Our first Show with live plants.
We exhibited at the RHS Show at Chatsworth in 2017. It proved to be challenging. Our irises flowered early in 2017, and we spent a considerable amount of time holding them back before the Show. The second-hand chiller proved invaluable. The Chatsworth weather was not on our side. It was extremely cold and very windy on Sunday/Monday, and also very wet!
We produced a modern, minimalist Display which went down really well with the Public, but unfortunately did not find favour with the Judges who awarded us a Bronze Medal. At the feedback session 24 hours later, they did mention that had the Judging taken place then, we would have been awarded a Silver, as many more of our irises were then in bloom. Timing as we are learning, is everything. Our irises clearly reacted to the dismal Chatsworth weather and ‘sulked’ on arrival. Something to remember for next time.
The important thing for us at our first major RHS Show at Chatsworth in 2017 was that the response from the Public was overwhelmingly positive and encouraging, both to our Display and our Irises. My father’s Yorkshire links and close association with Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire interested many who visited the Stand. The main purpose of our Display was to demonstrate the Form and Structure of Bryan Dodsworth’s irises that are a hallmark characteristic of his hybridising for over forty years. Again, this proved to be of great interest to those visiting the Stand.
We sold lots of plants and again gathered more good contact information. The opportunity to ‘Name’ an iris in return for completing contact details again proving popular.
