Silver Ribbons -Lets hear if for 3s

Getting ready for shows and to travel in regards to my son’s coming August wedding, I missed this dity from Clay.  I disagree completely.
 
Personally I think a daffodil shows itself off best in the collections of 3s.  Winning 3 silvers betters your reputation.  It does not make you a pig. 
 
Take the class 2W-P.  In most shows that is the is the single stem class with the most entries.  A less than truly top flower will not look good at all in the single stem class.  In fact it will be lost in the mass.  But if you have 3 fairly good blooms of the same flower, they can really stand out in the class of 3s. 
 
I personally not a fan of doing large collections of 24, 15, 12, or 9 unless there is competion in that class.  If you are the only entry, you will win a blue unless you misname a flower, have a dead flower, or you entered such a class at a show that was just too late for your flowers.  I did the latter at the national in St. Louis.  My flowers were just too old to win the blue in any collection at that show. 
 
I must also admit that I do not think I am a very good competitoer or shower, as I have never won the Purple ribbon.  I consider that the prize.  You really have to compete to get that, because there usually so many good entries and you have to have 5 good flowers.  Except for the Tuggle at a regional show, I am not entering any large collection classes until I win the purple ribbon. 
 
In conclusion LETS HERE IT FOR 3S.

2 comments for “Silver Ribbons -Lets hear if for 3s

  1. I think there are yet other views of the Silver Ribbon.

    We have few large growers (many more than 100  cultivars/or species, say) in our local show. And, only a few locals travel to other ADS shows. (The closest are usually at least 3 hours away, and the others would require staying overnight.) In addition, our “largest grower” – I’m only speaking in daffodil terms may be the only person ever to win the Silver Ribbon at one of our shows. Certainly, nobody looks at that as “piggy.: Rather, we anticipate seeing all those blooms arrive, already to put on the show bench, and without which our show would be puny.
    I haven’t checked the records, but she may be the only person ever to win a Silver Ribbon at the Midwest Daffodil Show. That is true in my recollection.
    But that doesn’t diminish the show or the competition for the rest of us. Even a blind hog may find an acorn once in a while, and the rest of us have also won plenty of blue ribbons, too.
    Here’s to the “pigs”! May their efforts cause the rest of us to increase our efforts.

  2. Jim,
    Other than posting while having fun, I guess my point was missed in this posting.  I feel that the show and growers that grow a lot of show worthy daffodils like I do, should show their flowers in the large collections as it takes a lot of “very good” flowers to win a large collection.  That allows the single stems and smaller collections to be more readily available to the growers that are not in the large grower category. Now, I do know some local large growers that throw their very best daffodils into single stems hoping to win a best is show (Gold Ribbon).  But I have noticed that most of the Gold Ribbons come from a single stem that was shown in collections of 5 or above,
     
    On the other hand you seem to be a shower of singles, three stems and collections of five, and I’m not knocking that.  I feel that when I compete in that area, I both flood the show with excellent flowers in those categories and keep the new showers from collecting as many ribbons as they could.  My mother in law, Marie Bozievich, had a showing principle that I have followed most of my showing life, she said that the experienced and large growers should concentrate on the larger collections and that will allow the small and new growers and showers a chance to win ribbons. Winning ribbons are what gets the new and smaller showers hooked on daffodils and maybe some day they will become the larger showers.
     
    To boil it down, and I felt this year that I won the silver ribbons because I was competing in the small collections and single stems that I should have left for the less experienced and those that don’t grow a 1000 or more different varieties of daffodils like I do.
     
    By the way, Marie Bozievich always felt that three stems were within the large growers area of expertise because you have to grow a large number of a cultivars to be able to select three of the cultivar with the uniform quality it takes that will win a blue ribbon.  I love to show three stems.  Several years ago, I put 27 three stems in one show, won 39 blue ribbons with everything else I put in and decided never to flood a show with stems of three again.
     
    This year, after suffering a double break in my fibula bone, I’m just wonderfully happy that I can get around enough to enjoy the daffodil shows and the daffodil showers.  I’m still gimpy, but still showed my daffodils. Just no energy.
     
    I was at the WDS show yesterday and it was the first time all season that I was not on a cane or crutches. :-)
     
     
    Best regards,
     
    Clay
     
    Clay E. Higgins
    (240) 632-0002
    cell (301) 814-4206
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