Flower show encourages non-professionals
If you’ve got a floral arrangement you’re dying to show off, you’ve got a free venue in Gloucester.
The Whitall House at Red Bank Battlefield will hold its annual flower show, open to all amateurs, June 28 from noon to 4 p.m. Whitall House museum curator Megan Giordano said she expects about 200 entries for this year’s installment, adding that the area has a surprisingly large number of gardening clubs from which to draw.
“We have a wide range of people who enter the show,” Giordano said. “Some are novices who are garden enthusiasts and just love their gardens and plants, others are more involved — active in gardening clubs in the county.”
This year’s show has two divisions: horticultural and artistic. The former comprises cuttings from the garden, either blooms or foliage. “Rose-in-a-vase,” as Giordano called it. The artistic division has the participant follow size and color guidelines.
“This year, we’re pretty excited about our artistic division,” she said. “It’s inside the historic house, so we design the different classes for specific locations in the house.”
There are eight classes in the artistic division, including a miniature design of fresh plant material, not to exceed five inches in any direction, to be displayed in the cupboard; a wreath of fresh or dried plants, not to exceed 30 inches, to be displayed on a door; and a design of wide flowers, not to exceed 20 inches, to be placed on a windowsill.
One of the divisions ties in with the current exhibit at the museum — antique and vintage lace. Something of a lost art, Giordano said one of the volunteers at the museum is a member of a lace-making guild. The exhibit shows the difference between handmade and machine-made lace, and the difference between lacing, crocheting and tatting. Guests may try each method at the interactive exhibits.
Those interested in using lace may enter the “tussie-mussie” artistic category, which incorporates fresh or dried plant material and a doily to be placed in the parlor.
In an effort to keep the flower show laid back, Giordano said, professionals need not apply.
“We like to keep our show a bit more casual,” she said. “We like to encourage the idea that everyone with a green thumb can try, and that it’s not an exclusive club.”
There is no entry fee, and those interested may register, or just show up the day of the show. And though the show may be casual, professional judges will dole out ribbons for each class and for “best of show.”
“The show is casual, but we actually do have professional judges who critique the pieces and explain how they ranked the entries the way they did,” Giordano said.
The Whitall House is a historic house museum located at Red Bank Battlefield Park, 100 Hessian Ave., National Park, N.J. Once belonging to a prominent Quaker family, the house was temporarily converted into a hospital following a Revolutionary War battle in 1777. Government-owned since 1872, Giordano said the site, run by the county parks and recreation department, sees 200,000 visitors annually.
For more information, call 856-853-5120.
The Whitall House at Red Bank Battlefield will hold its annual flower show, open to all amateurs, June 28 from noon to 4 p.m. Whitall House museum curator Megan Giordano said she expects about 200 entries for this year’s installment, adding that the area has a surprisingly large number of gardening clubs from which to draw.
“We have a wide range of people who enter the show,” Giordano said. “Some are novices who are garden enthusiasts and just love their gardens and plants, others are more involved — active in gardening clubs in the county.”
This year’s show has two divisions: horticultural and artistic. The former comprises cuttings from the garden, either blooms or foliage. “Rose-in-a-vase,” as Giordano called it. The artistic division has the participant follow size and color guidelines.
“This year, we’re pretty excited about our artistic division,” she said. “It’s inside the historic house, so we design the different classes for specific locations in the house.”
There are eight classes in the artistic division, including a miniature design of fresh plant material, not to exceed five inches in any direction, to be displayed in the cupboard; a wreath of fresh or dried plants, not to exceed 30 inches, to be displayed on a door; and a design of wide flowers, not to exceed 20 inches, to be placed on a windowsill.
One of the divisions ties in with the current exhibit at the museum — antique and vintage lace. Something of a lost art, Giordano said one of the volunteers at the museum is a member of a lace-making guild. The exhibit shows the difference between handmade and machine-made lace, and the difference between lacing, crocheting and tatting. Guests may try each method at the interactive exhibits.
Those interested in using lace may enter the “tussie-mussie” artistic category, which incorporates fresh or dried plant material and a doily to be placed in the parlor.
In an effort to keep the flower show laid back, Giordano said, professionals need not apply.
“We like to keep our show a bit more casual,” she said. “We like to encourage the idea that everyone with a green thumb can try, and that it’s not an exclusive club.”
There is no entry fee, and those interested may register, or just show up the day of the show. And though the show may be casual, professional judges will dole out ribbons for each class and for “best of show.”
“The show is casual, but we actually do have professional judges who critique the pieces and explain how they ranked the entries the way they did,” Giordano said.
The Whitall House is a historic house museum located at Red Bank Battlefield Park, 100 Hessian Ave., National Park, N.J. Once belonging to a prominent Quaker family, the house was temporarily converted into a hospital following a Revolutionary War battle in 1777. Government-owned since 1872, Giordano said the site, run by the county parks and recreation department, sees 200,000 visitors annually.
For more information, call 856-853-5120.
