The cut and decorative flowers section will be led by head steward Lee Robinson, whose family have been in the business for decades. 

“My dad’s passion was growing Dahlia’s – so that’s where it all started from,” Ms Robinson said.

“He was called the ‘Dahlia King of Armidale’ or ‘the Umbrella Man’ and he was doing it for about 30 years.

“Mum took it over [some years ago] and now I have recently taken over … so I’ve sort of inherited this.”

And it’s not as easy as it looks.

“It’s pretty time consuming,” she said.

“The actual decorative and cut flowers takes up a fair chunk of the pavilion – the Dahlia section is probably one of the biggest sections.”

“You prepare for the show probably two to three weeks beforehand by pruning back your buds and on show morning, you can’t cut Dahlia’s in the heat so it has to be done late in the evening or early that morning and it can take a few hours depending on how many you are showing.

“Pretty much it’s up to every grower to stage their own flowers.

“And if they get entered into the wrong class they’re disqualified.”

There is about 28 different classes just in the Dahlia section, Ms Robinson said.

“Dahlia’s [to grow them] have to be pruned a certain way for the blooms, dug up every year and split up, fed at a certain time and watered differently [to other plants],” she said.

And they come in all colours and sizes too.

“Reds, whites, multi-colours, you can get some as small as a golf ball to as big as a dinner plate,” she said.

Ms Robinson said the team has designed a section for novice and under 12 entrants. 

“In the last five years we’ve tried to encourage a lot of new growers – even people that just grow in the garden,” she said.

“We want to help them learn how to stage them for a show … there’s a couple of young kids.”

Judging for section 17 will be held on the Thursday before the show at 10.30am.