Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
SRGC Shows and Events => Events => Topic started by: Paddy Tobin on April 29, 2007, 12:30:13 AM
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There was a good turnout for today's show in Dublin with good weather and excellent plants.
Enough said, here is the first batch of photographs.
Paddy
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Batch 2, Paddy
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Batch 3
Paddy
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Batch 4
Paddy
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Batch 5
Paddy
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Batch 6 and that's my lot.
Paddy
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Super shots Paddy...many thanks for sharing.
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Great effort with super shots and plants Paddy !
Thanks a million !
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Great pictures Paddy, thanks for taking us to Dublin with you.
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What a treat to be to 3 shows in a day.
Thanks tor taking us to Dublin and I almost managed to see all pics last night (5/6 of them atleast).
Great work
Joakim
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Thanks, Paddy, what a treat! Glad to see so many chums doing well with so many good plants.
Quite a few of theseplantswere represented at the wee Inverness local show on Saturday, too... quess which eejit forgot her camera? I hope that David Shaw will have some to post later.
Liam's Ramonda is a lovely, soft colour, a worthy winner. Some great plants from Susan T, too, I see. Congratulations, everyone! Thanks, Paddy, for the tour.
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and another forum member was there playing mind games with me. Guy/Gee
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Many thanks to all for your comments. Actually, I enjoyed being the 'reporter' for the day. Usually I would visit the show and take photographs purely for my own interest, of the plants in which I am particularly interested, to be able to look again at them later on, but yesterday my mind was very much on taking as good a selection of photographs so that I could show them on the site.
It was a day of excellent weather yesterday and the turnout at the show reflected this. I don't recall such a well attended show in Dublin. As might be expected there were some excellent plants on display as well as the very regular exhibitors who turn out year after year and show outstanding plants.
After my query last week, the one which ruffled some feathers, I must say I enjoyed the show very much. Of course, there were some plants which, in my mind, did not grace the show benches and some which were not suitable at all. I find it hard to see how Heuchera macrantha can be put on an AGS showbench, for example. Also, there were some dodecatheon which showed how pinched a plant can become when pot grown when it deserves the resources of the open garden at its roots. Now, there's my rant for today. Sure, it wouldn't be the same if I didn't blow a little steam every day.
On the other hand, I must report that I had the most instructive half hour on showing plants that anyone would be delighted to have. I walked the benches in the company of Bob Gordon. Those who know Bob will know what an experienced exhibitor and grower he is, so the walk about with his comments was a priceless experience as he pointed out the good points and bad points of the many plants on display.
Priceless also was meeting Mr. Snowdrop himself. I spotted Mark's name on a few cards on the showbenches. Another web posted present was Guy. Guy has been too busy he told me to visit the forum. Guy had a plant stall at the show yesterday. It was good to meet some from the forum as well as others whom I meet only on such occasions. Indeed, the social aspect of the shows seems to be as important to many as the competition itself.
Paddy
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Lovely collection Paddy, my thanks added to all the others.
Maybe 15 years ago I found an article in an Irish magazine which mentioned Liam Byrne and his interest in alpines. Being me, I wrote to him (days before emails) wondering if he'd like a sort of like-minded penfriend here, but I had no reply. Pity.
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I bet he's watching!
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Indeed, the social aspect of the shows seems to be as important to many as the competition itself.
Got it in one, Paddy! Yes, we want to showcase the flowers to show the public, yes, it is nice to win a prize, yes, it is most instructive to see wonderfully well grown plants of species unfamiliar to you.... but best of all is meeting and chatting with one's chums... other like-minded gardeners who get as much pleasure from their hobby/interest/obsession as we do... it's just the nicest thing! :D
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but beginners arent encouraged enough getting told off for poor labels and dirty pots
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We operate an equality policy, Mark... EVERYONE gets told off for dirty pots and poor labels !!
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Some super plants there Paddy. I seem to remember the show being earlier last year?
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but what I mean is beginners should be allowed to have a pot that is not spotless. After all we are showing plants not pots
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I didn't say you weren't ALLOWED to have a dirty pot, Mark, I just said you'd get told off for it. Your Mum wouldn't have sent you off to school with a dirty face now, would she? The plant and the condition of the plant is supreme but it is a competitive SHOW... and so some level of window-dressing in the form of a clean pot shouldn't be too much to ask! If you are just briniging your plants to the show to let folks see them, then it's fine if the pot is mucky, but then no reason to complain if you are criticised for that, or a judge gives fewer points because he feels the pot lets the plant down! a ballroom dancer turning up with torn stockings and greasy hair and half her sequins hanging off her frock isn't likely to get far in the medal stakes, even supposing she dances like an angel and her partner does too, and he looks perfect....she's letting the side down and not complying with the expectations... happens all the time in all sorts of things.... minimum standards are looked for....fact of life!
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Now, before you all get huffy with me and call me a demanding old tart... or worse...I can assure you that in Aberdeen, while anyone with a dirty pot will be tutted at... all beginners are given every bit of advice and help that we can provide, along with tips to presentplants.... and pots... to their best advantage......We take it as a personal affront if a judge speaks unkindly of any of our beginners and we ask them to tell us if they have an issue with any entry and we'll do what it takes to fix it! Perhaps this is why Aberdeen has one of the best-supported beginners' sections of all the Scottish Shows? ( she said, without a hint of a blush!)
