It’s Showtime at the Naples Flower Show

Lights, Camera, Action! This was the theme for the largest juried flower show in Southwest Florida, a National Garden Club (NGC) standard flower show presented by the Naples Garden Club March 14-15. The event had the perfect setting at the Naples Botanical Garden.

“Academy Awards for Best Pictures” in the form of a gold statuette trophy were presented to designated creative floral designers and horticulture exhibits. During this two-day event, guests admired floral designs and artistic creations, attended demonstrations, and purchased plants, pottery, and jewelry from a Garden Market.

The flower show conforms to the National Garden Club standards used in all divisions. First place (blue) ribbon must score 90 points or more; second place (red) ribbon must score 85 points or more; and third place (yellow) ribbon must score 80 points or more. Honorable Mention (white) ribbon must score 75 points or more.

In addition, they have the NGC Top Exhibitor Awards for Excellence for Design, Horticulture, Education and Botanicals, in the forms of the much-coveted Rosettes in various colors. A Rosette of brown ribbon is for the Award of Distinction, and the tricolor award is a rosette of red, blue, and yellow ribbons.

The decisions of the judges are final, and according to the rules, there must be an emphasis on FRESH plant materials; no artificial plant material is permitted in any exhibit in any division. The exhibits are judged by one or more panels of NGC-approved judges.

Design Division - expressing yourself in flowers for Naples Garden Club members who love to design and express their creativity and style!

Thematic posters of “Best Picture” are eligible for the Tricolor Award with a creative design interpreting a vintage movie poster. All plant materials must be fresh, and staging panels and underlays are not permitted.

Class One - “La La Land” received a total of 14 record-breaking Oscar nominations and won six Academy Awards in 2017.

Hearts will go on in Class Two, “Titanic,” which picked up 11 of the 14 Oscars in 1998.

Class Three featured “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.” While not a winner in 1962, this popular film was nominated for five Oscars and is still a must-see classic film.

Other movie classics eligible for the Designer’s Choice Award are Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, Sound of Music and the theme included Special Effects, Short Subjects, and Documentaries. 

The Celebration Tent displayed the educational exhibits from Cathy’s Herbs and Botanicals, Friendly Pollinators from the Naples Botanical Garden, Clean Water Initiative by the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, and Focusing on Microplastics by the Naples Garden Club’s Environmental Committee. The Youth Division is not a competitive category with exhibits open to global gardening students. Avalon School Junior Gardeners, grades four through six were the participants.

The informative Education Division exhibits were meant to educate the public. The Youth Exhibit is where young students from local schools showcase their garden projects.

The Botanical Arts Exhibit was fun and creative outside of traditional horticulture and design and more of crafts, fairy gardens, dried flowers, wearable art, and photography. The Kinky Boots exhibit was a good example of an embellished shoe that is worthy of walking the red carpet using fresh or dried plant material.