Fun at the fantasy of florals flower show

 

Fairies whispered between petals at the annual Hill City Evergreen Garden Club Flower Show July 23 where the theme, A Fantasy of Florals, left an abundance of room for imaginations to blossom. 

The flower show began in the ’90s during the second start up of the Hill City Evergreen Garden Club. At the time there were only 10 members and the show was held at the Lutheran church with entries displayed on the pews. Now they have over 45 members and the flower show has expanded immensely.

According to the brochure, “The intent of the flower show is to encourage both the growing of beautiful flowers and the enjoyment of seeing them in your garden and home.” All told there were 92 entries this year. 

“We didn’t have as many entries this year as we usually have, but we had really good entries,” said flower show judge, Cheryl Rudel. “We’re really thankful for that.” 

Flower entries were taken first and organized based on the show categories including annuals, perennials, wildflowers, enchanted miniature gardens, container gardens, arrangements, table settings, children’s division and business or organization displays. 

The business category is a recent addition but quickly growing. This year Jewel of the West, Krull’s Market, Perky Pine, Granite Sports, 1880 Train, Hill City Public Library, Artforms Gallery, The Farmer’s Daughter and Jeff Larsen with Coldwell Banker all had displays. 

“We’re really pleased with the businesses,” said Broer. “The main thing we want to do is get people in town coming to our show.”

Once everything was entered, the judges began inspecting each entry based on the show rules. This year the judges were Colleen Lewis and Rudel. 

According to Broer, “They are master gardeners and have done judging all over the county.” Julie Gray and Natasha Winter assisted them as well. 

The judges reviewed how closely the entry followed the category rules, how healthy the plant is and how it is displayed among other things. Once they conferred, they gave each entry a ranked ribbon and a note on the comment card. 

“It usually takes a couple of hours for them to get all the ribbons done,” said Broer. 

Broer entered five different types of lilies, all of which received first place ribbons.

“That’s the thing that I love the best. I have grown lots of lilies,” she said.

A young student gardener named Josie Winter was exuberant about her entries as well. One was an enchanted garden with two fairies sitting beneath the leaves Her fairy is named Susan after her favorite flower, a Black-Eyed Susan. The other fairy is named Sunset and is her sister Natasha’s. Natasha has been gardening since she was 5 and had seven entries of her own in the show. However, the two sisters made this miniature garden together. 

Meanwhile, Merle Glenn brought a bouquet of yarrow in all different colors that she picked in her yard. Several attendees commented on the beauty and variety, and one said, “These are wonderful accumulations by themselves, but when you put them together, they are the same colors but totally different textures. Oh, it is just delicious.”

Sherryl Alexander also entered a bouquet of wildflowers that she picked on her property. She shared that she enjoys the surprise of finding flowers as you walk around.  

“They’re so pretty,” Alexander said. 

Some of the comments heard walking through the tables were, “They’re gorgeous” and “There are so many pretty ones.”

When asked her opinion of the flower show, another person said, “Oh, I think it is fabulous. It’s so scrumptious.” 

The judges agreed. According to Rudel, “The flower arrangements were really good. We saw some new varieties of plants this year that we haven’t seen before.” 

While the judging was commencing, attendees were encouraged to enjoy refreshments which included darling cupcakes decorated to look like worms, butterflies, bees, snails and ladybugs. Attendees could also flip through the garden club scrapbooks or take something from the sharing table where there was an assortment of vases and plants. 

Another big attraction was the raffle. Garden club and community members donated floral arrangements, flowers, tools, things for gardening as well as garden decor to the raffle. For this people could purchase tickets and enter their names in drawings for their favorite items. All of the proceeds went to the Boys and Girls Club. 

There was also a table where kids could make a small garden with the help of garden club members. However, kids are also  encouraged to enter the show. 

“We have kids that enter every year, and it has been really fun to watch them grow and enter in the different age categories,” said Rudel. “I love judging anything that the kids bring in because they are so excited, and they’re learning. They love to visit with you and talk about what they've done.” 

Finally, the special awards were announced. Super Exhibit Children’s Division ribbons went to Fountain of Youth by Myah Larsen, Snap Dragons Impatience & Wild Flowers by Kelsey Weiss, Bug Garden by Brooke Larsen, Enchanted Garden by Josie Winter and Nutcracker Fantasy by Grace Daiss. 

The Best of Show Annuals ribbon went to Peggy Nervig for her Lizianthus. Best of Show Perennials went to Broer for her Lily-Levi. The Best of Show Container Gardens went to Carol Wiederhold for her Petunia planter. The Best of Show Arrangements ribbon was awarded to Rachelle Winter. Best of Show Miniature Gardens went to Natasha for her enchanted garden. Additionally, a Judges Award went to Peggy Nervig for her garden of paradise.

For the People’s Choice Awards, the public voted for Rachelle Winter’s garden of paradise arrangement, Kelsey Weiss’s enchanted garden, and Jeff Larsen with Coldwell Bankers’ log with critters display.  

Then for the table settings, Pat Handel received the Judges Award for her “Alice in Wonderland’ themed table, Elle Larsen received the Best of Show Table Setting ribbon for her dreaming of the beach themed table and Glenn received a Special Award ribbon for her flying saucers themed table. 

“The tablescapes were better this year than they have ever been,” said Rudel. “It was hard to pick a winner.” 

In the end, the bountiful blossoms and arrangements at the Flower Show revealed the depth of creativity in the community thanks to the efforts of the Hill City Evergreen Garden Club.