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I agree with every word Maggi says about the dirty pots/labels, but with Mark too, in that beginners do need to be encouraged to continue. Surely every local group everywhere in the world, at some time and quite regularly has talks or workshops about showing and how best to present one's plants. It can be made very plain that dirties aren't acceptable without actually balling out the perpetrator. Usually a few quiet words are enough if someone doesn't get the message by more general means. Though I do know one person who persistently refrains from cleaning up. Needless to say her entries suffer as a result. A shame because it downgrades the whole exhibition.
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While walking about the showbenches with Bob Gordon on Saturday last, Bob pointed out examples of dirty pots, tatty flowers or foliage, flowers gone to seed and the seedheads left on and other minor imperfections. His comment was he and other experienced showers had given advice on many occasions on things to remember when showing a plant but that no matter how often this advice was given, some people still continued with the same sloppiness. It is a competition and if plants are of equal merit then demerits will be awarded for sloppy presentation, I imagine.
Paddy
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It is as you say, Paddy. You were fortunate to have the company of a plantsman like Bob Gordon for your walk around the show. There is little that man doesn't know about how to keep show plants and a garden of fabulous plants, too. Bob is a prime example of the generous expert, always with a moment for encouragement or a plant for a treat.....one of nature's gentlemen. Those 'three amigos', Bob, Harold McBride and the late, lamented John McWhirter, know more about good plants and good friends than most of the rest of us put together!!
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I have a red buckeye (Aesculus pavia), grown from a conker and about to flower, in a ceramic pot. I reckon it would need sand blasting to get it clean! ::)
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Maggi,
For many years there was a great reluctance for people in the south to travel to the North of Ireland. This was brought about because of the troubles there and out of fear that a southern number plate and southern accent might attract a negative reaction. Indeed, on our first visit there, Mary and I and our youngest, John, who was perhaps 6 at the time and who spoke Irish (Gaelic) with me all the time, were sitting in a pub in staunchly loyalist Bangor nattering away in Irish on the evening of a loyalist march in the town. As one group of men rose to leave, one of them turned his back to us and dropped his pants! A moonie! That was our one and only incident ever and we have been back to Northern Ireland on several occasions. The gardens are great there and the gardeners are the best in the world, open, generous, welcoming and always giving of their time to a fellow gardener.
You named three of the nicest persons anyone could ever have the pleasure of meeting. I have been to Bob's garden on a number of occasions and, as you say, he is truly an expert in all aspects of gardening but he is an expert who wears his experience lightly and is giving and generous of his time, his hospitality and his plants - I have many many 'Bob Gordon' plants in my garden. He is a man for whom I have the greatest of admiration and fondness.
Harold welcomed us to his garden on our first visit North and set the tone for many subsequent visits. We were welcomed, wined and dined as they say, and given a fabulous tour of the garden and what a garden it is, it is simply a treasure box of delights all grown and presented. I grow Digitalis 'Elsie Kelsey' , Oxalis 'Gwen McBride' and Galanthus 'Blaris' with great pleasure at home now, fond reminders of our time with Harold and look forward to growing Galanthus 'Antrym' when bulked up.
John, I only met on one occasion but I know what a close friend he was of Bob's. Bob often told me of their Sunday morning telephone chats, a practice which had gone on week by week for many years and which were very important to both of them.
There are many others also in the North who would fit into this description; there seems to be a very close and kind gardening community there and meeting them is always a great pleasure.
Thankfully now the situation in the North is so much better than before and trips to the North will become more regular.
Paddy
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If You grow a plant in a clay pot outside there might get moss or algae growth on them. Some people like that and it gives a nice "patina" to the pot that they would not like to lose. Is this considered as bad or is it ok?
I understand that soil on the outside is just dirt that can be removed (even in the showroom if the person gets the hint before).
Just a question.
Kind regards
Joakim
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Joakim your question reminds me of what happen at our mini show and made me so angry. I could quit the showing tomorrow. I got told off for moss in my pot of Narcissus 'Jim Lad'. At the same show another person had moss in his/her pot that was no problem. The difference? My moss was growing and the other picked moss to smarten the pot!!
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Joakim, if you turned up at our show with a pot covered in moss or algae and were in Section II I would be advising you to clean up the pot before putting it on the show bench. Similarly, Mark, to most judges the fact you had moss growing in your pot of bulbs would indicate you were not looking after it properly. David & I check every entry that goes onto the bench in Section II at our show prior to the judges going round, if there is a potential problem we get the exibitor to sort it befoer judging start. When briefing the judges I always say that if they do find a problem with a plant in Section II to tell us before they judge so that, if possible, we can solve. We actively encourage folk to show and praise anyone who has taken the time to do so. This year we had one new person showing in Section II and we held her hand from start to finish of her staging.
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At Perth this year Julia, show secretary, presumably had a problem with a section 2 plant and went running all round the hall to try and find the exhibitor to sort it out - and this was during judging.
I think that in Scotland we do all we can to encourage new comers and I am very grateful to Maggie et al for all that the secretaries did to help Carol and myself when we first started. Both sticks and carrots came our way!