Dublin AGS Show Report 2025

With more than 270 plants on the benches and glorious sunshine the show had a wonderful festive atmosphere. There was a great turnout from the public and top quality plants for sale from both the members’ plant sale and the various trade stalls.

A new development this year arose when three very good Trilliums were donated to the plant sale. Not surprisingly there was a lot of interest in these beauties so raffle tickets were sold and three lucky winners were given the opportunity to purchase these plants for 30 Euro each.

There was a good variety of plants on the benches among which were a number of excellent Trilliums. In the Novice Section there was a lovely Trillium rivale which got a first prize for Mary Dowd. Two other Trilliums, T.  chloropetalum from Gordon Finch and T. albidum from Patricia Maguire were each awarded a Certificate of Merit while Gavin Moore’s T. ‘Bob Gordon’ was awarded the Margaret Orsi Bowl (best plant from North America).

Gavin received another Certificate of Merit for a beautiful pan of Primula ‘Maisie Michael’. He was also awarded the David Shackleton Trophy (best pan Primulaceae) for a large pan of Primula bullata forrestii and the George Sevastopulo Award (Open Section aggregate) with an outstanding twenty-four points.

Over the last few years there has been a big push to attract new exhibitors for the show. The result of this can be seen in the numbers currently exhibiting in the Novice Section. This year we had thirty-three entries from eight exhibitors and the quality of entries was excellent. I particularly liked Willie Riordan’s very elegant Erythronium ‘Apple Blossom’ which won the Liam Byrne Award (best exhibit in Novice Section). Willie also won the Termonfeckin Trophy (Novice Section aggregate).

The Intermediate Section was also very well supported with fifty-four entries from eight exhibitors. A number of these exhibitors have only recently moved from the Novice Section but again the quality and variety of plants was impressive. Aine-Maire NiMhurchu’s miniature garden was particularly eye-catching and Aine-Maire took home the Barney Johnson Trophy (Intermediate Section aggregate) with an impressive 11 points. The Waverley Trophy (best plant in Intermediate Section) was won by Triona Corcoran for her Primula henrici. This plant shows how the seasons can vary from year to year as it won the same trophy in 2024, even though the show was three weeks later.

The Jacki Troughton-Smith Trophy (best pan Ericaceae) was awarded to Frank Lavery for a very impressive Rhododendron ‘Shamrock’.

Paddy Smith won the Cyclamen Society Salver (best Cyclamen) for a beautiful Cyclamen pseudibericum.

Billy Moore was awarded an AGS Medal for his wonderful exhibit of six rock plants. These included Woodsia obtusa, Ipheion sp, Corydalis curviflora subsp rosthornii ‘Blue Heron’, Lithodora oleifolia, Ranunculus montanus ‘Molten Gold’ and Saxifraga ‘Citronella’. The Sax is grown in the alpine house although Billy said that it’s possible that it would do fine without protection. The other five are grown in pots out of doors. He had intended putting the Ranunculus under cover for its winter dormancy but forgot about it and it still performed very well, possibly with slightly fewer flowers than last year when it was awarded the Farrer Medal at the Ulster Show. All the others remain outside year round and only require watering during the summer.

Last but not least the Farrer Medal was awarded to Gordon Toner for a stunning Daphne gemmata. This plant is no stranger to awards Two years ago it won a certificate of merit at the Ulster Show. Gordon has had this Daphne for five years and it is potted in a mix of compost and leaf mould with blood, fish and bone. He also dresses it with blood, fish and bone in Autumn. It is left outside in good light for most of the year and brought into the alpine house in November. Remarkably it has been in flower since December but peaked nicely for the show.

Reporter: Triona Corcoran
Photographer: Rory O’Hanlon