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Chris tulips 2.jpg

Spring Show

Date: Sunday April 6th 2025

Venue: Aldbury Memorial Hall

Timings:

Set-up for exhibitors from 9am until 11.30am.
Judging starts at midday promptly
Open for viewing from 2.30pm
Prize-giving at 4pm

Entries are free for members (30p each for non-members)

There are four trophies to be won by adults:

Les Sparkhall Challenge Cup – for most points across all flower classes
Eric Moss Challenge Cup – for a collection of 6 different daffodils
Floral Art Challenge Trophy
Pat Quigg Memorial Shield
Plus a Junior Trophy for under 14s

Download the schedule and entry forms below.

For past trophy winners please see AGC History page

Preparing a Challah

Spring Show Entry Form

Image by Mohammed Amin

Tulip Show Information

Spring Show Schedule

Image by Annie Spratt

Daffodil Show Information

Image by SarahWen Williams

A few tips for exhibitors

The most important thing is to have fun and not to take it too seriously. We want to share some beautiful blooms with our friends and neighbours. However, if you have a competitive streak, then here are a few tips that might help you win.

Make sure your flowers are picked at their best, early in the morning, when the stems are full of water and turgid. To a certain extent, you can hold back blooms by putting them in water in a cool place - or even the fridge - or encourage further opening by placing them next to a radiator.

Be careful how you transport them; daffs and tulips can survive without water for a while so it might be better to lay them flat rather than in a bucket which risks tipping over and damaging the blooms.

Choose the right size of vase, not too big or small. Many exhibitors like to use moss or scrunched up newspaper to hold the blooms in a pleasing pattern, and if you want to put the cherry on the cake you can then hide the paper with a bit of moss. Don’t take moss from woodland though, only from your own garden.

If you have a choice with your daffodils, the head should not be drooping but looking straight ahead, with a central petal pointing straight upwards. You might need to shake them gently to remove little black pollen bugs. Some judges like daffs presented with a single leaf. If you want to take things really seriously, you can read this advice from the daffodil society https://thedaffodilsociety.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/SHOWING-TIPS-FOR-NOVICE-EXHIBITORS.pdf but most us in Aldbury are much more relaxed.

Tulips benefit from being ‘conditioned’ to minimize them twisting and turning in the vase. Once cut, wrap the bunch tightly in sheets of newspaper and plunge them right up to the blooms in cold water, ideally overnight.

Woody, shrubby stems should be cut diagonally or have an extra slit cut vertically to maximise the area that can take in water.

Photo Tulips @Chris Fido
Photos Daffs https://qualitydaffodils.com/@https://qualitydaffodils.com/

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