Question:

In my club’s flower show, we want to include container-grown begonias. Which Top Exhibitor Awards can be offered for a section of container-grown begonias?

Answer:
It all depends on your preferences. You could offer an Award of Merit or a Grower’s Choice Award.

Remember for each Award of Merit, the same Scale of Points must be used.  (See The National Gardener, Winter 2011). That means that you could not combine flowering container-grown begonias and foliage container-grown begonias in the same section because flowering and foliage only plants require different Scales of Points. You would have to use two of your possible five Awards of Merit for begonias; one for flowering begonias and another for begonias with just foliage.

You might decide to use your five Awards of Merit for cut specimens, such as flowering annuals, flowering perennials, flowering biennials, decorative foliage, and flowers or colorful bracts from bulbous plants. You might also decide to offer an Award of Merit for other sections of cut specimens, such as herbs, ornamental grasses, ferns, roses, vines, or other plant groups that your members enjoy growing.

Recall that three Grower’s Choice Awards can be offered in a Standard Flower Show. The Grower’s Choice Award is a Section award specific to container-grown plants and combination plantings. (See The National Gardener, Winter 2008.) Since the Grower’s Choice Awards are section awards, there must be a separate section for each award offered. Each section, just like all other sections, must contain a minimum of three classes.

Suggested sections for the Grower’s Choice Awards might be:

Section L: Container-grown flowering specimens
    Class 1: Saintpaulia
    Class 2: Begonia
    Class 3: Bromeliad
    Class 4: any other worthy specimen

Section M: Container-grown foliage specimens
    Class 1: Begonia
    Class 2: Bromeliad
    Class 3: any other worthy specimen

Section N: Combination Plantings (Notice that these can be flowering or foliage or a combination of both)
    Class 1: Planter
    Class 2: Terrarium
    Class 3: Dish Garden
    Class 4: Trough

National Garden Clubs is encouraging clubs to use the Grower’s Choice Awards for container-grown plants. Using these awards frees up your schedule and allows your Awards of Merit to be used for cut specimens of all kinds.

Go to the Forms Page to Download the Flower Show/Schedule Application Form