Advice needed
gardenchat@hort.net
  • Subject: Advice needed
  • From: A*@aol.com
  • Date: Sat, 30 Jul 2011 17:22:28 -0400 (EDT)
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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