Anyone entered their dahlias in county fair?

I would love to, but have no idea how to pick which one will be a winner. Any tips? How do you prep them? Tamara

Yes, I have. Just pick the ones that look the best that day. We enter ours on the day they are judged, so they are at their best. You should actually begin the prep weeks before, by disbudding for more impressive blooms, critter control and working for long stems.

The night before; water them well, the morning of; cut them and put them in water immediately. Store in a cool, dark place. It helps a bit to have floral preservative in the water. Entries here are submitted in the early evening, your timetable may be different.

Read the Fair book carefully so that you know the rules.

It's a hoot, love entering items for consideration. Take photos and share your results.

Poochella may wish to share her wisdom re: cutting dahlias.

Excellent question, Tamara.

Maybe we should meet in Erie County, PA, and compete!! :)

No way! ;-) I'm just a newbie, and I'm sure I won't win anything but a "participation" ribbon. lol It's just something I've always wanted to do. I'm not limiting it to just dahlias, though--I'm also entering tomatoes, cukes, pole beans, sunflowers, calendula, hollyhocks, zinnia, maybe roses, gladiolus, coleus and "unusual container". This is, of course, assuming that these things are actually blooming/ready for harvest on August 13 (that's when you have to bring in your entries). Tamara

Our fair starts in about 10 days so I usually don't have much in dahlias. Wish is were in Aug. as it once was.

I am usually on the other end however, judging for 4-H and open classes. I do judge vegies but never the flowers. That way I can enter.

You covered it well Granny. I would add only to cut on a diagonal avoiding leaf nodes, cut into hot water and cut early in the morning or cool evening if you can. And if you have fat hollow stems, pierce them several times underwater to let out air bubbles that may block water uptake in the bottom several inches of stem.

I started reading our fair rules once and that was the end of that. Apparently our fair is run by micromanaging tyrants! But it would be fun to see your flowers on display with others. Go for it and take a camera!

Oh, I'll be a picture takin' fool! hehe Tamara

Oh, don't worry Tamara. I'm a Dahlia "newbie" like you so anything that does bloom by fair time (ours is the second week in August) will be our first endeavor. We have exhibited other flowers and vegetables pretty faithfully over the past few years and find it quite enjoyable. I sure hope you will follow through with your plans. As others have said, if you haven't gotten one yet, be sure to get a copy of your local fair book so you know the categories and entry dates. Usually a choice between individual flower entries (i.e. various types of flowers, by category) or floral arrangements which might make use of many types of flowers.

Great, helpful tips from Granny and Pooch on Dahlia preparation for exhibition. I'll hold on to this thread when it comes time. LOL about the micromanaging tyrants who write the county fair rules in your area! I'm not sure I'd use those terms. Ours do seem to have a thing about favoring relatively small floral exhibits. The kind of floral arrangements that would be knockouts for a wedding or church would be immediately disqualified at our fair. They want short, tiny, "miniature" flowers if possible, and tend also to have a real love for dried flowers and wildflowers. Last year my wife had to hack her big, beautiful "Casa Blanca" oriental lily to bits just to get it small enough to fit the prescribed height requirements. I don't know what they will do if we show up with some big, bold Dahlias. Somebody better have the local medical team on alert near the Floral Building!!

Jamlover, that's so great that you serve as judge for the local fair (and too bad it is so early: that's crazy!!) I'll bet you do a terrific job as the judge and are much sought-after. Now that we know somebody who wields this kind of authority, maybe you can tell us: what's the secret to prize winning exhibits from the judge's side of the table? :)

When it comes to flowers an Aug. fair seems more appropriate. So much more available to show. The first thing the judge has to do is abide by the rules and the description given of the class. Something really nice may have be eliminated simply because it contains only 4 varieties and the 'book' says a min. of 5. I once did a class with about 35 'church baskets' of flowers displayed on 4 tiers of shelves. The first thing I did was have my assistant go through and count the number of varieties in each basket. She marked for me any that fell short of the required number. So I didn't take another look at those as I came to them since they didn't follow "the rules". The superintendent of the class usually is there to assist with judging, so what she says is what you do.
Then some fairs give the best they have in the class the blue, whether it's really worthy of a blue or not. Others save that blue and if the best doesn't rate a blue in the eyes of the judge, it gets the red. It goes against my grain to give a second rate head of broccoli a blue, but if that's what they want, so be it. That's one you really need to clearly understand___what those in charge wish be done.

