Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
SRGC Shows and Events => Events => Topic started by: David Nicholson on April 29, 2016, 07:42:05 PM
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Since we seem to publicise AGS shows significantly better than does the AGS I apologise for the lateness of this.
Saturday 30 April, South West AGS Show to be held at West Exe School, Hatherleigh Road, Exeter EX2 9JV (for Sat Nav [what they!?] use EX2 9JR)
It will be interesting to see if the show suffers on the benches or in the audience by being moved from it's former date in late March/early April. It now clashes with a substantial local Garden Festival!
I have no details of Nurseries attending apart from a very welcome return to the end of the known world by Aberconwy Nursery. Mrs N has only this week been sold to a white slave trader and therefore the proceeds (which were significant) will be liberally spread amongst the Nurseries there.
Were I a betting man (and my tip for the Grand National has ever since been delivering our milk) I'd suggest that of those Nurseries attending, in addition to Aberconwy; Wildside; Choice Landscapes; Parham Bungalow Plants; Copton Ash?; Desirable Plants; Long Acre Plants; Thuya Alpine Nursery et al will be amongst them.
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Deeply disturbed to hear of the fate of Mrs N - though thankfully, bless, her, she has the escape tactics of a Houdini and will thus doubtless shortly be returned to her rightful place - great chance meantime for you to indulge in some serious retail therapy at the show! Have a great day!
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If said WST gets as much ear-ache about buying yet more plants as I do she could be back on the next bus!
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Let go David (or pushed?) in an excellent cause.
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Farrer at Exeter, Androsace vandellii ex Nuria exhibited by Alan and Janet Cook.
More pics to come when I have sorted them out.
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Super plant - Androsace vandellii is SUCH a great plant! Well done Alan and Janet Cook!
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Some pictures from Exeter of plants that took my eye.
There is a possibility that I might have wrongly attributed some plants to the wrong owners for which I'm sorry that my infallible system was not so. I can only say that it took me some time, that I could little afford, to give Jon Evans his annual photography tutorial. :P
Lewisia tweedyi- a first for Alan and Janet Cook (they really did have a good day)
Primula henricii- first for Eric Jarrett
Androsace villosa kosopolyansksii- another first for the Cook's
Saxifraga exarata adenophora- ditto
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..... and more
A three pan from the Cook's:-
Serapias lingua
Cryptomeria japonica Tenzan-sugi (what a label!)
Petrocoptis glaucifolia
Cyclamen pseudibericum a first for Paul and Gill Ranson
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.... and more
Cyclamen x schwarzii- from seed sown October 1996, a first for Ian Robertson
Lewisia cotyledon from Mavis and Sam Lloyd
Iris reichenbachii- a first fro Tim Lever
Sebaea thomasii- a now familiar plant from Tim Lever and a familiar first
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.... and yet more:-
A first winning three pan from Clive Dart:
Berberis darwinii compactum
Pieris japonica 'Little Heath'
Rhododendron pumilum 'Purple Gem'
Trillium rivale from seed sown January 2006- fr a first for Paul and Gill Ranson
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even yet more!
Daphne modesta seed sown Jan 2009 a first for Martin and Anna Sheader
Claytonia megarhiza v. nivalis from Lionel Clarkson
Salix repens from St. Kilda, a first from Ivan Pinnick
Iris schachtii a first from Richard Horswood
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More:-
a three pan from the Ranson's with Notes, yes, another first:-
Raoulia bryoides
Haastia pulvinaris
Arisotome imbricata
Notes
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More.....
Kalmia polifolia 'Compacta Alba' a first for Gemma Hayes. If I were a Judge (but I don't have the Latin, as someone once said) this would been my Plant of the Show.
