Thank you Stan for your report. Needless to say that Stan had a very large number of entries and deservedly collected silverware - very well done.
Pleased? Too right I am. A wonderfully colourful show with many large, mature plants as Stan has illustrated. The judges had a wide range of plants out to consider for the many awards. The initial selection for the Forrest Medal included 8 plants I think. I would like to think that this was a fitting tribute to the life and contribution of Harley Milne. So thank you to all exhibitors for bringing all these amazing plants. Thanks also to the judges and to the members of the Edinburgh Group for all their efforts and teamwork in making this such a successful and memorable day.
I was particularly pleased that Jane and Alan Thomson won the premier award. Their first and what a potful of Pleione it is! This quiet couple have supported the group and Club in many ways over the years, including bringing plants to the shows, occasionally winning some trophies. Apparantly, they bought one pseudobulb of their Pleione 'Britannia Doreen' at the first Gardening Scotland at Strathclyde Park, some years ago. The increase to the huge panful on display on Saturday is a tribute to their skills as cultivators and the award of both a First Class Certificate and a Cultural Commendation at Joint Rock on Saturday was wholly appropriate and deserved. Very well done Alan and Jane!!! A real occasion to remember.
I was also pleased because I won what I think is the most historically interesting of our trophies - the R E Cooper Bhutan Drinking Cup. This was originally given by the Maharajah of Bhutan to Rolland E Cooper during his 1914-15 expedition. Cooper was of course one of the founding members of the Rock Garden Club. In 1954 Cooper presented the cup to the Club for award at the Edinburgh Show. Although it was initially awarded for the best species primula, it almost always went to an Asiatic one, which then became its designation in 1986. Interestingly, in 1973, the centenary year of George Forrest’s birth, the Bhutan Drinking Cup was awarded for Primula forrestii; coincidentally (or not), Pleione forrestii won the Forrest Medal that same year.
