Twice a year, we hold a seasonal show for CABAHS members, in the tradition of the ‘village show’ with classes and guest judges. Classes include ‘Ornamental pot plant’, ‘Display of fruit and vegetables’ and ‘Floral arrangement in a teacup’. The Autumn show also includes the annual potato competition.
Well, as we now know from a trawl through the CABAHS archive, our first Spring Show took place in April 1978, when the entries were recorded as “good considering the wintry conditions”. 45 years later, in 2023, our display has once again risen above the challenging weather and looked frankly fabulous!
Best in Show Flowering ShrubsVase of Spring Flowers
Thank you to everyone who carried their exhibits into St Thomas’ Church hall, we had more entries than in the past few years, 73 in total, and everyone seemed to have a great evening. Our judge Mrs Norma Leslie said she had a hard time choosing the winners, listed below. Best in Show was awarded to Sharon’s “Perfect Pot of Pipits”, well deserved, and it was good to see so many entries in this class. The Wild Card class generated a lot of conversations around the range of entries, so that will be a fixture from now on. The short talk about past shows sparked some good ideas for future classes, such as one for Primroses and Auriculas and perhaps we can revive a “Domestic” class to add a baking angle to the evening (followed by some munching probably).
On Saturday 11th February Jean and I spent a very pleasant day at RHS Wisley. This was the last day of the Iris and Cyclamen Show held in the Hilltop event hall.
The displays were beautiful. So uplifting to see so many spring colours after a long, cold winter. We were amazed at the variety in size and pattern of cyclamen leaves, all in perfect condition of course.
The Iris Fields of Hall Road, Wenhaston IP19 9HF were selling small pots of irises to which we both succumbed!
Our Autumn Show was held on Monday September 26th in the Old Library of Charlton House, having been delayed a week for the Queen’s funeral. We counted 56 attendees and there were nearly 100 entries across all the classes, a marvellous effort!
Our guest judge, Joe Woodcock, had agreed to undertake this onerous task again this year. He made it clear how impressed he was with all the entries, providing an encouraging commentary on the horticultural skills demonstrated, and explained why he selected the winning entry in each class.
The classes and winners were as follows: 1. Vase of flowers, 3 stems – Nicholas B 2. Bowl of mixed flowers – Georgina P 3. Vase of shrubs or foliage, 3 stems – Liz K 4. Display of ornamental seed heads – Viv P 5. Five Fuchsia blooms – Viv P 6. Ornamental pot plant – Pat K 7. Display of fruit, mixed – Lynda F 8. Display of vegetables, mixed – Annie H 9. Tomatoes (dish of 5) – Karen S 10. A display of herbs – Maggie T 11. Preserves – Maggie T 12. Baking – Coconut cake – Kathy A 13. Floral arrangement in a teacup – Debbie W 14. Largest Sunflower – Ruth Y 15. Highest yield, Potato – Ann F
Joe presented trophies to Annie H for Class 8, to Viv P for Class 5 and to Georgina P for Best in Show for her bowl of mixed flowers in Class 2.
Our Autumn Show will be on Monday, 26 September 2022 in the Old Library at 7.30pm. Please note the change of date, due to The Queen’s funeral. Even with the recent drought problems, there are hopefully some classes that you can enter!
2021 Winner
Most plants seem to have adapted to the hot, dry conditions, although much has ripened earlier than expected. If all else fails, go for the dried seed heads class or bake a cake!
Classes are similar to previous years, but we have been made aware of some confusion between the Floral Arrangement (Class 13) and the Bowl of Flowers (Class 2). In the past, bought flowers were allowed for the Floral Arrangement, but this year we have decided that ALL flowers should be home grown. The emphasis for Class 13 is on the arrangement style of the flowers in the teacup. For Class 2, the Bowl of mixed Flowers, these should also be home grown but judging will be based on the content, the quality and type of flowers, no matter how they are arranged. Hope that helps!
Thanks to Chris and Anna for this year’s Coconut Cake recipe – as many entries as possible in this category please ( but do remember that Members are allowed to eat it after judging, so there is usually none left to take home!)
CLASSES:
1. Vase of flowers, 3 stems of 1 cultivar
2. Bowl of mixed flowers (emphasis on quality of flowers, not arrangement).
3. Vase of shrubs or foliage, 3 or more stems, mixed varieties
4. Display of ornamental seed heads
5. Five Fuchsia blooms, single variety or mixed (flower heads only)
6. Ornamental pot plant (incl. cacti & succulents)
7. Display of fruit, any mixed.
8. Display of vegetables, mixed
9. Tomatoes (dish of 5)
10. Display of herbs
11. Preserves: jam, jelly or marmalade, chutney or relish
We held our first actual Spring Show on Monday 11th April in Charlton House Long Gallery, after two years of Online Shows. Everyone seemed pleased to be back but there was clearly a shortage of suitable material in some classes, with no entries in the Hellebore Class and only one in the Flowering Shrub Class. This seems to have been caused by recent weather conditions and their effect on flowering.