Dionysia 'Monika' a first for Pauleen Carless
Phyteuma nigrum from seed sown January 2013 from Pauleen Carless. A fascinating plant
Saxifraga 'Allendale Desire' a first for Duncan Bennett
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Good to hear you've been giving Jon Evans the benefit of your experience, David :-\ - I'm sure he's as grateful as ever - he's certainly learned very well! ;)
Some cracking plants - and the Cooks really did have a good day, didn't they? 8)
That nice rhodo is wrongly named though - it is 'Purple Gem' I'm sure but that is a hybrid of R. minus Carolinianum Group x fastigiatum
That's nothing to do with R. pumilum which is the little pink cutie that Kingdon Ward called his "Pink Baby" - here's a pic of that from an old Bulb Log (http://www.srgc.org.uk/logs/logdir/2013Aug281377684640BULB_LOG_3513.pdf) the flowers are just over 1cm in size - tiny!
[attachimg=1]
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A three pan Primula that I didn't get the name of the exhibitor:-
Primula allionii 'Snowcap'
P. 'Janet Aldritch
P. 'Linda Pope'
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... and to finish (I think)
A first winning mini-garden from Mavis and Sam Lloyd and a couple of first winner from Clive Dart, Rhododendron 'Arctic Tern' and Pieris japonica 'Prelude'
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Well that's another one over.
Some beautiful plants but the benches were certainly thinner in quantity than previous Exeter Shows.
NOTE. Never, repeat NEVER organise a Show to run during a Bank Holiday week-end. This caused all kinds of problems for travellers both today as well as yesterday. It also caused visitor attendances to be down as result possibly of competing events in the area and the Bank Holiday. Never have I seen the Plant Sales area as quiet as it was during the afternoon although Nurseries present had a particularly busy morning session I think.
A final thought for next year, don't even think about moving the Show to the middle of nowhere if only from the point of view of many those who work for it let alone of those who want to show their plants. Let's face it Devon is full of nowhere's Exeter is at least central(ish) for many.
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Thanks for bringing us along David. As you say, some great plants.
That Anisotome imbricata is particularly stunning I think.
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Absolutely David, well done and thanks.
Perhaps someone can tell me why - in recent months many or most of the Forum's pictures enlarge for me in a new window, just one at a time and very slow loading. I can only see the one and have to close it before clicking on, then seeing the next. It is especially annoying when there are more than one or two pictures to view and for me, in many cases discourages me from bothering to enlarge.Pictures used to display (and some still do) the allowed 5 at a time, full size, and loading almost instantly. This way is useful for comparison and going back to, for another look. It takes a fraction of the time to view the old way as it does the new window way. How/why has this changed and is there any way it can be changed or reversed? Perhaps it seems like a minor issue for many but it's one of those many little things that frustrate and annoy computer users which, in time, make one want to throw the whole damn thing out the window. Sorry.
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Thanks too David for the notes about shows on holidays. We may well have a similar situation here, to what you've seen at this show. Our NZ Iris Soc national convention has been arranged this year at Labour weekend, a national holiday Sat/Sun/Mon in late October when every man and his family and dog takes off for a springtime jaunt to the lakes and rivers or to visit friends and relatives or whatever. Registrations are not yet all in of course but there is a feeling around the country that they will be well down on the usual numbers. Time will tell.
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My the foliage on the R. pumilum you posted is maddeningly healthy. What a cranky little b east to grow well.
john
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... A first winning mini-garden from Mavis and Sam Lloyd
Hi David,
That's a bonnie little garden! Cynthia brought a nice little one to our meeting last night - when I get a chance I'll post a pic on the Southern Hemisphere thread,
cheers
fermi
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Great pics David, nice to see what's happening at t'other end of the country. Love those androsaces. Can't believe that is a first exhibit of such a large cushion, wow! Thanks for doing this for us!
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Thanks for your comments folks.
Perhaps the saddest part of the show was the lack of a single entry on the 'Novice' section benches. Personally, I couldn't care a tuppeny tut for showing, I've never had a particularly competitive edge amongst my (weird!) personality traits, but I like to look at and admire well grown plants. I also like to grow my own plants to what I see is a reasonable standard but I care zilch about subjecting either them or me to some kind of structured competition and transporting them and me to pastures new every weekend. I recognise that many others have a different view.
