Exhibiting
Exhibiting Tips 'n' Tricks
When to pick
- If the forecast is for stormy weather, hail or heavy rain, you’ll want to cut the flowers just before the bad weather hits and bring them inside. Most flowers are fine to pick a little early.
- It's best to cut flowers early in the morning or late in the afternoon. Avoid cutting them in the heat of the day as they'll wilt and not be looking their best.
- As soon as they are gathered, place the stems of your cut flowers in a deep container of cool water and set it in a cool, shady place for at least three hours, or overnight. Daffodils are best kept in their own container as their sap can affect other flowers.
- When you've cut all your daffodils, put them in a bucket of water and re-cut their stems. They will take a big drink of water immediately when the stem is cut, so this will help prevent them from wilting prematurely.
What to pick
- Choose your best flowers in the freshest condition with even petals, and try to find ones without insect holes.
- Cut a long stem if possible, it's easy to trim the stem to a better length for the vase, but if you cut it too short you can't glue extra stem on it later!
- When displaying daffodils, cutting a single leaf to display in the vase can help with the presentation of your flower.
Preparing the night before
- Review the schedule ahead of time, checking the requirements for each class. It's very easy to accidentally have four flower stems for an entry when the class states no more than three stems in a vase.
- Check your exhibits for dirt, water spots and unwanted guests. Clean leaves with a damp soft cloth and clean flowers gently with a damp cotton bud or soft paintbrush to remove mud spots and pollen. Don't forget to remove any insects too, they belong back in the garden.
- It can be helpful to organise which flowers you will be putting into each class the night before Show day. This can include arranging jars, vases or buckets to put your flowers in to transport to the Show.
- Double-check what time staging of exhibits starts and finishes.
On the day
- Get to the hall in good time to give yourself enough time to stage your exhibits.
- Carefully transport your flowers to the show. Secure any filled vases and ensure the flowers are not rubbing against each other or the car when you put them in. This will reduce the risk of bruising or damage. This can be a challenge and even seasoned exhibitors have this problem, so don’t worry if some don’t make it, try to have some spares if possible.
- When you get to the show, exhibits have to be placed in club vases that are provided.
- There is a staging table in the foyer where you can put your entries into the vases. Grab a bunch of vases to set yourself up. There are also little watering cans on the table to fill them with water.
Kid's Exhibits
Sand/Vaseline Saucer
Sand saucers are lots of fun to make, and really easy to get started.
1. Carefully smooth and compact a mound of wet sand over an old saucer.
2. Pick a selection of flowers, and trim your flower stems short.
3. Arrange your flowers in a symmetrical pattern by pushing the stems into the sand.
4. Make sure there is no sand showing!
Vaseline saucers are so easy to do, and they look great.
1. Grab a saucer and a jar of vaseline..
2. smear vaseline all over the inside of the saucer - your flowers, petals and leaves will have to stick to it!
3. Just like the Sand Sacuer, pick a selection of flowers and leaves, and trim your flower stems short.
3. Arrange your flowers in a symmetrical pattern on the saucer. You can even pick off individual petals and stick them on to the vaseline.
Check out the handy guides below courtesy of Green Grubs Garden Club
Vegetable Animal
Vegetable Animals are so much fun, you can get as creative as you can with whatever fruits or vegetables you can find, and create something cute, something crazy, anything alive that you can imagine!
1. Get fruits or vegetables that you think could make up body parts of an animal.
2. Get toothpicks to help stick different bits together.
3. Using a knife (carefully - ask a parent for help!!) you can cut shapes from the vegetables, peel off skin, make holes, anything to help create your vegetable animal.
4. Stick the different bits together with toothpicks and bring your new creation along!
Jar of Flowers
Nothing can be easier or more pretty than a jar of flowers.
1. Look in your garden for up to 12 different kinds of flowers. Make sure the petals are clean and aren't damaged or bruised.
2. Pick the flowers with a nice long stem, so they can go in the jar.
3. Grab a jar, fill it with water.
4. arrange your flowers in the vase so that every flower is shown off and looks its best!
