WOLVERHAMPTON FLOWER SHOW 



SIX TENTS FULL — WONDERFUL ROSES AND 

 BEGONIAS — A FRUIT EXHIBIT INCLUDED 



REPORTED BY 



A. McD. ALLAN, F. R. H. S. 



THE second finest flower show in Eng- 

 land is held here annually, and was 

 the chief attraction to the Exhibi- 

 tion g-rounds the past week, as it was held 

 in part of the beautiful park in which the 

 great exhibition is. The prize money this 

 year comes to the magnificent amount of 

 nearly $5000, besides a handsome silver 

 challenge trophy and gold, silver and bronze 

 medals. 



The exhibits were staged in enormous 

 tents most artistically, and competition is so 

 keen that no trouble or expense is spared 

 to make the most of everything. There 

 were six tents, and exhibits were divided 

 into classes, including groups of plants, the 

 All-England section, gentlemen gardeners 

 and amateurs, amateurs and cottagers, and 

 table decorations. The prize collection in 

 groups consisted chiefly of palms, crotons, 

 ericas, ixoria, anthuriums, fuchsias, ferns, 

 bamboos, rumera elegans, pandanus veitchii 

 and others. The taste displayed in blend- 

 ing bloom and foliage and setting the plants 

 so that the eye could take in all their eleg- 

 ance, and the entire absence of stiff'ness in 

 the collection, even to the construction of a 

 beautiful arch which formed part of this dis- 

 play, w^as remarkable. 



Stepping into the rose compartment, Eng- 

 land's flower greets the visitor with all the 

 elegance of form and richness of color im- 

 aginable. It was hard to pick out the rich- 

 est bloom in such a collection, but if any 

 might be specially referred to I would call 

 up Mrs. John Lang, A. K. Williams, Bessie 



Brown, Comtesse Nadaillai, Mildred Grant, 

 The Bride, Duke of Teck, Her Majesty, 

 Gustave Piganeau, Mrs. Cocker, Marechal 

 Niel. But space in your journal will be dis- 

 allowed me if I continue through many col- 

 lections of seventy-two distinctive varieties 

 in each. 



In the "All-England plant" section the 

 visitor felt inclined to walk up and down to 

 dwell upon the magnificent bedding and 

 veritable stacking of foliage so rich, and 

 bloom most gorgeous, and still nothing out 

 of place or appearing as if packed unduly. 

 But here was the competition, for the chal- 

 lenge trophy valued at $175, besides cash 

 with it of $25. We find ixoria, phceno- 

 coma prolifera, stephanotis, alamandas, an- 

 thurium skerziana, raising themselves in 

 beauty among other plants as if claiming 

 special attention from the passer-by But 

 we dare not leave this paradise without re- 

 ferring to that charming flower that even 

 the poorest peasant in the land may be en- 

 riched by, the sweet pea. These cut flow- 

 ers formed a background that rose from 

 near the ground to the edge of the tent as a 

 mass of sweetness and beauty that almost 

 tempted the visitor to cast himself into the 

 delicious bed of all colors so blended as to 

 stagger any but an expert judge. Jeannie 

 Gordon, Grace Greenwood, and Lord Rose- 

 bery were present everywhere in that mass 

 of glory, and the whole was enriched from 

 that fact, for they seemed to appeal for a 

 look from the visitor. 



Begonias were beyond anything I had 