It does make me wonder though if the Showing 'culture' is gradually withering away? Many fewer entries at Exeter (given previous comments about Bank Holiday, poor year etc); lack of new 'showers' coming forward combined with lack of new members coming forward.
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Perhaps someone can tell me why - in recent months many or most of the Forum's pictures enlarge for me in a new window, just one at a time and very slow loading. I can only see the one and have to close it before clicking on, then seeing the next. It is especially annoying when there are more than one or two pictures to view and for me, in many cases discourages me from bothering to enlarge.Pictures used to display (and some still do) the allowed 5 at a time, full size, and loading almost instantly. This way is useful for comparison and going back to, for another look. It takes a fraction of the time to view the old way as it does the new window way. How/why has this changed and is there any way it can be changed or reversed? Perhaps it seems like a minor issue for many but it's one of those many little things that frustrate and annoy computer users which, in time, make one want to throw the whole damn thing out the window. Sorry.
In response to those complaining that it was too difficult to resize photos to the forum recommended size, there is now an opportunity to have photos loaded at larger size - but these will only open one at a time in a new window - and probably. for some people, more slowly. For those who use the option to load photos in the text withing the recommended sizes there is no such problem.
Once again, if forumists would adhere to our requests the system would work to a good level for all. What we have here is a resource that is free and available to all- anyone can read these pages and learn from them. I do not deny that social media sites are very simple to use - photos can be loaded fast from a smart phone and without the need to resize them as needed here. However - this site is provided by a charitable organisation without the capacity to provide all the bells and whistles of these massive social media sites. The benefit here is that information is stored for future use by anyone - I personally believe that this is a very valuable resource that makes it worthwhile to spend a little time resizing photos to the requirements of the forum, which mean that pictures are more easily viewable - we also have the capacity here for discussions to take place and information to be shared with the public in a way that is not possible elsewhere. It may be that in future no-one will be bothered about recording information for the benefit of others but meanwhile I am happy that there are those members who will take the time and effort to participate here for the wider benefit.
Yes, Lesley, it is a shame that there is a reluctance from some to resize to forum sizes - but perhaps at least this way they still do post - would the Web Team wish to have a system that would enable instant loading of pix, if that were possible without great expense etc? Yes, of course - but our main aim is to gather information as best we can and make it available to all- and we do what we can.
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Thank you for showing David. I always enjoy from the distance the AGS/SRGC shows thanks to all kind people who take the time to post images. For those not familiar with the growing in pots/showing 'culture' it is quite interesting to see the efforts involved in the process.
It is nevertheless the only way to show species that otherwise would not be seen, or rarely, and for someone keen on plants there are always new species to check out - today for ex. - Haastia and Anisotome :)
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For the benefit of regular AGS Show attendees there was one weel kent face missing from the South West Show this year, that of Simon Bond of Thuya Alpine Nursery. I understand that Simon has had a spell of hospitalisation as a result of a heart condition and is under Doctor's orders that anything that even looks like lifting is now well and truly banned. Simon is well into his 80's and has probably forgotten more about alpine plants and planting than most people would ever learn in a lifetime and I for one thoroughly enjoyed my talks with him over the sales tables over the years. Simon's most endearing trait was a tendency to use 25 words when half a dozen would do. ;D
I'm going to send him a greetings card and I invite all others who know him to do the same just to let him know we have been thinking of him. His address is:
Glebelands, Hartpury, Gloucester GL19 3 BW.
Simon would see the use of all moderns forms of communication to be entirely unnecessary and unsatisfactory.
Thank you.
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Oh dear, that's a shame - there cannot be many people in the UK who do not know Simon. Thanks for letting us know, David.
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Nice to see those pictures David - even though there weren't so many plants displayed I still managed to miss quite a few. The dwarf form of Berberis darwinii is really interesting, haven't come across that before. These are a few more to add: an amazing specimen of Daphne petraea 'Lydora' (grown by Lionel Clarkson); Saxifraga 'Golden Prague' (Duncan Bennett) - really like this; and a lovely Californian Allium crispum (George Elder), like none I've seen before, almost orchid-like for those two-tone flowers. It was pretty busy in the morning, a good day though I didn't know there was a flower festival on at the same time elsewhere. Travelling certainly wasn't easy over a Bank Holiday weekend.
