Iris Shows

     One way to keep control of the crowd during judging is to provide
diversions.  Put up a educational display.  Put your  "Display Only" table, or
"Nameless Beauties" section out of the main judging area.  That way people have
something to look at during the judging.  

     Another suggestion is to have a demo of dividing or planting irises during
the judging.  You can also judge the Design Division first, award the ribbons,
and open that section to the public.

     This year we had a bottleneck with our show.  First, the mall where we
usually have it cancelled us because they were having an antique show.  We were
forced to hold the show inside a greenhouse at a garden center.  Needless to say
that when we first looked at the location in November, we didn't think that it
would be that hot.  Well, we were wrong.  The show was placed in the section
where they had their garden furniture.  Only problem with that was that they
decided to have a 15% discount sale of garden furniture during our sale!  It was
kind of hard not to provide access to the area when customers wanted to look at
and buy garden furniture.  The coolest that the place got the whole day was 88
degrees F.  Needless to say this had a detremental effect on the irises, BUT we
needed a location for the show and this was all we could get at the time.  We
did think that it was a good idea at the time because we'd get the attention of
gardeners, and this was also the place where we've had our rhizome sale for the
past three years.  That part of the plan worked, but we didn't expect the heat!

Bill Smoot       73210.1725 @compuserve.com
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