Re: Advice needed
gardenchat@hort.net
  • Subject: Re: Advice needed
  • From: k* <c*@aol.com>
  • Date: Mon, 1 Aug 2011 11:32:45 -0400 (EDT)

Great response, Barb. I second your thoughts on "tuning out". Kathy





-----Original Message-----
From: sundrops <sundrops@earthlink.net>
To: gardenchat <gardenchat@hort.net>
Sent: Sat, Jul 30, 2011 2:15 pm
Subject: Re: [CHAT] Advice needed


Hi Auralie -- this was interesting to me because at the risk of sounding
like a brat, I can imagine being in such a class, learning a lot of other
"more practical" details, methods, and information, and getting to a
question  like that and saying, "who cares, if I ever need to know this I
will look it up then."  I think Kathy may also be correct, strange as it
seems, in people not being clear what "distinguishing feature" means. (I'm
also not sure what a "competitive class" means, do the students?)  Who is
taking this class -- is it part of an academic series, serious lay people, a
vocational class, for master gardeners, or what?  If your class is really
super-packed with many different topics and in depth on many topics, people
will tune out on some portions.  I took several classes at a local junior
college, in horticulture, just for my own interest, not for credit.  I
remember in particular the Tree class tried to cover much too much.
including advanced arborist techniques, and there were several sections
where I just tuned out.  If your classes are not for credit I especially
think people are going to pick and choose what they retain even short term.
If these are for academic credit, I might re-word the question something
like, "a friend wants to exhibit ----.  In line with the native plant
policy, what would you adivse her?"  At least you might elicit the answer to
check with the society.  Hope this helps, I could just see myself in this
situation --
--Barb Tandy, Grass Valley CA
----- Original Message -----
From: <Aplfgcnys@aol.com>
To: <gardenchat@hort.net>
Sent: Saturday, July 30, 2011 2:22 PM
Subject: [CHAT] Advice needed


> If there's still anyone out there, please give me some words of advice on
> a
> problem I have.
> In the Horticulture School series I have been running for years, I always
> include a segment on the New York State Protected Plant List. The state
> list is quite lengthy, but the Federated Garden Clubs of New York State
> (FGCNYS) have prepared a selected list of those plants that might just
> appear in flower shows - a one-page list that is easy to tuck into your
> Handbook.  It is considered that the rest of the state list are either
> wild
> flowers that wouldn't be suitable, or are so rare that they would never
> be seen.  The FGCNYS policy reads:
> Plants named on the New York State list, "Protected Native Plants,"
> cannot be exhibited in competitive classes, except in Special Exhibits
> Division as an Educational Exhibit.  Such plants must have been
> acquired in a lawful manner, and may be cut specimens and/or
> container-grown plants.
> Commercially developed hybrids or cultivars (NOT NATURAL VARIETIES)
> of plants on the NY list are permitted in competitive classes, but ONLY
> when the DISTINGUISHING FEATURE is evident.
>
> I helped write this policy more than 20 years ago, and have been trying to
> teach it in the Horticulture Schools ever since.  This year there have
> already
> been three schools, and three more are scheduled.  As State Chairman, I
> write
> the exams for the schools.  On each exam I include one question on the
> Protected Plant List.  Many times the question reads:
>
> .  May a branch of Cornus florida bCherokee Chiefb be exhibited in a
> flower show            in a class of flowering branches.  Explain.
> The answer, of course would be Yes, if the branch was in bloom, because
> the
> Distinguishing Feature, that is the red blooms, would be evident.  If it
> were not
> in bloom, it could not be exibited.
>
> My problem is that more and more often I will get maybe one correct answer
> from each ten students.  The answers I got this spring were so depressing
> that
> I have resolved to make a greater effort to get the point across.  I
> wonder
> if
> some of you knowledgable people can give me a clue as to where the problem
> lies.  To me, the concept is quite simple, but why do so many seem to miss
> it?
> These students are usually pretty alert to Horticultural matters - after
> all, it is a
> fairly specialized series.  I would really appreciate any thoughts on the
> matter.
> Auralie
>
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