I agree, I don't think moving the Show further west would be sensible - the venue in Exeter is easily accessible, spacious and comfortable, and the Show friendly and welcoming. I'm not sure exhibitors and many of the nurseries would find it easy to travel a great deal further for a more uncertain outcome, but at least it would be good to have the options shared and discussed where they should be discussed on the AGS website. I think more energy and imagination advertising many of the AGS Shows - so that the AGS has a higher profile in general across the country - would be advantageous - and hopefully more articles in the gardening media such as 'The Garden' and elsewhere. After all there are 'Rare Plant Fairs' strongly promoted in different parts of the country and what is an AGS Show but a Rare Plant Fair under another name? The draw is certainly as much from the nurseries as the plants that are exhibited (however much these may be 'valued' in different ways) and by attracting people to the one there is the opportunity to interest people in being involved in the other. As far as Showing culture is concerned I think there is something of a north/south divide in this as there is in so much more, but that doesn't mean it's not worth making a strong effort to promote the southern Shows and develop them more for those of us down here keen to encourage more people to learn about the plants and grow them. If there are less plants being displayed perhaps there may be an opportunity to have more educational-type displays/demonstrations/talks that could appeal in different ways, more practically to a newer audience? And to get the local BBC to come along in the way BBC Kent is beginning to mention the Alpine Shows here more strongly? Once the media notice something happening in one place they are likely to quickly pick up on it somewhere else for the sake of not being left behind!
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Thank you Maggi for the comprehensive explanation about the re-sized (or not) pictures. Having read it, I agree with everything you say about the record of knowledge SRGC Forum provides, all searchable, and that things like Facebook fall down in this respect. Some wonderful pictures there but precious little information and if one goes back next day or the day after , what one wants is gone forever so far as I can see.
Having said all that, I wonder if some people have trouble re-sizing because of their software? With my now deceased PC I had a photo processing programme called Photofiltre which was excellent and re-sizing a photo took all of 5 seconds so no trouble at all. But my recently new laptop has a more sophisticated programme (and I'm not at all sophisticated) to do the same things and for the life of me I haven't yet found how to re-size. It's well-known that I'm almost illiterate when it comes to computers so I keep hoping a light will shine upon me some time soon and I'll work it out. In the time since I started using the laptop I have only posted pictured taken previously and already re-sized.
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David, thanks to you too for the note about Simon Bond. He is, I think, 10 years older than I am which would make him 83. Simon is well known in New Zealand, having visited every two or three years for about 20 years now, and always for the NZAGS Study weekends when we had wonderful guests such as Jim Archibald, John Watson, Peter Erskine, Kit Grey-Wilson, Finn Haugli, Bob and Ranveig Wallis and others. He seemed to have a great affection for our alpine flora and was always interested in seed. I last heard from him around last Christmas when he sent me seed of the beautiful white form of Jeffersonia dubia among others. Many years ago when I and a friend stayed at Simon's house, it was my first experience of a thatched cottage, a very old one I think and I remember getting out of my bed in the mornings and running down hill to the door, so sloping was the floor!
I hope he is up and well again soon and will take up your invitation to sent him a greeting card, one featuring our native alpines in situ.
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At last years Harlow show,I bought a Daphne off Mr. Bond.He then told me about all his plants that I was looking at and how he saw them where they were growing,especially New Zealand.All very interesting.
Lesley,I use Microsoft paint to resize.I'm not very good with computers,but it's very easy,plus if you google it,a simple tutorial comes up.
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......... These are a few more to add: an amazing specimen of Daphne petraea 'Lydora' (grown by Lionel Clarkson); Saxifraga 'Golden Prague' (Duncan Bennett) - really like this; and a lovely Californian Allium crispum (George Elder), like none I've seen before, almost orchid-like for those two-tone flowers.
You've chosen three real winners there, Tim - great plants. Lionel had made a long trip, for sure!
