Another wonderful Show Table at our November meeting, with beautiful Autumnal overtones. Winner of “Best on the Table” this month was Maggie, with her “Not quite Christmas” cactus in full flow. There were some lovely late Salvias and Carolyn’s Persicaria gave a real “pop” of pink to the table. Lynda’s asparagus (which won the Wildcard at the Spring Show) keeps on giving, with leaves a zingy yellow this month.
Maggie with her prize – chocolate coins and plant
Members also brought in colourful leaves and flowers to display as a mandala, and Annie added hers to make a pretty Show Table exhibit.
I was very pleased to receive the award for the heaviest potato yield this year at the Autumn Show, but this was only part of my potato story for 2023. We have a small garden and so the space for growing vegetables isn’t great, but I’ve grown potatoes in containers for a number of years. My older grandchild, George, has often been involved and now he and his father grow potatoes in their own garden.
When we went to buy our seed potatoes this year, George quickly filled his bag with the remaining Charlottes that were available so I was left with Casablanca, a variety I’d never heard of before. In fact, I bought more than my garden could accommodate, and it was around this time that CABAHS were distributing the potatoes for the annual competition. This was the inspiration for me to use my extras in a similar way…..
I shared the spares with 11 family members, including the two grandchildren, and gave them pretty much the same information as CABAHS issues. This was met by great enthusiasm all round and with a general competitive buzz and with regular progress reports throughout the year.
Fast forward to July 31, our results day. Instructions were similar to CABAHS except there were three categories – the heaviest total yield, the heaviest single potato, and the total number of potatoes, with junior sections for each.
“The transformation by volunteers is incredible” began the report on the Old Pond Garden by the London in Bloom Judges. They awarded the garden 164 points out of 200, that’s 82% and a first in my world but Silver Gilt in this particular horticultural competition! Just 6 more points and it would have been Gold – so we are in touching distance of that magic category.
The judges assessment is split into 8 categories. Our top scores (in order) were for ‘community involvement’ (92%), ‘environmental sustainability’(88%), ‘maintenance-litter’ (well done Joe), and ‘range and quality of plants grown’. We scored lowest on ‘access for people’ and ‘maintenance – walls, paths etc’. The judges praised Jason’s “beautiful design” for the garden which has provided “radical planting changes” rather than a simple “tidy up”.
The 2023 Autumn Show was held on Monday 18 September in the Old Library of Charlton House. We counted 74 attendees and there were nearly 100 wonderful entries across all the classes.
CABAHS Autumn Show 2023
Judges Vija, Jason and Terry shared the task between them and explained the reasons for their choices of ‘Best in Class’ winners and ‘Highly Commended’ entries, as well as their final choice for Best in Show.
Some entries for Class 1: Vase of flowers (3 stems of 1 cultivar)An entry for Class 2: Bowl of mixed flowersWinner of Class 6: Ornamental pot plant – detailHighly commended in Class 8: Display of vegetable (mixed)Class 12: Apple Cake entriesPotato competition entries waiting to be weighedAn entry for Class 14: the wildcard (should have been for Class 15: potato competition, but it was never planted!)
Classes and winners:
Vase of flowers, 3 stems of 1 cultivar: Mandy O
Bowl of mixed flowers (emphasis on quality of flowers, not arrangement): Jean R
Vase of shrubs or foliage, 3 or more stems, mixed varieties: Terry G
Display of ornamental seed heads: Terry G
Five Fuchsia blooms, single variety or mixed (flower heads only): Ruth Y
Ornamental pot plant (incl. cacti & succulents): Anna L
Display of fruit, any mixed: Kathy A
Display of vegetables, mixed: Annie H
Tomatoes (dish of 5): Ann F
Display of herbs: Ruth Y
Preserves – jam, jelly or marmalade, chutney or relish: Fran A
Baking – Apple cake: Carole F
Floral Arrangement – display in a tea cup, all flowers to be home grown (emphasis on floral arrangement): Viv P
Wildcard: Joe F
Competition – yield from one potato supplied in April: Pat T (1392g!)
Best in Class 1: 3 stems of one cultivarBest in Class 2: Bowl of mixed flowersBest in Class 3: Vase of shrubs or foliageBest in Class 5: Fuchsia bloomsBest in Class 6: Ornamental pot plantBest in Class 7: Display of mixed fruitBest in Class 8: Display of mixed vegetablesBest in Class 9: TomatoesBest in Class 10: Display of herbsBest in Class 12: Baking – apple cakersBest in Class 13: Floral display in a teacupixed flowersBest in Class 14: The Wilcard
Trophies and awards:
Crystal Fuchsia bowl for Class 5 Five Fuchsia blooms: Ruth Y Silver Spade for Class 8 Display of Vegetables: Annie H CABAHS biro for Class 14 Wildcard: Joe F and of course Packet of crisps for Class 15 Potato competition: Pat T
Annie H – winning vegetable displayJoe F – winning wildcard entryPat T – winner of the potato competitionPat K – Best in Show!
And finally:
The Best in Show award went to Pat K’s beautiful display of herbs.
Best in Show, Autumn 2023! Pat K’s unusual display of (mainly) flowering herbs
Winners awarded and prizes given, it was time for everyone to sample the cakes!
We had some superb exhibits on the Show Table at this month’s meeting, with a wide range of pot plants, flowers and fruits on display, so it deserves it’s own post! The Table was, as always, a great focal point for members to gather round and chat about the entries.
Hmm, the committee wonders if the new prize for ‘Best on Table’ is encouraging our members’ competitive sides to come out? Winner this month was Ruth C, with her beautiful vase of Dahlias ‘Creme de Cassis’. CABAHS President Nicolas presented Ruth with a pot plant plus a special CABAHS Biro. The biro is limited edition, and can only be given to a Show Table winner. In future we expect this to become as coveted an item as a Golden Gavel or Blue Peter badge…!
The CABAHS BiroDahlia Creme de Cassis (purple)
The whole Show Table:
A note about last month’s Show Table – winner was Pat K with her bowl of mixed sweet peas. Here is a selection of those entries:
Pat’s Sweet Peas
There will not be a Show Table next month as you will no doubt all be busy entering classes in the Autumn Show, but we look forward to the display in October. 🙂
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).
Our February meeting on Monday 20th, comprised our AGM, with the usual election of officers and presentation of the Annual Report, followed by a talk by Ruth Cornett on the work she has done on her Eltham Palace Gatehouse garden and her passion for roses.
Show Table Winners 2022 The Show Table cup is presented to the member who has garnered the most points on the monthly Show Table, over the past year. We have not been able to present the cup for the previous two years due to Covid, so we are delighted to be able to revive this tradition that has been running since 1955! This year, we had Joint Winners, namely Annie and Terry. Second place went to Pat K and Third to Anastasia. Well done all.
For the coming year, we have introduced an additional award, “Best on the Table” given to the best display each month. This time it was Sian’s turn, with her wonderful aromatic display of Mimosa.
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.
The Show table at our meeting on Monday 16th had a wide range of entries and looked wonderful. Points were awarded by our speaker for the evening, organic gardener and writer Val Bourne.
Charlton and Blackheath Amateur Horticultural Society 