digression from thread; photos of the 2010 'drop Gala

[emma T]

Hi Mike ,will you be at Snape Cottage on Sunday ?

[emma T]

 Im quite shy as well but i find at the gala there was always a face i knew from this forum .

[Jane]

Hi Rob,
I'm very shy and also I suppose young (34). I've spent the past few years staying in the shadows of the forum, feeling that I'm not really an expert and don't know if what I have to say is worth contributing. I'm just extremely passionate about plants particularly Galanthus, Erytrhoniums, Trilliums, Corydalis ..... I have found everyone very friendly though, I just need to get out of my shell and then you'll never shut me up!!!

[RichardW]

the vast majority of the groups I take on tours are made up mostly of the er... older generation   but that's true of most garden visitors, although groups from the US, Holland, Germany etc seem to be younger.

getting younger people interested is always going to be a struggle, getting them interested in a particular plant even more so, but I think that's true of most very specialist interests or hobbies, and by their nature tend to be quite tight knit, someone described to me a few years ago how they thought the snowdrop "scene" was divided into those who were inner & outer segments

but I have to say all the contacts I've made over the years through my growing interest in Snowdrops have always been very friendly & welcoming, and very generous with their plants and time, the only grouchy people I meet this time of year are coach drivers who can't read maps 

[loes]

Rob,
you are not that shy at all,you have your photo with every comment you make.

[ArneM]

glad im not the only one mike! your right its very intense, and i think this galanthus cult has become allmost like a exclusive club, very tight nit and hard to get into! thats how it would appear. also becuase i am younger i also dont feel as welcomed as say a older person would be.
which is a shame becuase after all younger people are the future and if people like me dont continue this hobby then who will? surley all the snowdrop lovers in the world dont want the hobby to die out with them

I found most plants people very helpful and generous, especially towards youngsters like me but the trouble with snowdrops is that many are very expensive. So when money comes into play people seem to become rather warily and - at least in Germany - penny-pinching towards young folk. Perhaps ii is due the lack of experience, so we might fail with those treasures easier...  

[mark smyth]

The only intense part of the Gala is the initial rush to the sales area. It's definitely not exclusive and definitely not hard to be part of. You only need to be only the mailing list. Smaller options would be the Cottage Garden Society day or East Lambrook if and when it comes back again. Everyone who goes to a snowdrop event knows no one. Eight or nine years ago when I went to my first Gala I knew only the person I travelled with. Now I know the sellers, garden owners and masses of people.

I'm sure others had the same experience.

Rob if only you had said "Hi, I'm Rob Emberson" I would have taken you to meet the other forum members

[ArneM]

getting younger people interested is always going to be a struggle, getting them interested in a particular plant even more so, but I think that's true of most very specialist interests or hobbies, and by their nature tend to be quite tight knit, someone described to me a few years ago how they thought the snowdrop "scene" was divided into those who were inner & outer segments

Younger people prefer other hobbies instead of gardening because they all have their grandparents in mind growing veggies which is a bad connotation actually. The other point is the money again as all young people are always short of money: clothes, parties etc. that costs all a lot ( ). Therefore no-one of them wants to spend any additional money on "grandparents' stuff" because they could be banned from their friends as well... 

[Brian Ellis]

I am sure if you attend a few more snowdrop events Rob (I realise money is a consideration) you will soon get to know lots of faces, and as Mark rightly says, if you introduce yourself to one friendly face you will no doubt be introduced to others.  We've all been through it at some stage in the past.

[mark smyth]

Rob, Joe's 'Spring Thing' could be a day to attend

[Anthony Darby]

I am sure if you attend a few more snowdrop events Rob (I realise money is a consideration) you will soon get to know lots of faces, and as Mark rightly says, if you introduce yourself to one friendly face you will no doubt be introduced to others.  We've all been through it at some stage in the past.

It can be a bit daunting attending some of these events full of people who know everything, but lack inexperience.

[Alan_b]

I'm a fairly reserved person and I used to be shy but as I got older I came to realise that I like meeting people and finding out about them and their ideas and opinions.  I spoke to everyone on the forum who I managed to recognize and I would have loved to have spoken to Rob if I had recognized him or if he had introduced himself or if someone had pointed him out to me.  The same goes for anyone else who reads this forum.  The Gala can seem very cliquey but finding someone you know and can have a little chat with helps to overcome this.  It can be daunting wondering what you will find to say to a stranger but the fact that we all share a common interest should make things easier.  Something like "Have you seen the clump of Rosemary Burnham?" [which in fact I never found] would have been enough to break the ice at the garden.  I myself was mightily impressed by a giant-flowered snowdrop labelled 'GC8' and went around suggesting other people take a look at it.

I also used to be shy about asking questions and expressing my ideas and opinions but one day it came to me that if it was something that I wanted to know then I didn't care if everyone else thought it was a stupid question.  I subsequently found out that often the really good questions are the ones that nobody has quite dared to ask.  So here I am now expressing my thoughts and the opinions on this forum despite being not nearly so expert as some of the other contributors.  Even someone who is new to snowdrops may have learned something that nobody else knows or have an interesting snowdrop that nobody else has.     

[Maggi Young]

    

 Well said, Alan. It can often be hugely rewarding ...and FUN..... to make the effort to meet people and you are SOOOOO right about asking questions..... only thing stupid about that situation is if you wanted to know the answer and never asked the question

Thinking about a situation that often has me in a complete muddle... this flippin' computer....you can get a problem, an "expert" can give you their answer.... but you still can't work it out.... often you need to ask the simplest/smallest of details and then all becomes clear... if you hadn't asked any question in the first place, you'd never learn anything.... and no-one thinks you're daft to ask, in fact the expert may be jolly pleased because you have highlighted a point that perhaps they overlooked, maybe because it is so second nature to them... but there may be a tiny stage in a process that they missed telling you about that threw the whole fix..... yes, it's always good to ask questions!



.......my next problem, of course, is trying to remember the answers!

[TheOnionMan]

Maggi, how come you have access to special emoticons and us "regular" forumists don't? 

I appreciate the discussion here.  I see new people occasionally at our local NARGS chapters, and there always seems to be a comfort level with the regulars that make it difficult for newbies to break into the inner circle.  I first started at NARGS meetings when a mere teenager, and I was very shy at the time.  I overcame that aspect (haha  ) and I liked to attend the large NARGS national conferences.  Rather than sit down at a dinner table with people I was already friends with (although I did that too), I often thought it fun to sit down at a table with complete strangers, to see what conversation could be mustered, to get to know new people.  And I did all this without using goofy avatars 

[Maggi Young]

Maggi, how come you have access to special emoticons and us "regular" forumists don't? 

 McMark, I have a deep rooted collecting streak, which manifests itself in 'pooter' land with a need to collect all sorts of gifs bmps pngs and such like, with which I pepper my posts! I save the darn things from where ever I find them.... you never know when they'll come in handy and often times, when addressing a multinational Forum audience... a picture ... or crazy smiley, can tell a 1000 words, get a point across.... wearing my moderator's hat.... clearly without offence and raise a smile.....

they're as much a part of my posting as my chronic overuse of the exclamation mark....