South West (of England) AGS Show-RHS Rosemoor 23 March 2019

[David Nicholson]

We paid a visit to Rosemoor today primarily to collect a pre-placed plant order from Aberconwy  Nursery. I was never in favour of the Show being moved a few years ago from Exeter to Rosemoor and this was one of the reasons why I decided not to renew my AGS membership. Given that Exeter stands on an M5/A30 junction if anyone has to travel to the far West-country then Exeter is the best available end of journey destination from any part of the UK and not somewhere far out in the backwoods with a further hour to travel. It did occur to me that the absolute pain of getting there is largely the result of the  lack of plants in most sections of the benches.

Although some might have seen a picture of the Farrer winner elsewhere on the Forum there is a further picture here. Had I chosen to check, before leaving home,  that my camera battery had been charged there might have been more pictures than the two I was able to squeeze out of the camera before it died on me.

So, Jim McGregor's huge pot of Narcissus bulbocodium var. conspicuus took the top award. Notwithstanding the difficulty in getting a pot of that size to look it's best when you want it too it did leave me feeling that it's size had taken away the pure simplicity of the genus. But, maybe that is what Showing is about?

   

Talk of "big" brings me to the biggest (and no doubt the heaviest) pot of Cyclamen I've ever seen. This had been given the came Cyclamen Persica so I assume it to be, what I term to be, a Florists Cyclamen.

[Maggi Young]

That Cyclamen is  almost like the ones we see in the wild  from Oron - almost!

When I showed the  Bulb Despot the photos of the  winning plants  at  Rosemoor and  Dunblane today  his comment  rather echoed yours -  and my thoughts too - yes, it is  astonishing to see such a  large  perfect potful of flowers , but  as so often with  such pots, the  individual beauty of the  flowers is  somewhat subsumed  by the  sheer size of the  offering.  One sees the  same in  pots of other bulbs too - with the result that it is  hard to appreciate the  characteristics and  charm of the  flowers when they do  looker so squished in. 
Trouble  has often been with bulbs that if  there are  fewer plants in the pot, some  smart alec will opine  that  "he/she  could have just bought those"  and so  exhibitors felt the need to  show  larger and larger potfuls, which  even Onassis would have been  hard pressed to afford!  Difficult to find a happy medium it seems!