The Edgecombe Garden Club met Feb. 6 in the Fountains of the Albemarle for their noon luncheon.

After President Pauline Nicolossi welcomed everyone, Devotion Chairman Sandra Joyner read a devotion written by children about the religious beginning of time. Nicolossi thanked Sallie Carlisle, Chairwoman, Jane Caison and Sandra Wooten for the table centerpieces made of seasonal greenery from their yards.

Nicolossi introduced speaker Georgia Mixon, past N.C. Garden Club District 12 Director, Flower Judge and Rocky Mount Garden Club member. She spoke on “Conducting a Standard Flower Show.”

The purpose of a flower show is to educate the public. It is an honor to be asked to enter a standard flower show.

At 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on April 27, the Edgecombe Garden Club, Rocky Mount Garden Club, and Englewood Garden Club will have a standard flower show open to the public.

It will be held in the big Maria V. Howard Art Center next to Braswell Memorial Library in Rocky Mount. The theme of the flower show is “Welcome Springtime.”

Exhibitors will bring their Horticulture and Design entries at 10 a.m. April 26.

Tables will be set up in the Black Box Room that has deep purple colored walls where overhead lighting and windows at the top bring in lots of light.

The source of information to prepare for a standard flower show is in the National Garden Club handbook which a person might say is “the law or the Bible” of the show. It is the Flower Show Handbook for flower shows. The handbook is available for order from National Garden Clubs, Inc., 12325 Hatton Point Road, Ft. Washington, MD 29744-7014 or call 302-292-3667.

The public will see the common and botanical names on the back of an index card written with pencil in front of each exhibit.

Horticulture and Design are the two divisions in a standard flower show. Their rules and regulations are different. Horticulture is only one stem, spray, leaf or branch. A design is an arrangement. Each of the three clubs is expected to contribute seven designs. Instruction sheets were given to each one present.

• HORTICULTURE DIVISION: It should be fresh plant material grown by the planter or someone else, but definitely not bought. The contestant only use one stem or one branch in your own clear bottle container. Cut specimens should not have any foliage beneath the water line. Tree and shrub branches should be less than 12 inches from the bottom cut, but can be 30 inches long. A person may wedge the plant in the bottle with rolled up plastic but don’t want it to show.
• HORTICULTURE JUDGING POINTS (100) are for: Plant Classification 5; Culture Perfection 60; Condition/Grooming/Staging 25; Distinction 10.

In Design one can only enter one arrangement in each of the five classes. A person cannot put two arrangements in the same class. For Design only, one must be preregistered by April 1. You can buy or grow your flowers for a Design.

• DIVISION II DESIGN: Class 1. “Rapsody in Color” is a mass Design using complimentary colors; Class 2. “Welcome Sweet Springtime” is a Design expressing the happy mood of spring. Designer’s choice; Class 3. “Who Has Seen the World?” is a Line-mass Design in which rhythm is the outstanding feature; Class 4. “The Promise of Spring” is a Design using budded and flowering branches; and Class 5. “Oh, What a Beautiful Morning” is a small arrangement not exceeding eight inches in any dimension.

Classes 1, 2, 3, and 4 are to be staged on a table with a white cover and a deep purple background. The space allotted a width of 24 inches and a depth of 30 inches. Class 5 is to be staged on a white cloth at eye level. Space allotted is width 14 inches and depth 15 inches. The person may use bases, backgrounds and/or under lays in any class. Each class must have four exhibits.

• JUDGING: There will be nine judges. The Edgecombe Garden Club furnishes one clerk. She will be given a clip board to write down comments judges want to make. If two stand out as winners, point scoring decides the real winner.

In response to requests for information to join the Edgecombe Garden Club, call Membership Chairman Barbara Getsuz at 824-7206 or Membership Committee members Karen Andrus at 903-6385 or Helen Wilson at 823-4301.