Flower Show

OUR ANNUAL FLOWER SHOW May 29-31 2025

What better way to both educate and to bring beauty to our community but to present a flower show. Navarre Garden Club has for many years staged a Standard Flower Show according to National Garden Club guidelines. This gives newcomers a chance to see what grows successfully in our area as well as it introduces gardeners to new types of plants. It also shows how those plants may be used artistically in floral designs. Each flower show has a theme which is followed throughout the show.

A flower show consists of three Divisions. The first division is “Horticulture”. This is merely cuttings from flowers (of annuals, perennials and bulbs), foliage plants, shrubs and trees. This is a colorful display and the floral aroma brings a bonus to the senses. Each section must have a common characteristic or a common growth cycle (for instance—Flowers from Annuals). There is a standard system of awarding with the Blue ribbon being the highest, followed by Red, Yellow and White.

The second division is “Design”. Again, National Garden Club set the standards and defined floral design into styles and types. “The National Garden Club Traditional” style borrows from historical evolution of Oriental, European, and Early American Design styles. These designs are based on geometric shapes such as the sphere, cylinder and pyramid. They have set rules and patterns such as one center of emergence, an uneven number of flowers, no crossed lines, flowers used in a naturalistic manner, height not to exceed 1 ½ to 2 times the largest dimension of the container, etc. The other style is the “NGC Creative Design Style”. Those rules that we have in traditional design may now be broken. This style also conforms to the Principals of Design (balance, contrast, dominance, proportion, scale and rhythm), but gives the designer more freedom of creativity. Each style consists of different design types. It is common to see both styles in a flower show. A flower show schedule will designate the style or type required in each section. Again, ribbons are awarded in each section. For all but the Blue ribbon winners, the judges write comments on 3 x 5 cards (both positive and negative) to help designers improve their designs.

The optional third division is “Special Exhibits”. These may be “Educational” displays by adults which may or may not be judged. There might also be “Youth” competitions in horticulture, design or educational exhibits. Youth exhibitors do not compete with adults but are judged by the same scale of points. However, top awards for youth require a lesser number of points.

Standard flower shows are judged by nationally accredited flower show judges. A flower show in New Jersey would have the same standards as one in Florida and judges for each have been to Flower Show School. These schools all use the same curriculum which is mainly from The Flower Show Handbook, written and published by the National Garden Club.

There are also Section Awards and Division Top Awards. Even though there is competition for ribbons, the main purpose of a flower show is to bring beauty and education to our community. It is a learning experience, indeed, to view a standardized flower show. With pride and pleasure, the Navarre Garden Club presents our annual flower show.

NAVARRE GARDEN CLUB,INC.

A non-profit [a 501 (c) (3) Organization]