Did you enjoy the national show

[RAYWOODBRIDGE]

Just to echo what has been said above.
Thanks to anyone and everyone who had anything to do with the planning and running of the National Show.
I had a good day looking around the show plants in the cacti section, met old and new friends, bought a calendar and two books, and got one signed by the author Frank Supplie, and bought 23 plants and two cuttings, I thought the venue was good, just off the A14, so easy to get to, even from up north, and plenty of room to park, even the weather was on our side this year.

[IanW]

Only stayed for an hour or two as we decided to go down to London for the afternoon as there were a few shops there we needed to get to so didn't see the display area up close, but got some nice stuff from the sales area and came away happy. Following on from my entry fee thread the other day though I ended up having to find a cash machine as it turned out that not only was there no card for entry, but that basically absolutely no one at all took card in the sales any more which is really weird in this day and age! Luckily there was a cash machine in the Wood Green shop and we'd planned on going in there anyway to bring the dogs back home something too.

Was disappointed by Uhlig this year having been my vendor of choice the last two times, 120 euros for an Aztekium barely largely than the ones that were going for 1/10th of that and he had no card facilities with him this year so was cash only, I'm assuming he ended up taking each and every one of those back home with him as I couldn't imagine people paying that much! Thankfully there were a lot of great sellers I hadn't seen there before though who more than made up for it, and it was nice to see Rudy's expanded sales stand. The guy is an absolute legend, and someone who is genuinely doing us all a favour by propagating and making available species that are just otherwise impossible to get hold of any other way. It was also nice to see that the sales area has crept all the way out into the entrance hallway. I'm intrigued, to any of the organisers know if any sales people had to be turned away due to lack of space? I know Gordon at Oak Dene has said this will be his last national, so I'm wondering if this may have been peak sales space, or if there were or may be folks lining up to increase the sales space even more for future nationals?

From what I could see of the display area behind the chain link fence, keeping us peasants out during photography and judging it looked like there was a great collection and some great plants again. We did contemplating popping in again before closing on our way back, but by that time we had a 3 hour drive from London and we'd been on the tube so just wanted to get back and wash the London off of us. Hopefully there'll be some more great photos of that area. Well done to the organisers, it looked like things went much more smoothly this time around, and hopefully there were less complaints about the temperature due to the weather being a little more mild!

Dave, stop turning every thread into your boring EU rants, it's completely off topic, you got what you voted for, deal with it, you can't complain if the outcome you voted for and vocally supported all these years ends up inconveniencing you. Shut up and take responsibility for your vote rather than trying to blame some unnamed people in some unnamed department for what you voted for, no one wants to hear it any more. There's no point even having that discussion here, it'll just get moved to off-topic where it belongs, so just go post your thoughts on it there if you really think anyone gives a toss any more.

[DaveW]

Whether dealers can bring in plants from the Continent will be important next National Show Ian, but many of you like burying your heads in the sand hoping it will go away, then moan when through your inaction it comes about.

Over the years we have experienced creeping restraints on our hobby in the UK, The Continental authorities seem far more relaxed about plants coming in from outside their borders, which is something collectors here have benefited from because they then bye passed our own regulators. If we keep quite British bureaucrats love to "gold plate" regulations to find jobs for unneeded hands, so you will then find the UK hobby under even greater restrictions on acquiring material. The plant Societies should be fighting our corner with the authorities, but the only Society official I know that really tried in the past was the late Bill Maddams of the Mammillaria Society.

Pointing out that the next National regarding plant sales could be inferior to this is not hijacking the thread, since somebody has already pointed out we may never see a sales area in future like this time. We are told Gordon Foster has also said it may be his last time. It has also been stated the organisers are already thinking about the next National, therefore we should now be thinking how we are going to mitigate any constraints on Continental nurserymen coming in future and lobbying our authorities to ensure they can come with the absolute minimum of any paperwork required, or preferably non needed at all. Also for those bringing back plants from the ELK. Perhaps the Society could organise a petition to MP's to retain the present free movement "paperless" access of plants from the Continent?

