Love, Joy and Peas: fair ribbon winning entries

Showing posts with label fair ribbon winning entries. Show all posts

Friday, February 12, 2016

Blue Ribbon Winning Flowers

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.

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.

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

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).

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

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Sunny's Super Fair Crafts

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.

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

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.

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.

Friday, September 14, 2012

Fair Flower Photos for Floral Friday

Earlier this week I posted about my county fair frenzy so I thought for floral Friday I'd show you some of the flowers I entered in the fair. These aren't the actual blooms entered but are flowers from the same plants (thought you'd appreciate the prettier ones still on the plants).

I think our yellow knockout rose earned a blue (1st place) ribbon. I love this rose because it smells slightly lemony and the blooms fade to white so it's like you get two kinds of roses on one plant.

I think our white hybrid tea rose also earned a county fair ribbon.

I'm not actually sure what type of rose this is but I guessed it was a floribunda and I think it earned a blue ribbon.

Last year our orange zinnia earned a first place (blue) ribbon but this year I think it earned third place (white). Even though I grew this plant from seeds I gathered from last year's blue ribbon winner, the rabbits kept eating the seedlings down to the ground and this plant is a good two feet shorter than it's parent was. The birds, butterflies and bees still love it though.

I think our red and pink zinnias that I started from seed after our front yard was excavated this spring earned white and red ribbons. You might wonder why I keep writing "I think." Well, I entered over 30 flowers and floral arrangements and I didn't write down my results so while I'm pretty sure I remember correctly, I'm not 100% sure. On Monday I'll pick up my vases and ribbons and then I can give a true count. I wish I'd taken pictures of the fresh floral arrangements before submitting them, especially because they were my first floral arrangements ever entered in any kind of contest. However, they are already suffering from the heat and humidity and don't look so hot now. Also, as a separate note to remember for next year, I'll have to find out if it's permissible to add a flower preservative to the water (I assumed it wasn't but it can't hurt to ask) because that would help them all to last longer.

So, those are 5 of the 30+ flower entries I clipped from our Maryland garden and entered in our county fair this year. It was a lot of work to make sure all the flowers and vases met the requirements and fill out the paperwork and tags. I'm not sure I'll ever enter so many again but it was certainly fun to do once.

Which flower did you like best? Have you ever entered anything in a county or state fair? I'd love to hear about it!

May God bless you, dear reader!