for Best In Potted Plants
in each of the
Spring, Summer, and Fall Shows
(From the View Royal Garden Club Newsletter 2018)
The Spring Show introduced a new trophy for the Best Exhibit in the Potted Plant Division, donated by Iain James. There will be 3 trophies, one for each annual show. The winner this year was Iain, for one of the splendid Streptocarpus that he exhibited. Iain has called them “The Peridots Trophy” and here is the story behind the name:
“Peridots is the name of my gesneriad hybridizing program. By using it, my hybridizing work is easily identified – this is helpful at gesneriad shows where specific awards are offered either for my hybrids or for hybrids of Canadian origin. I prefix all of my released hybrids with Peridots, that way everyone knows that I’m responsible, rightly or wrongly, for the origination and introduction of that material.
The series prefix, Peridots, was chosen for two reasons:
- first, I wanted a word that played on paradox as I found it paradoxical that my hybridizing program was begun at a time when I couldn’t seem to get anything to grow well despite 18 years of winning awards;
- and second, in combination with wanting a word or term that “word played” on paradox, I also wanted something that conjured up or indicated green. Hence Peridots, the green gemstone. (I roughly pronounce it as “pair of dots” NOT as those idiots on The Shopping Channel pronounce it, “pair of does”, LOL).
My program started in 1984 and is still ongoing (33 years and counting). Some of my more notable originations are:
- Sinningias ‘Peridots Darth Vader‘,
- and ‘Peridots Pink Drops‘,
- as well as Saintpaulias ‘Peridots Autumn Palette’
- and ‘Peridots Tipt Topt’,
- and Kohlerias ‘Peridots Kitlope’
There are way more and a google search will bring up dozens of pictures of them.”
Thank you, Iain, for the donation of the trophies and especially for the wonderful display of Streptocarpus at the Spring Show.
(From the View Royal Garden Club Newsletter 2018)
updated Jan. 5, 2020
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