Download PLANT JUDGING COMPETITION

PLANT JUDGING COMPETITION
PLANT JUDGING COMPETITION
The author, a Master Gardener, was invited to judge the FFA competition described below. Then he
realized this could be a good way to help educate children anywhere (or students of any age) about native
plants, not just those in FFA classes.
At this contest there were
natives mixed with landscape and florist plants. Use your imagination as to
the way similar judging events could conclude workshops or short courses given to school groups, youth
groups such as scouts or 4-H, or outreach classes that your NPSOT chapter offers to the public or even to
new members!
Pick and Pull Division
Three
tables were set up with eight landscape plants on each table. One table
had four inch pots of
Monkey Grass, another had gallon sized plants of Indian
Hawthorne and the 3rd had four inch pots of
Pansy plants.
Students had to study each table of plants and correctly "Pick and Pull" the
four best
plants out of each group as if they were going to just buy four of
these plants, leaving behind the "worst"
four plants.
The 3 judges had previously studied & ranked the plants on these tables.
Cut Flowers Division
The second division was harder for the students and the judges as it consisted of three tables, each with
four vases of "cut flowers" from a florist.
Single Stems on one table, Mass Flowers on another, and "Star
Gazer Lilies" on the 3rd, for the FFA members to
judge the BEST vases in order of best to worst. All were
judged for numbers
of blooms and buds, quality of blooms and buds and leaves and stems, and
also
form and symmetry! They only got credit if they got the complete order
right as determined
previously by the judges.
Potted Plants Division
They also had a table of "foliage plants" with "Boston" fern hanging
baskets, again look at them and put
each basket in the correct order.
Then a table of "blooming potted plants". These were Azaleas, which
was
particularly tricky as the "best" potted plant did NOT have a single open
bloom BUT it was
completely covered in buds!
Floral Arrangement Division
At the last table they had to pick out the best florist
arrangement as to form and shape, balance and
color, and also judge the
freshness of each flower and leaf used in the arrangements. You can have
a
fabulous plant arrangement but if the blooms or foliage are dying then what
points do you give to
each section in judging these ?
Identification Test
The students were asked to ID photos of plants, insect and florist tools. The FFA
kids were given a list
with about 160 plants listed by botanical names and
common names and had to choose from this list to
correctly ID about 35 plants.
Ditto for the insects, with far more insects listed than photos of insects.
To
make this more difficult all of the insects are blown up to where a teeny tiny
"White fly" looks like a
7 inch long beautiful white fuzzy moth!
A Soil Gnat looked like a wasp about 5 inches long; same for
spider mites,
horrendously hideous looking spiders when they are as large as your hand!
The plant
ID test can be made more difficult by including similar but different species with one
just slightly
different from the next one. There were four different
cultivars or types of Chrysanthemum mums but
about 10 names from which to choose.
Keith Kridler, Lake Country Chapter
Plant Judging Competition Tool.doc
Sept. 2012