My shopping basket at the SRGC Show Edinburgh

Thank you Scotsgran for sharing your purchases with us all. Most interesting. I would have said that 'Primula'
was an Auricula by its leaves, but am just a learner.
They are all lovely.

Agree with Diane, an interesting selection, and love the colour of the primula auricula (?). I have several but not one such a deep blue. I quite like the pink saxifrage too. Good choices.

Sheila-a nice varied selection.Another lovely Roscoea.There are some excellent pics of the Primula on google,what a beauty.I see it's partly P.allionii so some protection from the rain,maybe?

you look like you had a very good time and a good spend. :O) Lovely plants you purchased. :O)

Lovely buys Scot. we just need some sunshine now, don't we?

Thank you Pcw, Plantagogo - owner Vicky is a goy member, famous for her heucheras - has it listed as Auricula x allionii so it will definitely need protection. She does say suitable for the Alpine house. I'm really taken by the Roscoeas. This one will probably be too big for the rockery and will need a more woodland setting. Thank you Diane and Cinderella. I buy quite a lot from the members sales table because I know the plants will have been grown locally so should do well in my situation. Sometimes the members sales team can provide quite a lot of information about the choices on offer. I am buying blind when I buy because I too am a newbie when it comes to alpine plants. I don't have a modern phone that would allow me to google the plants while I am looking at them so its a case of buy and if I decide its not suitable it can always be given away or placed in the next sale. The prices on the members table are always well below what the trading nurseries are offering. I go with a list gleaned from their websites and hope they bring the items along or phone them to ensure they will bring what I want. It cuts out the dreaded postal charges.

glad you enjoyed your day out,,all the better for finding new plants to buy..:o) lovely selection,so I hope they do well for you...

Thank you Oliveoil and Grandmage. I had a lovely time spending my pocket money lol. I'm looking forward to some sun but the cold wind makes it necessary to come in and thaw out fairly often. I did not get the borders etc cut back last year so am playing catch up. We had hailstones again yesterday afternoon sandwiched between two bright but cold spells.

fantastic selection of plants, very educational too, I'd have thought that top one was a sempervivum if it didn't have a label saying otherwise!

Glad you had a great time spending your pocket money!

Louisa I thought it was a a sempervivum too until I read the label and then went on the net when I got it home. Orostachys is a member of the Crassulaceae family, which includes Sedum and Sempervivum. Funny but I hate shopping unless it is gardening related.

Lovely selection Sheila - and we don't have any doublers betweens us, plenty to share at later dates:)
I've photographed all mine but haven't go round to putting on a blog. Its taken me all day to do today's blog due to the uploading pictures the wrong way round palaver!!

Some nice buys, Scotsgran. Most of your plants have already been commented on so I will just talk about Erinus alpinus. This is a lovely dwarf with pink flowers. It is dead easy in the garden but short lived whilst producing lots of seeds. I would suggest keeping it in the pot but left outside for the moment so that it gets pollinated, then collect the seeds. In the garden it quickly seeds around and you soon get a sea of these flowers, beautiful. When they gety too much excess plants are easily pulled out

Thanks Bb or potted up for next years sale. I actually bought that one to see if it was the same plant as I had bought when we were away a month ago. The chap said it was a primula. I took a photo of it today so will ask if anyone recognises it. Its not this one. Although the leaves look the same the stems are 4-6" high. It was a lovely show. I hope you took some photos to let our goy friends see what they are missing if they can't get to a show.

I love this blog!
All that info on plants, experience of said plants, deals to be had and photos, too.
It's like GQT, but visual.
Thanks, Scotsgran & everyone else!

I think that is why most of us are members Mouldy. The Glasgow SRGC show is on 4th May.

Yeah, but you all know your onions & the more I read blogs like this the more I realise how big the task I've taken on, how little I know & how much I've yet to learn just to keep my plants alive.
It's daunting at times.
It'll be some time, before I could even think of attending any of the shows, I'm afraid.
I'd feel like a phony, Scotsgran, because I'd be one.
Maybe next year, when I'm not so green behind the ears & have had some success in bringing my babies through.
Thanks for the suggestion, though.

We all started at the bottom of the ladder, Mouldy. I might come over as if I know everything thing there is to know about alpines and bulbs but, believe me, there is far, far more to know than I am ever capable of learning. You have to start somewhere so get a few plants and find out how to grow them. You will kill a few but, hopefully, learn from the experience; I have killed hundreds in my time!

What Bulbulbaholic says is true Mouldy . We all started somewhere. Nobody can possibly know everything and I go to the shows to learn. I buy cheap plants after talking to the sellers on the members plant stall where the plants are usually much less pricey than the ones on the trade stands. Now I have learned a bit more I have an idea of what I could possibly grow successfully and I'm prepared to spend a bit more on those plants from people who spend their lives learning about them and growing them to near perfection. You don't need to buy anything but the catering is usually very good. Come along and talk to people. Of the several hundred people who came to the Edinburgh show arond 400 of them were not connected to the club in any way but they came to look and have a cuppa and enjoy the spectacle.

Thanks, Bulbaholic & Scotsgran for your encouragement!
Next year for certain.
Meanwhile, there's your blogs & my wee strip to tend.
That'll keep me out of mischief for a while. Lol.

I'm looking forward to seeing how your garden thrives. I hope we can get better weather soon than we have had for the past 24 hours. We had a real summers day for about 4 hours yesterday but as soon as daylight disappeared so did summer. We have been having terrible gales and driving rain since then.

Same here.
A nice wee spell, but with a low-driven, murderous wind, so there's no chance to put my plants out.
Tried it last week & half a dozen were decapitated in minutes!
The wind just sprung up out of absolutely nowhere.
The forecast was 3-5 mph. This was at least 20!!!
It's drizzling now, but the wind is pretty fierce & that's all we can expect for at least a week.
I'm going to carry on potting-on & hope for the best.
What else can we do, eh?