The 4H judging in our state is conference judging. You visit with the kid about the project as you judge it. You can soon tell if the kid really did it, or if Mom or Dad put it together and the kid is just the one showing it. For example beginning flower arranging. Talking to them some can't even tell you the names of the flowers they grew. Then you can talk art principles and explain color, or line, form etc. It's really a continued learning experience for the exhibitor. We do neighboring counties for 4H so you really don't know the kid or the 'name' which is most important.

Edited to say=Lily exhibitors, do be sure you know whether they expect the pollen to be removed from lilies or not. Some shows disqualify them if pollen is not removed. Check with the superintendent when you enter them. It's easy to remove it if that's what they want and expect.

This message was edited Jun 27, 2007 5:22 AM

Hey, rules are rules and that makes perfect sense. If the book says five varieties and there are only four, time to disqualify. I also understand about the pollen from lilies.

Our fair allows a maximum height of 18 inches on any floral arrangement. That sounds reasonable until you start trying to make up an arrangement using any larger variety of flower. The balance and symmetry are all thrown off when you have a large headed flower forced to be fit into a small arrangement. It can be done, I'm sure, but many of the more creative possibilities for bold and vivid displays are ruled out immediately. The rule seems a bit arbitrary in this case.

Hey, I hear you BDale. This is when the exhibitor needs to make suggestions to the folks in charge. If there is interest in something (like another class) it can usually be added. They are just trying to have classes that most folks would feel comfortable entering. If the same suggestion hits their ears several times and they care about their show usually something will be done.

I feel the height thing might be because of the amount of display room they might have. You probably could put 4 or 5 entries in the place required for 2 or 3 really large ones. Maybe not, just my thought at the moment. I have heped arrange the display after judging and that is sometimes the case___what to do with this. It's really way to large for the table, would be damaged by passers-by if stood on the floor, etc.

Your observations and suggestions are right on the money, Jamlover, as I'm sure the rationale for the height restriction is space. Also, as you point out, making a positive appeal to the folks in charge for adding a new and larger category would be a constructive solution here. (Although as in most cases there is the "we've always done it this way" syndrome that is a bit hard to overcome at times).

The disappointing thing to me is that I love county fairs and although ours is great (nice people, nice displays, nice traditions) it appears to have suffered from the general decline in agriculture over the years. We have a number of half empty barns where, I'm sure, in years gone by they were packed to overflowing when more farms and farmers existed locally. Thus we don't really have a "space issue" at our fair when viewed in perspective and there is room to spread out. A real eye-popping display of big floral arrangements (like you might see at church or at a wedding or, frankly, on your dining room table) would be a welcome addition (in my opinion) to a small fair where there isn't an overwhelming amount to see in the first place. Maybe we'll muster up the courage to make a suggestion or two (although we are still newcomers to the area, having lived here for less than 20 years, LOL) so we don't wish to seem impudent.

When choosing a cultivar, is it necessary to pick one that is known as an exhibition flower? I don't have any of the "Fabulous Fifty". Tamara

Choose whatever looks fabulous to you that day.

I'm willing to bet, Z5G, that if your county fair is anything like ours they don't have nearly enough Dahlias entered and any nice specimen you bring will be a really nice addition. People will love seeing whatever you enter which is two-thirds of the reason to do it in the first place.

I had the good fortune to see some very pretty Dahlias at the Indiana State Fair a couple years back and at the Minnesota State Fair last year (some that made me almost gasp they were so nice) but most of our local county fairs don't have enough. Hey, you can never have too many Dahlias anyway, right? Go for it!!

