My state organization, the Illinois African Violet Society, had its annual spring show yesterday. Those of you who are show growers know that a show is truly a group effort. Ours is no different. We pitch in and help each other wherever and whenever we can.
Here it is in its box, ready to leave the house.
And here it is in the Honor Court as Best Trailer. It was the ONLY trailer in its class, so its blue ribbon automatically made it best-in-class. Since it was the only trailer in the show, and was best-in-class, it was Best Trailer. As the late Kent Stork said to me in the past, “Annie, you really smoked the competition in that class!” :-D
And here is my dish garden. Much to my dismay, the vendor we ordered sale plants from would not ship any blooming minis because they had a show our weekend. One of the members gave me a small mini with only one blossom. I gratefully took it, but I learned a lesson: Wait to put the plant in the design until the morning of the show. The one little blossom was spent by morning :-( I left it alone and the judges were kind. They could tell what had happened. It did get a blue, even with what was left of the one blossom, and it was best-in-class. I was awarded a Judges’ Special Award for it because I think the judges liked my landscape plan.
We had a very unique and very beautiful set up in the center court of the mall
Here is the Best-in-Show and Best Standard plant: Ian-Minuet
I’m trying something new in this post – following is what I’m calling a “Shorty.” I did a video walk through of the show. The sound is not great because a mall, is a mall, is a mall, is a very noisy place :-D Even so, I hope you will enjoy seeing our show.
I enjoyed your video very much. Beautiful plants! Congrats on your wins!
Thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed seeing the Illinois show!
Thank you Phyllis!
Lovely plants. Even for a small show there were many great plants. It’s always wonderful to see the end result of the grower’s hard work. And your Cajun’s McKenna’s Trail is huge and gorgeous! Congratulations on all your ribbons!
Thank you Janice!
Janice, thank you. I’m glad you enjoyed seeing the show!
Very nice plants. Love the video. Congrats on your wins. :-)
Gi, thank you, and I’m glad you enjoyed seeing the show.
Gi, thank you!
Thank you for documenting this :)
Your McKenna trail should be in much fuller bloom for the convention – i know mine kept its blooms well over a month and just kept going… lovely plant!
Now here’s a question for your podcast. What does the SSA really mean to the club? I’ve volunteered at our local show for four years now (clerking & entries), and i know the parts needed, but not the significance. the “why bother”-part, if that makes sense. is it just a certificate to hang on your wall-kind of thing, or does it do anything beyond it?
As a relatively new grower, i’ve found that a lot of the focus is on how to grow the plants, not much is said about the structure of a club, how things are organized and run. i don’t know if it’s a lack of interest, or if it is just assumed you either know or will ask….
Karin – I hope it will be. I’ve struggled with it wanting to bloom under the leaves. I think I need to groom it better or differently. The SSA (Special Show Award) is in place to encourage clubs to improve with each show. I will write more about this and explain it better in a post on the site soon.
Thank you for your video Annie! You trailer is awesome!
You’re welcome, Tatyana! And thank you – I hope my trailer will come in to more bloom for the National show :-)