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Having said all that, I wonder if some people have trouble re-sizing because of their software? With my now deceased PC I had a photo processing programme called Photofiltre which was excellent and re-sizing a photo took all of 5 seconds so no trouble at all. But my recently new laptop has a more sophisticated programme (and I'm not at all sophisticated) to do the same things and for the life of me I haven't yet found how to re-size. It's well-known that I'm almost illiterate when it comes to computers so I keep hoping a light will shine upon me some time soon and I'll work it out. In the time since I started using the laptop I have only posted pictured taken previously and already re-sized.
Lesley, bearing in mind what you have said about your own computer skills (and I'm sure you malign yourself!) you could do no better than download the SRGC re-sizing tool. This will sit on your desktop and all you will need to do is open the file(s) you keep your pictures in. Select the picture you want to resize and drag and drop it onto the re-sizing tool and in milliseconds it will have sent a re-sized picture of a size just ideal for Forum use back to the file you started with. It will have a new title that includes "SRGC" and a lot of hyphens but you can then choose to replace that by whatever title you want. I would tell you how to download the tool but I can't remember how, but a know a lady in Aberdeen who does.
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All details of the photo resizing tool here : http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=9993.0 (http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=9993.0)
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Nice to see those pictures David - even though there weren't so many plants displayed I still managed to miss quite a few. The dwarf form of Berberis darwinii is really interesting, haven't come across that before. These are a few more to add: an amazing specimen of Daphne petraea 'Lydora' (grown by Lionel Clarkson); Saxifraga 'Golden Prague' (Duncan Bennett) - really like this; and a lovely Californian Allium crispum (George Elder), like none I've seen before, almost orchid-like for those two-tone flowers. It was pretty busy in the morning, a good day though I didn't know there was a flower festival on at the same time elsewhere. Travelling certainly wasn't easy over a Bank Holiday weekend.
I agree, I don't think moving the Show further west would be sensible - the venue in Exeter is easily accessible, spacious and comfortable, and the Show friendly and welcoming. I'm not sure exhibitors and many of the nurseries would find it easy to travel a great deal further for a more uncertain outcome, but at least it would be good to have the options shared and discussed where they should be discussed on the AGS website. I think more energy and imagination advertising many of the AGS Shows - so that the AGS has a higher profile in general across the country - would be advantageous - and hopefully more articles in the gardening media such as 'The Garden' and elsewhere. After all there are 'Rare Plant Fairs' strongly promoted in different parts of the country and what is an AGS Show but a Rare Plant Fair under another name? The draw is certainly as much from the nurseries as the plants that are exhibited (however much these may be 'valued' in different ways) and by attracting people to the one there is the opportunity to interest people in being involved in the other. As far as Showing culture is concerned I think there is something of a north/south divide in this as there is in so much more, but that doesn't mean it's not worth making a strong effort to promote the southern Shows and develop them more for those of us down here keen to encourage more people to learn about the plants and grow them. If there are less plants being displayed perhaps there may be an opportunity to have more educational-type displays/demonstrations/talks that could appeal in different ways, more practically to a newer audience? And to get the local BBC to come along in the way BBC Kent is beginning to mention the Alpine Shows here more strongly? Once the media notice something happening in one place they are likely to quickly pick up on it somewhere else for the sake of not being left behind!
It was nice to see you Tim. I enjoyed my day very much indeed and went home with a car full of new plants.
You and I, as well as a few other brave souls, have involved ourselves previously in many discussions on the AGS Web Site about the future direction of the AGS and plant societies in general and the problems they face which, in my view anyway, have been as useful as talking to the wall in terms of any useful measurable progress made. Given a membership who are, in general, at the top end of the age scale; a membership that is declining anyway and a show culture that isn't as generally popular as it might have once been, the points you have made about publicity were valid then and even more valid now.
