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I Look Back in Envy by Ron Bowers 2005

Looking back to 1947 when I first became interested in Borders, I remember lovely colours, but smallish flowers having a uniform shape, giving a neat and formal appearance, maybe too much so!

In the early 60’s many new varieties came on the market and a move was made towards larger and less formal shaped blooms with larger soft petals.

The self coloured section was dominated for a long time by Edenside White and when the raiser of this variety introduced a white clove it did offer a challenge, this didn’t last, however, when James Douglas introduced Eudoxia ten years later, Edenside White had met its match! At present these three along with Ray Knight’s ‘Nicola Anne’ are the top white selfs only being challenged in the self class by the old rose beauty ‘Belle of Bookham’ which, although raised pre war became popular on the show bench about 1970! Ettricdale, Beauty of Cambridge and Mary Murray were poor samples of yellow selfs. However Mr. Goodfellow introduced Aldridge Yellow in the early 50’s and a star was born a star that still shines today, but only when well grown and dressed! I introduced a yellow self in the mid 50’s being awarded 3rd in a class of 18 at the National in London. Here I met the great ‘Monty’ at this show and although he admired my entry, he thought 1 was crazy traveling from Halifax by train with five blooms in a cardboard box. 1 did ask him about his ‘Downs’ varieties as I always thought they had come out of his amateur breeding programme, however he was non committal, but he did say however that he wasn’t that keen on Borders!

1 was never a lover of Scarlet selfs and the 1950 winners Fiery Cross and Royal Mail never grew in my greenhouse. In the 80’s I had high hopes for Ted Dungay’s ‘Graces Scarlet Clove’ as the perfume was superb, however it lost its colour 36 hours after opening, Selected stock of Royal Mail is now available and appears very good indeed.

In the self crimson, the pick from the poor lot was ‘Countess of Londales’ and an almost black ‘Induna’, the Countess is still around but this colour badly needs a newcomer!

I cannot recall a self pink that had the quality required for the show bench. One variety that one cannot forget was ‘Bookham Peach’, by no means a show type, but the most wonderful colour one could imagine, it is still around today and was shown at Glasgow 2001.

Two of my most memorable varieties were Edenside Clove and Lucy Betram, both supreme white grounds, supreme, perfect shape and outline, reasonable size without any sign of being course. Lucy was edged and lined with a rich rose pink making a lovely soft picture that was admired by showmen and the public alike. Edenside Clove was the opposite, this wasn’t a soft picture of a bloom, this one shouted out loud and demanded attention. The snow white ground edged and marked with the darkest of crimson and this along with clove perfume and perfect form made it unforgettable! Due to the lack of layers this beauty never became popular, strange how so many top varieties had this failing, i.e. Lieutenant Douglas and Bookham Hero are two more examples. In 1951 Mr. Goodfellow introduced a similar coloured variety to the Edenside Clove but not the same quality by far, but much easier this was ‘Dusky Maid’, which still around today but quite often having poor ground colour. About this time the House of Douglas introduced the variety ‘Tocas’, this I believe was the first of the new popular PF type borders, this big and course and had poor soft petalage. I do believe that the size was the only reason this was introduced! At the same time Mr. Douglas introduced a variety that was absolutely opposite, a supreme bloom in every respect, ‘Douglas Burn’. This had supreme petalage, perfect outline and form , a ground colour of snow white, with a mid purple edging, which, when the bloom was fresh stood out. This was exhibited by Mr Pierce from Manchester a man I didn’t care for, but a man I had to congratulate on many occasions for his superb blooms of this variety. Probably the best white ground ever introduced! hi the early 60’s a new variety ‘Egret’ came along and although good couldn’t live with’ Douglas Burn’. In the late 50’s I visited Bill Dunn at Glassford. He had a white on trial from Mr. Kennedy of Darvel. Bill couldn’t quite make up his mind however despite the lack of character in the markings the ground colour and type along with the bloom size

In the 50’s the yellow grounds along with the apricot grounds were all exhibited together in the yellow section making it difficult for spectators and exhibitors alike, there being so many different shades of apricot and yellow in one class. These classes were more often than not being won by an apricot ground such as Bookham Hero. The only yellow ground to hold its own was Lieutenant Douglas, this was a beautiful bloom with a deep yellow ground marked with blood red, good size and perfect form made it almost perfection. Catherine Glover was around but it didn’t have the form or size of xxx Douglas, this was not the Catherine Glover we see today, rather loose petaled, but still having good colour. The one shown today is more like the old variety ‘Thomas Lee’. In 1959 Mr. Goodfellow introduce ‘Yorkshireman’ similar to Catherine Glover but much looser and lacking form it was however quite large and is still being shown today. The present day Ken Stubbs, Andrew Morton and Brian Tumber couldn’t live with Lieutenant Douglas although if Ken Stubbs had better form it would come close! Another favorite from the past is ‘Hugh Kennedy’ was let down by poor health, this had the deepest yellow ground and lightish marking of dark red. It some times lacked balance in the markings. When the yellows and apricots were parted, the apricots became a very strong section at our shows, with the demise of Hero and Heroine we were left with AA Sanders, Shelia O’Brien and Desert Song. AA Sanders from Mr. Goodfellow came out on top and is still winning today, this sported the best apricot the superb ‘Fireglow’, this probably the best apricot ground fancy today and probably one of most poplar varieties being shown . Kathleen Sharpe was introduce by Ted Dungay, this has won quite often, despite being quite dull in colour at times. A favourite of mine ‘Taff Glow’ was put out by Mr. Brotherton good in every point, it really did glow , but just not big enough! Shelia O’Brien had a brief spell of glory but soon left the show bench. This is the section that has to be shown fresh as the apricot ground looks awful on older blooms.

The AOC section back in the 50’s had quite a few good varieties the best I believe being Harmony Butterfly and Isobel Templeton. Harmony was very popular despite having guard petals that dropped below the horizontal making it appear like an umbrella, Butterfly is still being shown well in Scotland, had good form and size and a darker ground colour making a better contrast with its flaking, Isobel Tempelton had everything, shape, size and form, a lovely grey flaked pink, that won everything until Stan Stround came along with the superb ‘Lord Nuffield’, difficult, late and temperamental, but when good almost perfect, colour and balance the best. A challenger did come from ‘Peter Wood’, a large full petaled quadrupled centered bloom, note to my taste, but still winning today, would have been a better PF.

There are numerous new varieties now being shown, they are all lovely carnations, but I feel that they most lack the required form to be classed a true Show Border Carnations. The trend today seems that we have Pinks trying to be Borders, Borders looking like PF’s and some PF’s almost as big and course as MALMASIONS, where will it all end? Borders and Pinks are fast becoming greenhouse plants many no longer capable of blooming in the gardens, their cor¬rect place. Surely it is time for National Society to look into the retrograde trend, and put out a directive regarding daintiness and form in Pinks and Borders. One can only judge the blooms on the table but it is time the Society enforce the standard, and ask the judges to judge accordingly over looking large course Pinks and Borders whenever possible. Another fault becoming obvious is blooms being exhibited in self classes but carrying another colour, very slight, but still there. A self is one colour and one colour alone, it is up to the judges to sort this matter out, along with other little tricks now appearing on the show bench. A more consistent interpretation of the standards I think would benefit our lovely flowers. We have to produce blooms to fit the standard or change the standards to fit the blooms, I know what I would like.