State Fair Horticulture Blue Ribbons!
“Late one night, a thunderstorm pounded on the tin roof of the Piggly Wiggly. I saw Miss Salley standing at the door. I knew she walked everywhere, so I gave her a ride and helped get groceries into her small house. She had so many potted flowers! She knew the names of them all. She loved her huge Crown of Thorns and knew it was a Euphorbia, ‘Pink Jewel.’ I was blown away!”
Henny Hall, a long-time friend of mine, shared this memory. Hennie can do that Southern thing of taking a while to get to the point, but I knew this had something to do with the South Carlina State Fair horticulture show. Henny used to be in charge of all the horticulture at the Fair. In her raspy, good old-girl drawl, Hennie went on, “I told Miss Sally, ‘You should enter plants in the fair! You can win prizes. “She had never heard of entering plants in the fair or prizes for that matter.”
“Long story short,” Henny said, “Miss Sally’s Crown of Thorns won a Blue Ribbon and Best in Show. When I called her to let her know, she dropped the phone and hollered out to her Granddaughter to drive her to the fair right away. Never have I seen such a sweet woman cry so many happy tears, and when she saw the Silver Platter award she’d won, I thought we might need to call the Ambulance! That was 35 years ago, and I don’t ever see a Crown of Thorns that doesn’t remind me of sweet Miss Sally.”
That’s what Fair Horticulture is all about. Sometimes, the ribbons and the awards seem unpleasantly competitive to me. But now I understand, especially since I’ve been writing more, a good story needs a strong closing. A trip to the fair needs one too. After all the prep and loving on your plants, after carrying them down to the fairgrounds, you just need a good closing.
Cheryl Haltwanger knows that well. She was at the fair this week, entering her plants. Cheryl told me, “My Mother loved house plants. After I retired from teaching, I took up the hobby.” One of the workers interrupted us, “She usually brings TWO vans full of plants!” Today, Cheryl has over 100 plants in her house. Now, her daughter speaks up, “And she has about 30 that live in my office at work!” Cheryl is not here for the ribbons. She’s here to share her passion, her pets, her plants.
Back when Hennie was the manager of horticulture, flower displays covered sprawling building. Endless tables of flowers and elaborate concoctions from local nurseries spilled into walkways. I did an exhibit once, filling a 20’ x 20’ space with Asian trees and tropicals and 30 foot 30-foot-long Chinese Dragon created by an art student friend.
But yesterday, I walked into a small space. Granted, it was the first day space, but my heart sank a bit at the dwindled space. Later though, I was thrilled to see some young people, even a young man, grinning in front of his ribbons.
I didn’t enter this year. I feel a little guilty because I know how much community events like this need participation. At the last minute, after talking to Hennie, I grabbed an air plant and ran down to the Fair. At the security gate, I showed them my plant and said I was entering it. Y’all, don’t try that; it won’t work now the fair is in operation but do take an afternoon and enjoy the community of gardeners, florists, farmers, and artists who come together at your local fair.
Here are a few pics from this year’s South Carolina State Fair.
I love the way this story moves forward ... sort of self-propelling, from the stormy night to the utter happiness of winning a blue ribbon, to Cheryl's inheritance of her mom's many, many plants ... you just draw the reader in and makes her want to check out the fair! Thanks -
I had never entered anything in a state fair exhibit until coming to Alaska to grow dahlias with Rob. This year, over two entry periods and under both of our names, we entered just under a hundred dahlia stems and brought home around sixty ribbons. As the years have gone by, I have tried to refine the chaos of choosing and cutting (Rob used to cut the prettiest ones and figure out what class they fit into at the exhibit hall) in order to have the classes covered, the forms filled out, and still be able to greet people we often only see at fair time.
The lighting in the exhibit hall is not the best and tends to make reddish-orange flowers appear brown. There are always new exhibitors who need help with the entry procedures and veterans of bonafide dahlia shows would probably laugh at the local standards. It is great fun though to come the next day and see if we won enough ribbons ($7 for 1st, $5 for 2nd, and $3 for third) to pay for the giant fresh oysters and other fair food we indulge in once a year. Rob sponsors special awards in the youth division and meeting the winners is wonderful. I have also discovered that there is a special class that allows one to choose five different dahlias and assign one's own theme to them. I will never win for arranging flowers but I have been successful in presenting five beauties with a catchy title!