Vija and Pat judged the entries and because Vija’s was the only entry in Class 3, that class wasn’t judged! Vija announced the winners as: Class 1 Daffodils/Narcissi – 3 stems: Maria B Class 2 Tulips – 3 stems: Margaret M Class 3 Flowering shrubs – 3 stems: (insufficient entries) Class 4 Camellias, Rhododendrons, Azaleas or Magnolia – 1 stem of any: Maggie T Class 5 Small vase of mixed Spring Flowers: Anna L Class 6 Any pot-grown plant (indoor or outdoor): Kathy A Class 7 A pot of Spring bulbs: Nicolas B Class 8 Hellebores – 3 stems: (no entries) Class 9 Tea cup floral display: Kay P
The Best in Show was selected by John King, a guest from Eltham & Avery Hill Gardens Society. He chose Sian T’s entry for the Tea Cup Floral display which she called “Teacup Fantasy”.
Vija reminded everyone of upcoming Events and Outings and encouraged everyone to check out our updated Website, Subscribe to receive an email whenever any new post is added and email CABAHS any feedback the website. Subscribing costs you nothing, keeps you up-to-date and you can Unsubscribe when you wish.
Our next Meeting is early (due to Easter) on April 11th and will be our Spring Show. Come and join in the fun.
Spring Show 2019
Classes are as follows: Class 1 Daffodils/Narcissi – 3 stems Class 2 Tulips – 3 stems Class 3 Flowering shrubs – 3 stems Class 4 Camellias, Rhododendrons, Azaleas or Magnolia – 1 stem of any Class 5 Small vase of mixed Spring Flowers Class 6 Any pot-grown plant (indoor or outdoor) Class 7 A pot of Spring bulbs Class 8 Hellebores – 3 stems Class 9 Tea cup floral display
This was held on Monday 20 September in the Long Gallery of Charlton House. As one of many new members of the Society since meetings were forced to stop by COVID-19, it was my first indoor meeting!
It was a very impressive event with a total of 66 entries and I didn’t envy our guest judge, Joe Woodcock, his task. But Joe made it clear how impressed he was with all the entries, providing an encouraging commentary on the horticultural skills demonstrated, and explained why he selected the winning entry in each class.
The classes and winners were as follows:
1. Vase with single stem of any flowering plant – Viv P
2. Bowl of mixed flowers – Margaret T
3. Five Fuchsia blooms – Ruth Y
4. Ornamental pot plant – Pat K
5. A display of fruit and vegetables – Mandy & Brownie
6. A display of herbs – Ruth Y
7. Floral arrangement in a teacup – Anna L
8a. Potato Competition – Pam D
8b. Sunflower head competition – Annie H
Joe selected as Best in Show Margaret T’s wonderful display of varieties of dahlia in Class 2. Class 7 the Floral Arrangement was selected by popular vote (using buttons) and the Potato Competition was weighed by the trusty scales of Hugh P.
Joe was kind enough to answer a few gardening questions at the end of proceedings, and tea, coffee and biscuits were provided to round off the evening.
We counted 56 attendees. Everyone seemed to enjoy the event and be grateful to be able to meet up in person again. Long may that continue!
The winner of 2020’s competition was Tim, with an enormous harvest weighing 3lbs 13 oz! The prized packet of crisps was donated to the food bank instead of being presented to Tim as meetings were suspended. Close runner-up was Peter with a yield of 3lbs 8 3/4 oz. Peter’s consolation was that he had a well deserved bangers & mash supper. Thank you to everyone who competed and sent in their photos!
Thank you to everyone who sent in photos for our second online show this year. We hope you had fun! Winners of each class are shown below, congratulations! They are 1C (Pat), 2A (Ann), 3L (Margaret), 4F (Val) and 5D (Kathy)
Photos of our 70th Anniversary and 1st Online SPRING SHOW 2020 winners
Our President, Sir Nicolas Bevan says, “I am greatly impressed by the quality of entries to our virtual Spring Show and I congratulate all those who sent in their photographs. At this time of anxiety and sadness our gardens can be a source of consolation and diversion and provide an outlet for our energies. I encourage all our members to carry on gardening and I look forward to the time when we can meet together again.”
The winner of Best in Show photograph is 10A, sent in by Faith. Congratulations! Here it is:
Close runners up were 9F, the tea cup display by Ann H, followed by 4D the stripy camellia by Peter S, and 2D, the white tulips by Anastasia.
We have submitted Faith’s lovely photo to the Horti-Aid Gardening competition being run by the Perennial charity, to be judged by Alan Titchmarsh, Jim Buttress & others.
CABAHS has traditionally helped to support Greenwich & Bexley Community Hospice over many years. Usually, we donate two months of our Plant Sales Table proceeds to the Hospice but this year we invited donations through this page, in celebration of successfully holding our first online Spring Show.
Charlton and Blackheath Amateur Horticultural Society 