Early Bulb Day in Dunblane 2009

[Anthony Darby]

Here's the next selection:
Galanthus nivalis 'Federkleid';
G. 'Spindlestone Surprise';
Crocus korolkowii;
The gorgeous 'Sunspot';
A beautiful C. vernus;
A fantastic yellow Romulea sp. that I forgot to note down;
Iris nicolai which looks out of this world;
Iris 'Clairette';
A superb Dionysia 'Ewersley Theta';
One I couldn't make out.

[Anthony Darby]

The final selection of plants:
Narcissus hedraeanthus;
N. bulbocodium nivalis x 2;
Irises;
Crocus cvijicii.

[annew]

Thanks for showing these Anthony. What a great display! Those irises must have smelled wonderful.

[Graeme Strachan]

I had a very enjoyable day out at the Dunblane Early Bulb Festival (my first one). Credit to ALL who made it a success.
The following photos may give a flavour of the day.

      Graeme Strachan

[Maggi Young]

It was a SUPER day, wasn't it? All the Gang on the coach from Aberdeen seemed to have a grand day out....the BD ad I certainly did.  Great pictures, Graeme... well, apart from the fist one!!

It'll be tomorrow before I get mine organised.... supposing any are good 


 Great that you and Anthony have got closeups of some plants because I could only grab very general shots.

It wasan extremely busy day.... there were hundreds of people there..... both the main body of the hall and the balcony were full. The four talks were super... all so different from each other and a delight. Rod Leeds, pictured perusing the Iris in Anthony's picture of the display hall, had to sing twice for his supper.... or soup in this case..... He is also Chair of the Joint Rock Committee so he was at  work again there!  Poor mant will be glad to get home for a rest, although I think he and Jane are getting ready for more visitors/open days etc, so not to much prospect of peace!

 It seems the Snowdrop day at the RBGE on Friday was a great success and there were quite a few folks at Dunblane who had also attended that event, of course...... quite apart from the coachload of happy Dutch galanthophiles who arrived at lunchtime ....about 50 of them, I think!

As you might imagine, with so many people, the tea room did a roaring trade...... no mean feat to feed so many people in a limited time.... especially when the kitchen is not much bigger than a  double shower cubicle    Honestly, I don't know how the Stirling Gang did it, but they were JUST SUPERB!!  HUGE THANKS to you all who worked so hard in such cramped conditions to do the SRGC equivalent of feeding the 5000 !!  There were so many happy folk, eating hearty homeamde goodies around the hall, wherever they could find a seat!

Ian got me a bacon roll in the morning, delicious.... but it was so hectic at lunchtime and I was so busy chatting    that I never got any soup , Anthony's or anyone else's...........but the various types of soup all smelled wonderful 


I did get a cuddle from Tony Willis, I think he coped well

Quite a lot of forumists around ..... some more silent partners than others.... and more lurkers than you could shake a stick at!!    No chance to arrange a group photo... it was, as we say  here, "like Paddy's" market" it was so busy.......not that I spotted Paddy.... he can't have been quick enough to catch his flight..... not that was mangead to catch Anthony in his marigolds, anyway


I think the display of plants was one of the finest we have ever seen at Dunblane Early Day...... there were enough snowdrops to satisfy  even the most rabid 'drop fiend... and as you can see from the pix already posted, many other good plants too.... with colours!! 


Off now to sort the rest of today's emails...... hope to get some pix tomorrow.....

[art600]

Anthony

I do not know how you found the time to take photographs, but I am very glad you did.

Looks like a trip to Dunblane next year is a must.

[Anthony Darby]

To add to Graeme's shots, here's some crowd scenes.
Sue and Wol had a selection of fabulous snowdrops, including 'David Baker' and 'Ailwyn';
Sue and Ian;
Fred and Henry in the centre with Liz Mills looking left;
Willie Campbell in charge of the cash, Jean Wyllie and Anne Leven in charge of the food in the busy tea room;
John Amand doing a brisk trade with some fantastic bulbs x 2;
Ian Christie;
Evelyn Stevens with a much-in-demand and reasonably priced SRGC fleece (contact Sandy Leven);
general view of the hall with Ian Young preparing the projector.

[Maggi Young]

Crikey, Anthony, you must have taken that shot in the tea room very early..... there weren't that few folk in it at any time I looked in!

[ChrisB]

I think I spot Gill Lee in that final picture, Anthony.... I sooooo wish I could have been there, but circumstances didn't allow it this year.  It is easily my most eagerly anticipated day, gets the season off to a roaring start.  I'm sure you all had a whale of a time.

Did you buy that plant you had in your hand Maggi?  and.... what was it?

[Maggi Young]

Yes, Chris, Gill and Tony at the  lower-mid-right of the last pic.  We missed you! Sue was there. 



 I was just wielding Ian's little camera , it wasn't a plant at all.
In fact, I was very restrained, shopping wise... I only bought a handful of plants, all for a thankyou to my friends for looking after Lily for the day. I won a Cassiope in the raffle, though!! 

[Graeme Strachan]

It was a SUPER day, wasn't it? All the Gang on the coach from Aberdeen seemed to have a grand day out....the BD ad I certainly did.  Great pictures, Graham... well, apart from the fist one!!

Maggi - you may be right about the first one - I had to change the lens after it somehow inexplicably cracked.

       Graeme

[Maggi Young]

It was a SUPER day, wasn't it? All the Gang on the coach from Aberdeen seemed to have a grand day out....the BD ad I certainly did.  Great pictures, Graeme, well, apart from the fist one!!

Maggi - you may be right about the first one - I had to change the lens after it somehow inexplicably cracked.

       Graeme

 Tee Hee! So long as you're not claiming for a replacement !!    A WIDE angle lens is best for any photo with me in it!:P

[Paddy Tobin]

Great show!

Well done to all in Dunblane. I really do hope the people who attend appreciate how fortunate they are to have such an event organised in their area. Speaking from across the other side of the Irish Sea I can tell you that I really would love to have the opportunity to see such fabulous plants and to have the chance to purchase such a lovely range also.

Anyway, I have been able to enjoy it to some extent, seeing the lovely plants but not, unfortunately, meeting all the nice people.

Many thanks, Anthony, for a wonderful report. Great photographs and really enjoyed and appreciated. And did you buy G. 'Ailwyn' ?

Paddy

[Anthony Darby]

Yes Paddy.

[TC]

I agree with what has been said about the plants on display - it was the best for years.

I think that the Bulb show is a victim of its own success. Every year it attracts more and more people.  It seems to be better attended than most of the shows later in the season.

However, we have come to the point where hall is too small for the number of people attending.  We arrived at about 1015 and eventually managed to get the last parking space in the riverside car park.  Luckily we managed to get into the tea room during a slack period and then had a look at the plants. Just before the first talk we discovered that there were no seats downstairs so we went up to the balcony.  The talk on Cyprus was spoiled by the fact that the screen was too small to make out any detail of the plants she was describing. 

After the morning session, we went into town and came back for the auction.  When it was time for the next talks we went back upstairs again to find that it was full to capacity with no seating.  At this point we reluctantly called it a day and set off home.

I don't mean to sound negative, the organisers have done a great job in producing a highly popular show but if the numbers increase again next year then the situation will be even more difficult. Apart from a bigger hall or admission by ticket, I don't have a solution -  maybe a bigger projection screen ?