The 85th annual Coronado Flower Show was this past weekend and I have participated in about 40 of those years, entering plants and cut flowers. This year I moved into unfamiliar territory because, in addition to my usual horticulture entries, for the first time ever, I entered (drum roll, please) the Design Section. Daunting, to say the least.
In the past, I’ve written about Flower Show Judge School that I’ve been slowly working my way through. Frankly, it would be faster to get a Master’s Degree than to become a Flower Show Judge with all the milestones required to achieve over time. Since I have finished the four courses, the first stage required to become an official Flower Show Judge, now I am required to enter flower shows and try to win 90+ on horticulture and design entries. It is only possible to win 90+ on one hort and one design per show, but I am happy to report that I achieved that goal this past weekend! Yea! I entered two categories in design, and a bunch of succulents and cut flowers. I received a second place in the picture boxes, but did score a 90+ so that covered my design requirement.
Zeus
My miniature sedum received a first in Succulents, so that covered the hort requirement.
Cremnosedum
I also was part of judging the show for the first time. I served as a student judge on a panel of four, judging some of the Table Tent entries as well as container plants in Horticulture. TheElements and Principles of Design came in very handy and I learned a lot about judging with this experience. It was nice to be able to put alot of the things I’ve studied into context.
Here’s the second design I made. I think I liked this one best, but I was happy with both my arrangements and only spent $8.00 on the whole shebang. The brass container I used for Zeus I found for $3.00 at a garage sale and the blue bowl used in Signs of Life I found in the garbage! I spent $5.00 on Oasis to use in the containers. The succulent cuttings and fern for the arrangements came from my yard with the exception of the Mother-In-Law’s tongue which came from my friend, Susan’s yard.
Signs of Life
Another great thing about my designs is that they will last for awhile because they are succulents, and when I finally do take them apart I will be able to re-pot them and start a whole new set of plants. Sustainable floral design! Shouldn’t I get some kind of Judging Brownie points for that? 
Tagged as:
Coronado Flower Show,
Floral Design,
flower show judging,
succulents
Elements & Principals of Design have been part of our class discussion through all our courses of Flower Show Judge school. I’m not a floral design-oriented person so although it is making a lot of sense now, it was a bit overwhelming at first. Some people used acronyms they made up to help keep things straight, but it wasn’t sinking in for me until the third session when our instructor, Julia Clevett, compared Elements to the ingredients of a recipe and Principals to the recipe. Poof, now I get it!!! Elements are the tangibles and Principles are how you use those tangibles. Thank you Julia!
Elements of Design
Color – The characteristic of light by which the individual perceives objects or light sources; how the eye sees and interpret wavelengths of light
Form – A three dimensional object
Light – Illumination necessary for vision
Line – One-dimension visual path through design
Pattern – design formed by solids and spaces between them
Size – the perceived or visual dimensions of components rather than actual dimensions
Space – the open area in and around a design
There are 3 kinds of space – total space, space within plant material, space established in design
Texture – Surface quality of a material
The only way I can remember the Elements is to put them in alphabetical order.
Principals of Design
Balance - visual balance or stability
Dominance – the greater impact of one element over the others
Contrast - use of opposite characteristics to emphasize differences
Rhythm - created by a dominant visual path of lines, forms, and/or colors in a design
Proportion – comparative relationship of areas and amounts
Scale - the size relationship of one object in a design compared to another
Some people use BADCROPS as an acronym to remember Principles. Drop the vowels and you have your PRINCIPLES.
As we have progressed through the courses, I am finding I use the E’s & P’s quite a bit in my thought process with my creative projects so that is kind of cool to see the application in everyday life.
Tagged as:
Coronado Flower Show,
Floral Design
I mentioned Flower Show Judge School in a post the other day, and I’ll share bits and pieces of what I’m learning with you over time.
Having chaired the Coronado Flower Show this year and last, I learned a lot about the process of running a flower show. Thankfully I had a nice group of knowledgable people around me who made sure I was pointed in the right direction because I was pretty clueless!
There is a lot of thought, work and process that goes into planning a flower show. Judging is a big part of a show, bringing in competitors with high quality entries. Judging is based on National Garden Clubs, Inc. Standard System of Awarding to ensure that all entries are judged fairly, whether from an experienced gardener/designer or a beginning gardener/designer entering a show for the first time.
The planning for the Coronado Flower Show begins in the fall of the previous year. Besides coming up with a theme for the show, judges for the show need to be secured months in advance because judges are hard to come by these days. There are lots of flower shows in the spring so competition to secure judges is high. The ranks are thinning and since there hasn’t been a judges course offered on the west coast in quite a few years, judges are a hot ticket these days!
When National Garden Clubs, Inc. decided to offer the judges course on the west coast for the first time in years, I decided to jump on board with a group of friends from Coronado. Our first of four courses was last August, the second was in February, our third was last week and our last course will be next February. Each course consists of two full days of cramming lots of information into our heads so we can take a test on the third day. After we finish the four courses and pass the tests, we have to take a comprehensive test and write a flower show schedule. We also have to enter flower shows with horticulture and design entries and score at least 90 to count toward our judging qualification.
We’re learning all sorts of great information on horticulture and design, and we’re learning how to point score entries in both categories. It’s interesting to see how differently entries fare when you point score versus what your first impression might be. Point scoring is a very fair system of judging entries but not as easy as it sounds, hence all the training and practice. I think horticulture is going to be my forte (not a big surprise) but it’s been interesting to spend so much time on floral design. I don’t love design like a lot of people in the classes, but I am learning a lot.
Okay, you’ve probably heard enough for one post, and if your eyes aren’t glazed over by now, that’s a good thing! More to follow! (Lucky you!)
Tagged as:
Coronado Flower Show,
flower show school
The 84th annual Coronado Flower Show was as good as it could possibly be this year. Entries into all sections were up in numbers and high in quality this year. The new seminars offered in design, succulents, bonsai and drought tolerant plantings were a nice addition to the program. Saturday’s weather was perfect, Sunday warmed [...]
Tagged as:
Coronado Flower Show
Members of the Crown Garden Club worked in the June Miller Garden in preparation for the Flower Show this weekend.
Tagged as:
Coronado Flower Show
The tents are going up in Spreckel’s Park! It started bright and early on Monday morning and Raphael’s Rentals is making great progress. They have to because people will begin entering their plants and designs on Friday afternoon, so there is lots of work to do between now and then. Also, check out the Friends [...]
Tagged as:
Coronado Flower Show
I found this on the front porch today. I’m never sure how the yard will be perceived by the judges because it is funkier than most, but I guess the judges liked it this year. Yea! According to my neighbor, Jean, who chased down the judges to ask why she only got an honorable mention [...]
Tagged as:
Coronado Flower Show,
HomeFront judging
The Coronado Flower Show is less than 2 weeks away which means it’s HomeFront judging time!Volunteer teams of judges will be out en masse all over Coronado, judging homefronts by specific criteria. Remember, it’s all volunteer and even with the guidelines to follow, there will be some subjectivity, so no matter how it turns out, [...]
Tagged as:
Coronado Flower Show,
HomeFront judging
