David's Blog

Dundee Spring Garden Show

Posted on 20 Apr, 2008 3 comments

I finally managed to visit this event, and, boy, am I glad I did! It really gave me a boost in April. The variety of spring-flowering plants was amazing. The standard of exhibits was awesome. And the work being done by (my favourites) the smaller, independent, nurseries in producing rarer plants made me (almost) want to kneel down and kiss the ground they stood on.



Plant Display with Dundee Cityscape Painted Backdrop

I decided to remain focussed on “Oz” type plants, but still managed to make several purchases, with several trips to the car with my purchases and to the nearest cash machine for more funds. Firstly, I bought a Peony named “Kansas” (lovely ruby-red young stems), a Potentilla called “Emilie” and a “lucky” four-leafed clover (Emerald City has for long, for me, been associated with green, Emerald Isle, Irish-American, etc).. I bought them from Abriachan Nurseries, who enjoy a marvellous location overlooking Loch Ness (www.Lochnessgarden.com). The sempervivum for our “Ruby Slipper” planter came from Ardfearn Nursery, also near Inverness (www.ardfearn-nursery.co.uk). There was a fascinating herb stand by Perthshire-based “Plants with Purpose” (www,plantswithpurpose.co.uk). Here, I bought; cardoon; Agastache “Golden Anniversary” (as an additional pressy for my parents, who recently celebrated their wedding milestone); Egyptian Onion (had read and seen pics of this before). Then, I turned a corner and saw…...............TOTO!



And for only £7 !!

My tour of the cut daffodil?narcissus categories also produced a couple of “Wizard of Oz” gems: “Oz”, “Daydream” and “Emily”. Pity that the bulbs were not for sale!.

Turning the next corner, I came across a stand displaying lots of seed potatoes, as well as seed packets, and a bearded man I thought i should recognise. Yes, it was potato expert Alan Romans, whose website I had used to purchase many “Oz” flower and veg seeds, as well as my heritage “Witchhill” seed tatties! I remembered blogging here earlier about the potatoes, and also about his fantastic seed prices. “Good afternoon”, I said, “I bought my Witchhill potatoes on your website, they are doing well. I also bought loads of flower seeds, then discovered that you are only 2 miles from my home. I read all your articles in “Organic Gardening” and “Garden Answers” magazines. His . reply – “Thanx. Oh…and you must be our local customer…. Yes, the “Wizard of Oz” bloke…read about you in the papers/mags, too!” Well, now I just have to e-mail or ‘phone to collect what i want, lol! (nice bit of “networking” – saves the P&P).

In addition, there was so much lovely food, drink, musical entertainment, and garden workshops on offer, that I was almost in heaven.

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