True, true! There were only 5-10 last year, so I guess I don't have to worry so much. ;-) Tamara

Best of luck Tam. I would agree with the disbudding and picking the best ones at the time.

Tyrannical micromanagement update: those rules were for one of our State Fairs. The county fair dahlia entry rules I checked today are very straightforward and simple; a much more tempting deal.

Jam, you are just a class A citizen with all you do there for your community.

I had to go see what I sent you Tam. Wildwood Marie I think would do great in smaller shows - great waterlily.

:-( WM is no longer with us, I'm afraid. I've lost several from rotting (we had some torrential downpours) or animals. *sniff, sniff* Tamara

Aww! You're doomed.LOL SVBW would be good in a grouping.

I wanted to enter Kelvin Floodlight last year but the timing is wrong. Our local fairs starts next week and my blooms are not there yet.
Dayna

I was going to skip the County Fair and go right to the big one -- the Indiana State Fair. Why bother with the chickenfeed when you can get the Elephant Ears. ROTFL!

I've had a small dahlia setback, though, and would be lucky to enter a show in my garage!

We had some emergency electrical work done here Wednesday, and Indianapolis Power & Light decapitated all my plants with some very big, serious-looking, cable -- hats off to them not showing any favoritism, anything in the way was either trampled or decapitated. Oh, but don't worry, their fix didn't work, and so now the electiricans will be digging a 48" trench through the dahlias and piling up the soil they excavate right over my dahlia patch tomorrow morning at 9:00 am. I had to move those and pot them up..... they are not looking too good as most are about 28-40 inches tall. Coneflowers, roses, everything had to be moved or will be covered over. I already lost a couple of Clematises and dahlias and some other stuff, while they put together an emergency patch so we could have power last night. My favorite is when they are very careful of where they step, showing me how careful they can be with their size 15 jumbo workshoes, only to have their tool belt take out a few tall stalks. Sheesh!

Suzy

Oh Suzy, what a tragedy!! So sorry. And to have to watch it happen and it still isn't over!! I think I would go through a pretty wide range of emotions (and use some language not suited to the DG forum) if our garden was massacred like yours was.

Well, the Indiana State Fair floral show will not be as stunning this year without your Dahlias. Sad news.

Oh, my, I wouldn't even be able to watch. The things you rescue will probably recover. Dahlias are pretty resilient fellows. But what a time of the year for it to happen. Course, things like this "never" happen at the right time like when nothing is growing!! I feel for you. WE all DO!! Chin up, dahlia friend. I can just see them parading around tromping on things___dh can do that just casually walking through my beds__ and their tool belt decapitating others. And most of them are just doing their job and don't realize they aren't tromping through a patch of burdock!!

Oh, Suzy! I'd lose my mind!!! Hope you can salvage most (if not all) of it! Tamara

Suzy - That is awful. We always worry about the little things not the big unexpected.

Tam - I do have some cuttings growing fine including another WM if you are interested.
Mine is a monster here.

Suzy, my heart goes out to you: that is not a 'small dahlia distaster:' that is a call to arms~! I hope you can/have moved all that you can before Electric Avenue is run through your dahlia bed. So sorry. Do the best you can with potted orphans and replanting, and rest assured that there are donors here for next year if they fail. They are tough though- if you can keep them going for a few days and replant when the work is done, I bet the majority will be okay. Crossing fingers for electricians that move like the finest prima ballerina.... in size 15 ballet shoes.

Al, you are awesome! Thanks so much!!!! How is Blue Angel doing? Anything else you want? Tamara

Here's part of my dahlia patch....all you see is the sub soil from the 48 inch deep trench. I htink there is about 6-8" of it on top of my good garden soil.

Mr. Clean doesn't want to rototill it for me, so I am definitely down in the dumps! On the other hand, the electrician *did* cut my rebar, so at least that is done.

Suzy

Not the look you want for the end of June that's for sure.


Tam - Blue Angel is doing good. It's in it's permanent home. I did see a full size specimen at a botanical gardens - wow.