August 2001 on Alfie's Fuchsialand

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August 2001

All Aboard - Destination Unknown By Virginia Bickel

This story takes four children: Amanda, Peter, Laura and Jason from New York City to a small town in west Texas and describes good times and bad times as they grow from childhood to adulthood
STOP PRESS
Virginia Bickel's newest book Come September has just been released. Order it now!

In Virginia Bickel?s second book, she turns from historical fiction to mystery. Come September is the story of Daniel Lindsey?s quest to identify the young woman found unconscious in front of his store, and to find out what she was doing on Mesa Street, in El Paso, Texas. She brings to this genre her skill with character development and dialogue. You won't be disappointed.
Dr. Sarah Barlow

January 2001	February 2001	March 2001
April 2001	May 2001	June 2001
July 2001	August 2001	September 2001
October 2001	November 2001	December 2001

Please click on the thumbnails to view the pictures full size.

Here are a few shots, taken on the afternoon of the Wednesday 8th August 2001, of some of the fuchsia plants that I will be taking to the Ashfield Show on this coming Saturday, the 11th August. This first picture is of the standards that are grown in the lee of the outbuilding to shelter them from the high winds we sometimes have in the summer months. There are five plants of Waveney Sunrise, which is one of my favourite plants to grow on as a standard. This year they are looking particularly well and I have high hopes of them winning awards this weekend.

I haven't chosen which ones to take yet, but this is a close-up of one of those that I think have a good chance. When choosing a plant for the show there are certain criteria to bear in mind. The judge will be looking for three main qualities in a standard fuchsia, these are, abundance of flowers, good clean foliage and a straight stem. He also looks for other things, like a clean pot and nice clean soil in it, but I check these things before loading the plant into the van. I think we can safely say that this plant meets the standard of growth that the judge will be looking for.

Here is a shot of two nice standards that I keep in the sheltered area behind my greenhouse. I'm surprise at the size of these plants, because I only took the cuttings for them in April 2000 and they have really grown well. The one on the left is a very old variety named Display, I've been growing it for many years, but never tried it as a standard. There is no doubt that I will be growing more of these. The plant on the right is named after a local flower show judge, Gorden Thorley and has also made an excellent standard and is a mass of flowers, this is another one that I'll be growing on for other years. Doesn't it look well?

If we turn around from the last shot and look into the greenhouse, we can see that there are a wide selection of Geraniums in flower. I haven't picked the ones I'm taking to the show yet, but I am favouring the very pale pink one in the foreground on the immediate left together with a couple of plants of Fringed Aztec, a regal pelargonium that is in the other side of the greenhouse and can't be seen in this shot. That's it folks, all we have to do is get them to show safely and wait for the judging. wish me luck.

These pictures are hot off the press. I took them about three hours ago on the afternoon of the 11th of August 2001 at the Ashfield Flower Show. The first picture is of winners in the standard fuchsia class. My plants did very well and I was awarded 1st place with the plant of Herald in the middle, 2nd place with the plant of Waveney Sunrise on the right and 3rd place with the plant of Gorden Thorley on the left.

The winning plant of Herald was also awarded a certificate for the being best fuchsia in the show and a rosette for being Best in Show. These awards can be seen on this second photograph. You can just read my name on the certificate.

This is a photo of the class for a fuchsia in a pot above 5 inches, but not exceeding 9 inches. I won first place with the plant of Herald on the left and second place with the plant of Gorden Thorley on the right. The Gorden Thorley plant isn't at it's best yet, but I think it will be in another two weeks on the day of the Moorgreen Show. So I hope to be taking it there, when it should look even better than it does today.

Here's a shot of my geranium La Dolce Vita, it was awarded 2nd place in the class for a geranium in a pot less than 9 inches. I was pleased to get a prize with it, because it is a cutting from a plant that I rescued a few years ago. I'd admired the plant when it was one of many flowering in a neighbour's front garden. When he was digging it out at the end of the season, I asked him if I could have a cutting from it. He gave me one of the plants and I've propagated it from cuttings since then. I think it's a lovely flower.

Finally, a shot of me standing in front of my winning standards. I asked a passing couple if they'd mind taking a shot of me and the fuchsias and the guy obliged and took a couple. I've only used one of them because I was talking when he took the first one and my mouth was gaping open. Mind you, when you've had a good day and won some awards, I suppose you're allowed to let your mouth hang open a little.

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