Of Ribbons and Roses

Well, first things first, right?  The roses.  I don't know if any of you prayed about it, but that splendorous rose I mentioned in my previous post?  It didn't reach half-bloom until the Friday of show week!  It was amazing!  I fully expected it to be over and done by then.

So, here's the deal. . . Roses for judging are supposed to be cut when the sugar is highest.  That's in the early evening or early morning hours before the show.  But by early Saturday morning, more than 24 hours before the show, my rose was already two-thirds open.  If it blooms beyond three-quarters, it is disqualified.  So, I drove to the fairgrounds Saturday morning to meet with a rosarian (Yes, that's a real word.).

"My rose is already at two-thirds. What do I do?!!?!?"  (Do you sense the panic there?  Can you feel it?)

She told me to go ahead and pick it early, and do the regular prep routine for the pageant--I mean, show.  That includes an angle cut, warm-water soak, and cotton swab grooming routine, then popping the flower into the refrigerator as soon as possible.   

 

So, I cut it, prepped it and left it in the refrigerator for a day.  (My family was very gracious about moving food out of the refrigerator and removing the shelves to make room for what I was blessed to see was a very tall stem.  Good thing we hadn't been grocery shopping yet.)

Anyway, this was what it looked like Saturday morning.

By the way, this rose, a housewarming gift from a friend, is called "Garden Party," bred by Herbert C. Swim in 1959.  Learn something every day . . .
 

Anywhoo, when I brought it to the fairgrounds early Sunday morning, the leaves still looked very nice, but the bloom had kind of fallen in on itself.  We labeled and entered it anyway--and it qualified!  So, if you did pray I could enter a rose in my first show, thanks for that.  God was so good to me. 

And would you believe I got a ribbon?

Second place!  Although, in the name of honesty, I was bereft of competition in my category.  So, a "second" doesn't really mean it was the #2 of a bevy of flowers.  Their judging was like a "B" for my flower.  First place would have been like an "A."  Third place?  A "C."  Get it?

The rose had warmed up and filled out after the judges left, but it also passed the 3/4 mark in the vase after they left.  So if I hadn't chilled it for so long, it might have been disqualified for being too open.  So, I was fine with a second place. :)

Did you follow all that?  Here's your reward. . . a picture. . .

 

I had a lot of fun and saw some amazing rose species.  Here are two of those: 

 R. Glauca

Mademoiselle Cécile Brünner

My friend's Rosa Glauca is one of the oldest species of rose.  As its caretaker told me, "This is what roses came from" before people began hybridizing them.   She won a blue ribbon in the old world roses category.

The pale pink spray--which you may recognize from a picture of a similar one in my own garden--is from my grandmother's house.  She was one of the only people around town to keep a Mademoiselle Cécile Brünner climber blossoming into this very dry June.  She won a blue ribbon for the non-member category--earning her a free membership and a lovely prize.

Oh, wrapping this up, I have one more thing to share. . . a section of the Bible that kept me smiling big during this show.  I was remembering verses six and seven of the third chapter of the book of First Corinthians--which had never seemed more true and real!   

You see, we planted and watered roses for the show, trimmed them and cared for them, but on show day, we had almost no control over what grew.  Those Bible verses I mentioned?  They read like this:

^"I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.  So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth." (NASB)

Amen to that! :)

Go smell some roses today!