Blue Ribbons at Birmingham

This past weekend we attended the Birmingham Orchid Show at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens. We entered five orchids in flower and had four of the five awarded ribbons - two first place and two second place ribbons. Orchid shows are a bit like dog shows (only with orchids - duh) and there are dozens of awards handed out. Probably 25%-50% of all plants entered in any given show get some kind of ribbon or award. Among the plants we entered was one that is rare in the US, a Habeneria medusae (pictured above), with a slim hope of it winning an American Orchid Society award. The AOS awards go to plants that are compared against existing precedence of the same species or hybrid from across the US. The medusae didn't win an AOS award, but it did win a blue ribbon for its category and it caused quite a stir at the show simply because few attendees had seen one prior to this specimen.

Our society was one of about fifteen to put up an exhibit (photo right). Yes, the exhibits are judged too and our society exhibit won first place for its category (there are three categories) and an additional special award presented by Orchid Digest for the exhibit at the show that best meets the criteria of the Orchid Digest. Like I said, many awards are presented.