I remember making a case for the AGS to take professional advice (in the absence of a professional in these skills being already in membership) on a marketing and publicity strategy with a view to developing and implementing a five year plan to run along with a similar five year plan covering all aspects of AGS activity. It seems to me that any attempt, in whatever way, to suggest anything that is contrary to the perceived view of those currently charged with the responsibility of organising and managing the AGS is doomed to failure.
I rarely look on the AGS Site these days apart from reading the Diaries and occasionally responding to those, and the renewal of my current membership is open to some doubt.
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For those of you who have time for these things, I have posted the results of my efforts during the day to the AGS Discussion Forum here http://www.alpinegardensociety.net/discussion/atshows/South+West+Show+/20136/ (http://www.alpinegardensociety.net/discussion/atshows/South+West+Show+/20136/), including a few plants, and displays, which escaped David's lens. Below is Lewisia tweedyi exhibited by Alan and Janet Cook.
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Jon,
thanks for your link to your Show Report on the AGS site - apart from your excellent photography you often have some insightful comments (I hadn't realised that Geissorhiza darlingensis was so rare); it's unfortunate that you can't report on each and every Show so that the AGS Site has a good record of each event. Have you thought about learning to bi-locate? ;D
cheers
fermi
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Thank you for the link, Jon - and the photos.
I hope Mr Nicholson takes note to be more discreet in his sales technique in future :) ;)
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Hi
Please can I clarify my position on this. I have no official role or office in either the AGS or the SRGC, but I am a paid-up member of both societies, and I take the show photos at some of the AGS shows.
Alone among the show photographers I try to post all the pictures I take to the website with a brief commentary. I do this because
a) I believe that some people who are not able to attend the show for whatever reason will be interested to see them
b) The exhibitors are usually pleased that someone has taken the time to appreciate their plant.
I post the pictures on the AGS website forum because I have been asked to take them by the AGS. If I post them elsewhere, those invitations will probably dry up. In the past, Maggi would usually post a link to them from here when she noticed they had appeared on the AGS site. I started to post a link here because I thought they were of interest to some of your members, and that it would save Maggi some work. If I am wrong about those things I will be happy to desist.
Regards
Jon
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Jon, believe me, your willingness to post here to let us know when your photo are available on the AGS site are very much appreciated - as are your work in posting those photos and comments. Such a shame that there is so little of that from the shows on the AGS site. There are the "official" photos, of course, but they always seem, to me at least, to be overshadowed by the amount of effort and space given to the "results" tables etc in the Show section. Your reports - and I might mention the pictures from Ian Instone ,too, give a much more pleasant view of the shows.
There is no problem here - in any way - with you or anyone else posting links to AGS web pages.
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Jon, I think I speak for all members when I say that we greatly enjoy seeing your photos. As with so many postings online, those of us stuck at home are transported 'virtually' to the show to experience it as though we were there and reading your informative comments is an education for many of us. Please do keep posting a link to your reports here.
M
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A few more pictures from Exeter, especially from a nursery perspective: Lee & Julie Martin's plants - the Centaurea clementei is a great favourite after I saw this at Kew many years ago; a rare and beautiful foliage plant; Lewisia tweedyi, now by another name or two, from Aberconwy; Pine Cottage Plants had some very interesting Rhododendron species, which I think would greatly appeal to the plantsman, and also the New Zealand shrub, Pachystegia insignis, which appealed to me significantly enough that I bought it! And a little collection of interest from the Show: Helleborus multifidis subsp. hercogovinus and Betula nana 'Glengarry form' from Tale Valley; Sedum yosemite 'Red Raver' and Aubrieta canescens from Parham Plants; and as always 😊 some really nice things from Keith & Roz Wiley, Wildside, viz: a pink flushed form of Impatiens omeiana, Uvularia carolinianum 'Variegatum', Disporum cantoniense, and Aquilegia grahamii. There are always so many interesting plants at these shows...
Just to finish because it seems apt: "So nice a difference in your singing lies, That both have won, or both deserved, the prize." (Dryden). If the Show does move it will be a bit too far for us I think.
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Hi
Please can I clarify my position on this. I have no official role or office in either the AGS or the SRGC, but I am a paid-up member of both societies, and I take the show photos at some of the AGS shows.
