Peterborough Orchid Show

[Maren]

Hi, I've seen you there, even talked to you and some of you took pictures. Why not post them here???

I haven't had time to get out my camera, was busy with my display and talking to people.

Angie, if you're coming, I've got some Cypripedium reginae v flavum just for you.

And if anyone wants a small bag of pumice, I'll bring it to the show. It'll go on for tomorrow Saturday and Sunday.

I got stopped by French customs again, they expected to find heroin in the pumice bags. Such disappointment.

Anyway, the show was very good. Many orchid societies were represented. It's amazing how many ways there are to display orchids. And the quality of most was first class. Judging was tonight. I hope for a bronze (everyone gets a bronze), just ran out of energy to put in the finishing touches, covering pots with moss, making sure all labels point the same way, etc. etc. I'll take some pics tomorrow. My friend Ann will support so I can frollick. . Watched some of the heavy horses driving competition horses tonight after the orchid show closed. Bliss.

PS on the way home from Peterborough tonight, my car developed a "symptom", the emissions warning light came on??? It'll have to wait until Monday. Fortunately I still have the hired van. Time for bed.

[Maggi Young]

Good luck Maren..... drive carefully and have a great weekend 

[Maren]

Thanks, Maggi. The rainstorm nearly blew the large orchid marquee over, but fun was had by all.

[angie]

Pictures please. I want to see what I missed.
Maren you are so brave, next year I am going to sneak into your van and come with you 
I would have liked to see the customs when they found your bag of pumice. Customs scare me. I don't know why. I never have anything to declare but I just hate when they start rumaging through your bags.
That was nice of you thinking of me 
Who else was there?

Angie

[Maren]

Hi Angie,

show over and I'm on my knees with exhaustion. It's hard work packing and unpacking a van. Crates of hardy plants are very heavy, and I am not exactly a spring chicken.

But it was fun and to my great surprise, one of my plants, Epipactis veratrifolia, won a first place rosette (the only place awarded) in the class of Hardy Plants, Trade. That was nice. - I bought more plants than I sold, retail therapy worked its magic again. And there was a lot of chin wagging with friends, bliss.

You are, of course, very welcome to leap into my van, but I don't think I'll be going again for a while. I now have as much stock as I can handle. Also, the future of the orchid event at Peterborough appears to be in doubt. Firstly, very few people came and most of them just had a look and a chat. For those who make their living from selling plants at shows, this must have been a great disappointment. Secondly, the show has moved into July for the next two years. That's a dead month as far as flowering hardy terrestrial orchids are concerned, so no possibility for me to have a display with flowering plants. Thirdly, there appear to be all sort of ructions, power struggles and other utterly nonconstructive goings on, the whole event may implode under pressure. Sad.

It was nice while it lasted, I shall miss meeting all my lovely friends and I shall definitely post some pics tomorrow. Night night now.

[Maren]

just a few piccies of the show:

1) cut flower display
2) Bulbophyllum eberhardtii
3) group of Cypripedium kentuckiense (mine)
4) Epipactis mairei, not an easy subject to grow
5) Epipactis veratrifolium, which gained first prize
6) Exhibit celebrating the first passenger train from Darlington to Stockport
7) Pln chunii (mine)
Display of air plants
9) Finally, some pictures, commemorating the Japanese earthquake, instead of the display by the people depicted, whose nursery was destroyed.

[angie]

Hi Maren

Well done with your Epipactis veratrifolium, nice plant  . It would be a shame if the show doesn't carry on. Your Pin chunii is really pretty. I have never see the Bulbophyllum eberhardtii before. Hope you managed to buy some nice plants for yourself.
I have my last Cypripedium flowering now, I can't wait for next year to see them all flower again.
Thanks for posting the pictures of the show.
Angie