AGS SOUTH WEST SHOW-SATURDAY 30 APRIL 2016

[David Nicholson]

... 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'

[David Nicholson]

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.

[ashley]

Thanks for bringing us along David.  As you say, some great plants. 
That Anisotome imbricata is particularly stunning I think.

[Lesley Cox]

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.

[Lesley Cox]

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.

[johnw]

My the foliage on the R. pumilum you posted is maddeningly healthy.  What a cranky little b east to grow well.

john

[fermi de Sousa]

... 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

[ChrisB]

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!

[David Nicholson]

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.

[Maggi Young]

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.

[Gabriela]

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 

[David Nicholson]

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.

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.

[Maggi Young]

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.

[Tim Ingram]

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!

[Lesley Cox]

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.