Alone among the show photographers I try to post all the pictures I take to the website with a brief commentary. I do this because
a) I believe that some people who are not able to attend the show for whatever reason will be interested to see them
b) The exhibitors are usually pleased that someone has taken the time to appreciate their plant.
I post the pictures on the AGS website forum because I have been asked to take them by the AGS. If I post them elsewhere, those invitations will probably dry up. In the past, Maggi would usually post a link to them from here when she noticed they had appeared on the AGS site. I started to post a link here because I thought they were of interest to some of your members, and that it would save Maggi some work. If I am wrong about those things I will be happy to desist.
Regards
Jon
Jon, like many others here I always thoroughly enjoy your pictures on the AGS Site. From a Primula perspective I find it very useful too to keep an eye on what Primulas are doing well in Shows. It's nice too to see pictures from a 'proper' photographer, keep going please.
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Thanks from me too John, for your wonderful photographs from AGS Shows. Although I joined the AGS as a teenager, back in 1961, I no longer belong partly because it seems to me that the AGS doesn't value its members in any practical way. As SRGC Membership Secretary will know, I have sometimes been tardy in paying my subscription. This has sometimes been through hardupness and sometimes through sheer forgetfulness but, reminded, and always cheerfully and politely, I pay it and membership goes on and I'd hate NOT to be a member of SRGC. But AGS, if one is a little late paying, there is no reminder and suddenly one realizes one is no longer a member. AGS seems happy to write off such a person without regret or effort to maintain a contact. OK, so I should always have kept up to date myself and shouldn't need to be chivvied but we're all fallible and don't always do the absolutely right thing. But I always felt more at home here than with the AGS anyway so don't regret that I no longer belong. Your photographs therefore are an opportunity for me to see how the other half lives and admire - and sometimes covert - plants that are not available in my part of the world.
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A final thought for next year, don't even think about moving the Show to the middle of nowhere if only from the point of view of many those who work for it let alone of those who want to show their plants. Let's face it Devon is full of nowhere's Exeter is at least central(ish) for many.
Well, from what I've heard on the 'grapevine' the South West Show in 2017 will be held in the middle of nowhere, RHS Rosemoor. I forget the date but it will be moved to it's previous slot at the end of March(ish). My rough calculation is that anyone travelling from the North will need at least 45 minutes travelling time longer than would be needed to Exeter (given the absence of every tractor in Creation!), and similarly for anyone travelling from the East. For the car load who usually travelled with me from South Devon to work at the Show the prospect of leaving home before 6am to get to the Show around 7.30am is very doubtful.
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Well, from what I've heard on the 'grapevine' the South West Show in 2017 will be held in the middle of nowhere, RHS Rosemoor. I forget the date but it will be moved to it's previous slot at the end of March(ish). My rough calculation is that anyone travelling from the North will need at least 45 minutes travelling time longer than would be needed to Exeter (given the absence of every tractor in Creation!), and similarly for anyone travelling from the East. For the car load who usually travelled with me from South Devon to work at the Show the prospect of leaving home before 6am to get to the Show around 7.30am is very doubtful.
Will it also be a case of only RHS members being welcome?
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Will it also be a case of only RHS members being welcome?
Wouldn't have thought so Graeme, that would be like the AGS cutting off it's nose to spite it's face.
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Well, from what I've heard on the 'grapevine' the South West Show in 2017 will be held in the middle of nowhere, RHS Rosemoor. I forget the date but it will be moved to it's previous slot at the end of March(ish). My rough calculation is that anyone travelling from the North will need at least 45 minutes travelling time longer than would be needed to Exeter (given the absence of every tractor in Creation!), and similarly for anyone travelling from the East. For the car load who usually travelled with me from South Devon to work at the Show the prospect of leaving home before 6am to get to the Show around 7.30am is very doubtful.
It's actually to be held on Saturday 1st. Of April 2017. A highly appropriate date really asi it is also the first day of the Cornwall Spring Flower Show, perhaps the largest show event in these parts!