Garden Club of Austin Fall 2009 Plant Show

I just got back from the end of the plant show. The Garden Club of Austin hosted its biannual plant show at Zilker Botanical Gardens this weekend. Friday morning I was buzzing around the yard and garage looking for plants to submit and spent a couple hours selecting them and cleaning them up for the show. I'd hoped that some of my plants would look better than they did, but who doesn't hope for that regardless of there being a show? Psh.

I brought them in Friday, and there was quite a buzz around my planter full of thanksgiving cactus in its bud stage. I was hoping it had the potential to win best of show, but there was some serious competition. Best of Show went to an amazing staghorn fern that was absolutely COVERED! Hard to compete with that.

Best of Show/Section Table

After the show, people were still impressed with my thanksgiving cactus, and I must admit I am very proud of it considering that I made up the potting medium myself and only started growing it this year. All was not lost on it. I still got a Green Thumb for it which is like an A+. Each plant is graded against itself and then within its section and the overall show. The Blue Ribbon (1st Place) is the 90th percentile and so on.

Thanksgiving Cactus

I actually took home a few Green Thumbs for a number of submissions.

Staghorn Fern (Green Thumb)

San Pedro Cactus (Green Thumb)

Roadkill Cactus (Green Thumb)

Buddha Belly Plant (Green Thumb)

However, not everything faired so well. I had one plant get the blue ribbon and a jar of pickled green tomatoes get the blue ribbon. I can understand why they didn't get a green thumb, so I'm not particularly upset. To be honest, I'm glad I didn't get any second or third places.

Alocasia 'Shock Treatment'

Canned Green Tomatoes (not enough liquid)

And then there was one plant that got no feedback, but it was a club plant we were all given to grow. Mine looked really sad, and it was a bit neglected. The winner had 5 large bell peppers and lots of beautiful growth.

Bell Pepper 'Camelot'

Apparently no one else entered the canning section of the show, so I won by default. Thankfully, I did get a Green Thumb for it, and I was particularly careful to pack those cucumber spears. Huzzah.

Canned Dill Cucumber Pickle Spears

So there it is. It was fun. It was great to get some feedback. It was even better to pull such good reviews/awards on my first plant show, and I guess cacti and succulents are what I'm good at. Now I'm motivated to nail the spring show for 2010. I've already got some ideas brewing.