What happens as you study these plants closely is that the true diversity and detail of the world we live in comes more and more into focus, and this is no trivial consequence because that perception underlies all culture and enterprise. So, for example, gardeners will be captivated by the Snakeshead Fritillary, Fritillaria meleagris, that can grow en masse in water meadows and adapt well to gardens. And it's a short step then to  become fascinated by this whole genus of some 150 (fluctuating) species that span the world in very diverse habitats. You can see these and compare them at Alpine Shows, even if many do prove difficult or impossible to grow in the garden - and as a result may join the Fritillaria Group http://www.fritillaria.org.uk and discover that not all fritillarias are "the springing grass... dulled by the hanging cups of fritillaries", as Andy Byfield quotes from Vita Sackville-West in this article https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/gardening-blog/2013/apr/26/snakeshead-fritillary. (Enthusiasts eagerly anticipate a forthcoming monograph on this genus, even though it is the nature of botany and science to assimilate rather than complete). These are some examples at the Rosemoor AGS Show, grown by George Elder, Lee and Julie Martin and Colin Everett.

Another genus, Saxifraga, which gets its very name 'rock-breaker' from the ways so many species grow in cracks and crevices in stone, has a similar specialised following, and its own society http://www.saxifraga.org/aboutus/default.htm. These are often amongst the most colourful and early flowering of all alpines, with many colourful and novel hybrids raised by enthusiasts which add to their wonder and charm.  Many are not rock-breakers at all and grow in less extreme situations. The whole genus is wonderfully explored in Malcolm McGregor's book 'Saxifrages'.

If two such genera can catch the imagination so strongly just extend this to many more. In their book 'Alpine Plants. Ecology for Gardeners', John Good and David Millward provide the statistic that alpines (plants above and beyond the timberline) make up approximately 6% of the world's flowering plants - ca. 12 000 species in 2 000 genera and 100 families - with just as much diversity as found at lower altitudes. They are by no means plants beyond the horticultural radar of the adventurous gardener.

Suites of plants follow each other through the seasons at Alpine Shows in the same way as they do in the garden. At Rosemoor, then, another well demonstrated genus is Narcissus, many of which are such reliable garden plants in the British climate. This is N. alpestris 'Madder Moon' grown by Bob and Rannveig Wallis, a refined and less well known example.

The smaller species and hybrids have always had a strong horticultural following and it's not hard to see why when you find a patch of N. cyclamineus naturalised like this...

Throughout spring narcissus can steal the show and are amongst the best examples of the real overlap between 'exhibition' and 'gardening' at events such as this one at Rosemoor. Combine Narcissus with that other reliable garden bulb Scilla and you have that wonderful flower arrangement from Paddy Parmee that I used to open these two Diary entries... and scilla with primrose, and another vignette at Rosemoor.

Invariably the Alpine Shows reveal rare and more unfamiliar plants too that are grist to the mill for the enthusiastic plantsman, keen to learn more. Amongst Cyclamen, yet another valuable genus in the garden, is the diminutive species C. parviflorum from the Pontus Mountains in NE Turkey, which would win no plaudits from 'fashion' but is of undeniable worth to the botanically inclined. This plant was shown by Ian Robertson.

Near to it was this exquisite little Japanese selection of Viola chaerophylloides, 'Beni-zuro', shown by the local specialist plant nursery, Millwood Plants http://www.millwoodplants.com. 

Agapetes smithiana var. major is really hard pushed to be categorised as an 'alpine' (this is an excellent reference to the genus https://journals.rbge.org.uk/index.php/rbgesib/article/viewFile/76/58), but illustrates how these Shows really encompass the instincts of the plantsman more than they do the alpine purist, and the Society itself benefits if by doing so it stimulates the inquisitive mind and the skilled cultivator of plants. 'Alpine' at times is a misnomer, and just as you only reach the mountain peaks via the woodlands and meadows below, so in the garden alpines play only part of the story. 

Walk out of the Show and into the garden at Rosemoor and the scale changes completely. Most of the plants in the Show need intimate and suitable settings that can be lost in the design-led and more expansive horticulture of the 21st century. And yet in suitable places in walls, alongside streams, amongst rocks and paving and in troughs and raised beds they do come into their own. And that very way they draw the observant eye in those wide expansive places they come from in the mountains can have the same effect in the garden: that fine detail of a landscape echos and contributes to its wider impact. Though gardening may at times be just 'stamp collecting', it can and does inform the bigger picture, and the Alpine Shows for all their specialised nature do this more than most. 

(Addendum: Jon Evans detailed record of plants displayed at this Show - http://www.alpinegardensociety.net/discussion/atshows/South+West+Show+at+Rosemoor+th+March+/20451/)

(Correction: Narcissus alpestris 'Nadder Moon', named for the stream running alongside Ian Robertson's garden where this plant is grown - and originally raised from seed from Buried Treasure)