Yes, I like the majority of British voters voted for Brexit Iann and that may annoy the minority of you Remainers, particularly as the sky has not fallen in as predicted. But we voted to get rid of stupid regulation, not simply move it from the EU to the UK. Our Parliament will supposedly be supreme for the next National, so now is an opportune moment to lobby our elected representatives to block any stupid restrictions on cultivated plants coming into the UK, plus see the bureaucrats don't turn it into a form filling exercise. The Berxiteers voted to close down unnecessary regulatory departments and reduce their labour force, not move them from the EU to the UK and increase their staffing. It really rankles with the untypical minority and Establishment when democracy actually reins and the "stupid" British voter has their say.

[Tina]

Yes we did,
I was contemplating not entering this time as it's been a bit hectic & the plants weren't looking as good but I'm glad I did, it was a much reduced entry as I couldn't face dragging the large ones about especially as they had got rained on in the garden so were very heavy to move .

I have to say a big THANK YOU to the stewards who helped me by putting some plants out & helping to collect them at the end, it was really appreciated and so nice of them. I do tend to feel a bit overwhelmed by it all ( I must be more organised ). I think I was going for the most NAS in the show I must buy some calipers .

I only bought 6 plants, 3x haworthia, two small pretty yellow uebelmannia from Rudy & an own root mamm luethyi I save my pocket money for ELK & the shopathon.

It was lovely having a chat with lots of friends & contacts, I even met up with a 'robin' friend & someone who I befriended from selling on ebay.

Must admit I was impressed by all the entries in class 137, el presidentee's baby, some people have such a differently wired brain, I have NO imagination, I particularly loved the livingstones hat.

Yes I did take pictures but we still aren't unpacked so I have no idea where my camera & phone cables are.

Geoff lovell did an amazing job bringing a gigantic uncarina to the show and got quite a few prizes.

[IanW]

I only bought 6 plants, 3x haworthia, two small pretty yellow uebelmannia from Rudy & an own root mamm luethyi I save my pocket money for ELK & the shopathon.

Have you grown M. luethyi previously at all? I saw these and was tempted, but I seem to fail to keep the thing alive even on a graft, so decided to pass. Just wondering what the trick is to keeping the damn thing alive!

Were the Uebelmannia eriocactoides? I bought one of these off him last national, when they were much more expensive. Thankfully it's still alive, albeit rather slow growing. It does look even better as time goes on!

[Bill]

Dave if you wish to discuss matters appertaining to the plants and Brexit please do so in a seperate thread, this was about wether you enjoyed the national not for you or any one else to go of on a tangent about politics and legislation that may or may not happen.

Bill

Forum Administrator

[jerryb23]

As the premier event of our hobby I'd been looking forward to this years show for months and wasn't disappointed. I spent both days there repeatedly looking over the excellent exhibits and sales tables and then Sunday repotting my purchases and reviewing my photos. Overload maybe but I reasoned that this was only once every four years - which brings me onto my only disappointment which is that it will be four years to the next one by which time I will be 64 and I suspect many other current exhibitors will be a lot older. I realise that putting on a show like this requires considerable planning and effort and the nature of our plants is that many are very slow growing and may not change much over the years - but is there an argument for reducing the wait to three (or even two) years? Another contributor has already noted the lack of large Mamm's of yesteryear and I think the same is true of many other genera.

If my branch is anything to go by we have an ageing society membership and the only way to attract new members is to increase the profile of our hobby. The move to a two day format was a bold and I believe successful move so why not reduce the timespan between events as well. Another four years is too long to wait!

[Aiko]

which brings me onto my only disappointment which is that it will be four years to the next one by which time I will be 64 and I suspect many other current exhibitors will be a lot older.

If buying plants is your main attraction, you could also visit the (annual!) ELK in Blankenberge, Belgium. Next one will be in less than three weeks. I am sure you can find someone to ride along with, to make the journey a bit more effective on costs.

[Tina]

Ian w,
Yes have managed m leuthyi on a graft its a very thirsty plant so regular watering even thru winter.

Never tried own roots before but was tempted, the only problem is I still have the collection everywhere I potted it up & put it somewhere safe & now can't find it so it might not last long .

[IanW]

I guess it doesn't suffer etiolation with a winter watering then? That was always my worry, and probably where I went wrong