Dublin AGS show, 28th April 2007

[Maggi Young]

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!

[mark smyth]

but beginners arent encouraged enough getting told off for poor labels and dirty pots

[Maggi Young]

We operate an equality policy, Mark... EVERYONE gets told off for dirty pots and poor labels !!

[Anthony Darby]

Some super plants there Paddy. I seem to remember the show being earlier last year?

[mark smyth]

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

[Maggi Young]

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!

[Maggi Young]

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!)

[Lesley Cox]

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.

[Paddy Tobin]

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

[Maggi Young]

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!!

[Anthony Darby]

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!

[Paddy Tobin]

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

[Joakim B]

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

[mark smyth]

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!!

[Carol Shaw]

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.