by Rob McMillan, Society President

The stiff March wind did nothing to deter the good turn-out for our annual Spring Show at St. Nessan’s Community School Baldoyle on Saturday 28th March 2009.

By mid-morning the hall was resplendent with the wonderful display. Spring bulbs, alpine, cacti, succulents, narcissi, flower and pot plants, home baking, vegetables, art and crafts and of course the Junior section. Lorna Hopkins, Show Co-Ordinator was very pleased with the show overall. ‘It has been a good show this year. A particularly good show of Spring flowers with a lot of variety. Exhibits were down a little in the Junior section so that’s something to work on for the Autumn show’.

Judging Underway!

The plant stall, run so well by Janet and David Jeffrey, was almost sold out. The plant stall at our shows is a major income earner for our society. A reputation for well produced and often unusual plants has been built up over many years. To continue this trend and to provide variety, they need a continuous source of material. They have sent out an appeal to all you plantspeople out there. ‘Now is the time to think ahead to the autumn show and next spring show. Reliable, saleable plants are the well established ones. If you are splitting hardy herbaceous, please pot up the leftovers, label clearly and nurture. Likewise pot up excess seedlings. Ideally aim for batches of around six so that we can write and illustrate descriptive labels. Encourage others, too, to propagate. The more gardens supplying material, the more we will have to sell – but please remember –only bring plants you would be prepared to buy yourself – we must keep up our good reputation!!’

Inspecting the Cactii & Succulents Display

The Book-stall run by Karl and Marcella is another major earner for the Society. By their regular and careful ‘pruning’ of donated books, cds’, and tapes they continue to offer great quality and value at the Spring and Autumn shows. Your donations of good quality items for this stall will be greatly appreciated.

The next event in the diary is our Day Outing to Hunting Brook Gardens, June Blake’s Garden and Russborough House on Saturday 9th May. See above for full details.

The Cup Winners are listed below:

• R.P.Kingston Perpetual Cup Awarded to the exhibitor obtaining the highest aggregate of points in classes nos. 1-16 Alpine, Cacti and Succulents

  Winner: David Wallnutt

• Donal O'Maolalai Cup Awarded to the best exhibit in classes nos. 1-16 Alpine, Cacti and Succulents

  Winner: George Sevastopulo

• Josephine Walsh Cup Awarded to the exhibitor obtaining the highest aggregate of points in classes nos. 18-27 Flowers and pot plants

  Winner: John Warren

• Jill Hardy Perpetual Memorial Cup Awarded to the exhibitor showing the best exhibit in the Primula classes 18-27 Flowers and pot plants

  Winner: John Warren

• J.M. Watson Cup Awarded to the winner of class 42. Narcissi

  Winner: John Warren

• S. Stewart Mather Memorial Perpetual Cup Awarded to the winner of class 43. Narcissi

  Winner: John Warren

• Novices Perpetual Trophy Awarded to the winner of class 53. Narcissi

  Winner: Mark Wallnutt

• Richardson Challenge Cup Awarded to the exhibitor obtaining the highest aggregate of points in classes 71-85. Vegetables

  Winner: John Warren

• Mary O’Donovan Memorial Cup Awarded to the exhibitor obtaining the highest aggregate of points in classes 98-109. Cookery

  Winner: Helen Walsh