It is good to have the house back to normal. It is also good to be able to relax and not be on the edge of my seat trying to get flowers ready for the show. It has been a very difficult year with little sunshine and lower than average temperatures.
I feel that the show was a success in a number of ways. It has been a ttricky season and yet in spite of it all many of you were able to bring forward some excellent cut flowers and pots of blooms. The Hyacinth section had some very good entries many of which would have graced any show in the country. The people who managed to get pots of Daffodils all flowering at the correct time and height and evenly distributed around the pot amaze me. I find that I do not yet have the skills (or the patience) necessary for producing evenly flowered pots for display on the showbench. There were some fantastic entries in the pot section this year with some excellent. Individual blooms. The judges noted some of the best blooms in the show we’re to be found wiithin the pot section. Well done to all concerned. The Novice classes were well supported as were the intermediate classes but more entries would be welcomed.
The staging along one whole wall of the hall was filled with the display of cut flower in a comprehensive range of different classes from single blooms in a vase up to five flowers per vase as well as six flowers all different with one bloom per vase. I realise that we were a little down on the number of individual entries in this set of classes but the quality and variety of flowers on display was every bit as good as in other years.
Gill and I did reasonably well (very well actually) and managed a few firsts, seconds and thirds with a couple of trophies thrown in; and the Amaryllis were 2nd and 3rd. Soundly beaten by a magnificent plant that came to the hall in tight bud on the Friday evening and was in impressive full bloom by 10am on the Saturday, just in time for the judging.
A fun time was had by all. Now for Dundee spring show on 13 April.
See you there
PS: 9 firsts, 6 seconds and 4 thirds!
Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society 
There is another show before Dundee -the Scottish Rock Garden Club Edinbugh show is in the usual venue at Fairmilehead church hall on Saturday 6th. With a special prize for species Narcissus to commemorate 80 years of the club as well as the late season there should be plenty of bulbs on show as well as alpines. There are 6 specialist nurseries as well as the club sales table so opportunities to buy plants that you will not find in garden centres. Sales start at 1030 am when the show is still being judged; it opens at midday.