Philadelphia Flower Show - Lightning Strike

  Today I'll show you another of the standard flower show sections. This competition was for a vertical display on the theme "Lightning Strike." In case you don't know how these work, the entrants are given the dimensions of the space, and sometimes the color of the backdrop (I'll explain later why I think that is true of this display), the theme, and sometimes some other contraints, and they are to interpret the theme using plant materials.

This one took 4th place. The plants are leucadendron, lunaria (money plant), rose, and bismarckia nobilis (a palm). The judges said there was nice textural and color balance, but the roses were too heavy. It is beautiful, but does not say "lightning" to me.

Again, the third place does not strike me as lightning. Pun intended. It uses a lot of plants: chrysanthemum, clover, cyclamen, dianthus, gloriosa lily, hyacinth, phalaeanopsis orchid, ranunculus, scabiosa, spider plant, tweedia (related to milkweed- I think it's the blue flower near the top), tradescantia, and wax flower (the problem with common names is evident here- there are at least 5 plants called wax flower, and none of them looks like anything in this entry). The judges said that the vibrant color and variety of flowers fit with the overall Garden Electric theme of the flower show, but the delicate plants are incongruent with the heaviness of the display.

I thought 2nd place was right on the money. As I see it, the one problem was that it's white against a white background. Maybe they were not allowed to change the background. It would have been great against black. Alternatively, I think they should have made the branches black and the colors more yellow and orange. I like it a lot. The plants are: palm, pincushion protea, and an unspecified branch. The judges subtly mentioned that the branches were manzanita, and also thought there wasn't enough contrast. Otherwise, they thought it was effective.

This one took first place and also a Grand Prize ribbon from the Federated Garden Clubs of Pennsylvania. Plant materials are: hala leaf (a screw pine of Hawaii), cymbidium orchid, and heliconia 'golden torch' (common name lobster claws- the orange points) The judges said it was an excellent interpretation of the theme and refered to "flax" (which there is none of in the exhibit!!??). But they liked the angular forms and stuccato rhythm.

I'm not sure I learned much today that I will retain. Nothing spectacular anyway. I may remember some of these odd plants mentioned above. I may remember some of what I learned about database building from a video. But most of the day was spent on marketing things- 2 hours on a support chat, getting ready for the Women's Expo this weekend, ordering more business cards... not a stunningly exciting list.

See PFS- Hair Raising