Blue Ribbon Winning Flowers

Blue ribbon small red dahlia Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2014

Happy Floral Friday! I found this post in my draft folder (it was supposed to have automatically posted in 2014 but obviously something went wrong) and figured today was as good day to share it. I hope these blue ribbon winning flowers brighten your day!

"I'm blessed by my county fair awarding at least 12 of my flowers blue ribbons this year! The red dahlia above is one of my actual flowers entered in the fair, photographed two days after the judging occurred. In the interest of sharing good photos of pretty flowers the rest of the photos below are representative of what I entered but not the actual blooms entered.

Mixed dahlia bouquet: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2014

If you've been following my blog you know I love dahlias. The dahlias received the most blue ribbons (they have different categories for different size and color dahlias). I have only been growing them for a few years but I get a lot of joy from their vigorous flower output and variety of blooms.

Bee on tithonia: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2014

 The tithonia I grew from seed also won a blue ribbon. The bees, butterflies and moths love them.

Mr. Lincoln rose: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2014

This is actually a Mr. Lincoln rose, which I didn't enter as it wasn't opened yet at fair entry time but the pink hybrid tea rose I did enter won a blue ribbon. You can see a similar rose at the bottom of this post (it's the last photo).

White cosmos flower: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2014

The white cosmos I entered looked better than this one currently blooming in my garden but this is currently the only bloom on the plant.

What a fun blessing to have my Maryland garden recognized in such a way. If you're local the fair runs through Sunday and in addition to the flowers there are a lot of neat exhibits (bee keeping displays, chain saw carving, photography, 4H, animals, crafts, herbs, an 88 pound watermelon and more). May God bless all the fair volunteers and may He bless you too!

What is your favorite part of a county or state fair? Do you have a favorite fair memory to share? I'd love to hear it!"

Related posts:
Flowers, freeloaders and funkiness: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/09/flowers-freeloaders-and-funkiness-for.html
Raindrop flowers: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/05/raindrop-drenched-rose-cosmos.html
Vibrant spring flowers: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/05/dahlias-ranunculus-azaleas-lilacs-and.html
2013 County Fair results: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/09/county-fair-photos-haikus-and-results.html

Blue Ribbon Flowers for Floral Friday

Little orange zinnia flower: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2015

Happy Floral Friday! This is a special edition of "this week in my Maryland garden" as all the flowers were grown in my garden but the photos were taken on location at the fair (several days after they'd been cut then judged and displayed). The flowers looked nicer the day I cut them but I wasn't able to get photos at that time.

I am amazed, honored and excited to have been awarded at least 21 blue ribbons in the flower department (I entered in 49 categories)! A large number of my entries were in the zinnia categories, such as the pretty little orange zinnia in the photo above.

Medium white zinnia flower: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2015

Until I'd entered in the fair for the first time I thought you could only enter one type of flower for the fair (for example, one rose, one zinnia, one marigold) but it turns out that my fair has many categories, mostly based on color and diameter/size (and they even get out their rulers when you submit to make sure you're entering in the right size category). I think I was able to enter three different white zinnias, in the "under 1 inch", "1-2 inch" and "2-4 inch" categories, and two, including the one above, won blue ribbons. Pretty neat! Especially since I grew these white zinnias from seed.

Giant red zinnia winner: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler

I was especially excited that my giant red zinnia, also grown from seed, won a blue ribbon. I thought I'd have giant orange, pink and purple to enter too but while they were close, none of the pretty ones were over the 4" in diameter required for the "large" zinnia category. Only the red had large enough blooms. Although, when I bought the seeds, they were all supposed to be red anyway. The giants of other colors were a surprise blessing.

Miniature bicolor dahlia: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2015

My dahlias have mostly petered out  but I was able to enter two in the miniature category and they both won blue ribbons. The bicolor one, pictured above and a burgundy one.

Red hybrid tea rose: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2015

The roses are also producing fewer blooms now that autumn is approaching but this divine smelling red rose won a blue ribbon. My pink one won a lesser ribbon but the person who earned first place definitely deserved it.

Hearty thanks to my kind hearted husband who carried all my vases in for me and waited patiently while I entered everything! And for all the times he watered my flowers for me too! And congratulations to him on his photography ribbon!

Thank you for visiting! May God bless you!

If you'd like a vote in selecting this week's most popular flower photo, please let me know which photo you like best from today's post. Also, if you enter in your own county fair, I'd love to hear about it! And feel free to share any tips on entering fairs too. 

Related posts: 
2013 county fair flowers: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/09/county-fair-photos-haikus-and-results.html
2012 county fair flowers: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/09/fair-flower-photos-for-floral-friday.html
County fair flower art: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/08/flower-paintings-for-floral-friday.html

Sunny's Super Fair Crafts

Blue ribbon dried winter holiday wreath by Sunny Bolander: Photo copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2014

My friend Sunny, owner of Chesapeake Bay Creations by Sunny, kindly gave me permission to share some of her county fair ribbon winning craft entries with you. As you can see in the photo above, she earned a blue ribbon for her Christmas Corner dried winter holiday wreath.

Blue ribbon painted Santa pin by Sunny Bolander: Photo copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2014

She also earned a blue ribbon for this darling painted Santa pin.

Dried floral wreath with flowers grown by Sunny Bolander: Photo copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2014

This wreath with bright orange Chinese lanterns was hung improperly so I think judged incorrectly as it didn't receive a ribbon. But It's adorable and I love that she grew all the flowers herself.

Angel shell craft by Sunny Bolander: Photo copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2014

Here is Sunny's cute angel shell craft. She had many other crafts, including an amazing hand knit and beaded shawl that I would also have loved to share but it was displayed behind a semi opaque thick plastic and didn't photograph well. Even though I knit, that shawl is far above my skill level and I thought it was divine.

If you're interested in patronizing her Chesapeake Bay Creations by Sunny business, she's old school, running it by phone and not on the web. You can call her at (410) 761-1824 to order custom scarves, hats, shawls, headbands and crab shell crafts. You can also find her at craft fairs throughout Maryland from October to mid-December. Just give her a call to find out where she'll be. She's very friendly.

Thank you to Sunny for sharing her crafts! May God bless Sunny and may He bless you too!

Related posts:
Blue ribbon flowers: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/09/blue-ribbon-winning-flowers-this-week.html
2013 blue ribbons: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/09/county-fair-photos-haikus-and-results.html
2012 blue ribbons: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/09/fair-flower-photos-for-floral-friday.html

Disclaimer: All opinions are my own and I wrote this post of my own volition. I was not asked or paid to write it.