staged its first London Flower Show of the season in The Lawrance Hall. Twenty five exhibitors from around the country assembled in London and staged a wonderfully colourful show. Spring-flowering bulbs, trees and shrubs, air plants, pot plants and cut flowers filled the hall with a sense of spring. A botanical art competition, sundries and an ornamental plant competition completed the spectacle.

One of the highlights was the first showing of a yellow Hippeastrum which caught the eye of the many visitors who turned out to enjoy this event. The judges, who also must have enjoyed this show, awarded five Gold Medals to the floral exhibits.

Part of Ashwood Nurseries' exhibit of hellebores and Hamamelis

P W Plants from Norfolk staged this Gold Medal winning display of hardy bamboos and associated plants

Pembroke Farm Nursery from Cambridgeshire used cacti, succulents and exotics to stage a wonderful exhibit and were awarded a Gold Medal by the judges

This display of willows by Southcombe Gardens from Devon won a Gold Medal

Lilium 'Space Mountain' was just one of the eye-catching lilies on the display by H W Hyde & Sons whose efforts where rewarded with a Gold Medal

This was the first showing of yellow Hippeastrum 'Kliber' - part of the display by Wilford Bulb Co

Salix aegyptiaca was one of the impressive willows exhibited by Southcombe Gardens

Here are the winning results

Gold

Ashwood Nurseries: Hellebores & hamamelis
H W Hyde & Son: Lilies
P W Plants: Hardy bamboos & associated plants
Pembroke Farm Nursery: Cacti, succulents & exotics
Southcombe Gardens: Willows

Silver-Gilt Flora

Ciampittiello Aldo: Air plants
Avon Bulbs Ltd: Early spring-flowering bulbs
Bluebell Arboretum & Nursery: Trees & shrubs
Choice Landscapes: Conifers
Dibleys Nurseries: Streptocarpus, begonias, coleus & gesneriads
Long Acre Plants: Spring-flowering woodland perennials & ferns
The Old Walled Garden: Pot plants
Potash Nursery: Primroses
Wilford Bulb Co Ltd: Lilies & hippeastrums

Silver-Gilt Lindley

Dibleys Nurseries: How to propagate houseplants

Silver Flora

The Botanic Nursery: Winter-flowering shrubs & evergreens
Fibrex Nurseries Ltd: Ivies, hardy ferns & hellebores
Harveys Garden Plants: Hellebores, perennials & ferns
Orchid Society of Great Britain: Orchids in containers
Pennard Plants: Plants from the Southern Hemisphere
Trehane Camellia Nursery: Early camellias & pieris

Bronze Flora

Jacques Amand International: Early flowering bulbous plants
W E Th Ingwersen Ltd: Conifers & foliage plants
Rougham Hall Nurseries: Cut flower perennials
Saintpaulia & Houseplant Society: Houseplants

Botanical art awards

Gold

Deirdre Bean: Syzygium species in watercolour
Norma Gregory: Tree seedlings in watercolour & pencil
Jenny Jowett: Paeonia in watercolour
Dick Rauh: Winter fruits in watercolour

Silver-Gilt Grenfell

Doreen Jones: Viburnum in watercolour
Yuriko Kojima: Helleborous species in mid to south Europe in watercolour
Sandy Ross Sykes: Zingiberaceae in watercolour

Silver Grenfell

Fusako E Abe: Liliaceae in watercolour
Ann Bryce: Trees of Montserrat in watercolour
Barbara Clemence: Seed heads & fruit in watercolour
Fiona Earle: Cyclamen in watercolour
Alice Harman: Lichens from Bennachie in watercolour on vellum
Susan McLeod: Iris germanica in watercolour
Maki Nishimura: Geraniums & pelargoniums in watercolour
Annie Patterson: Digitalis in watercolour
Masumi Yamanaka: Orchids in watercolour

Bronze Grenfell

Mary E Byatt: Roses of the Castle of Hey
Katie Anne Liddicoat: Irises in artists colour pencils
Joan Moore: Autumn colouring in watercolour