The topic of our August meeting was ‘Judging Orchids’, led by Bryan and Colin who are both British Orchid Council accredited judges. The evening began with an introduction to the judging procedures and what criteria to apply when assessing a plant.
The members were then invited to judge a table of 8 mixed orchids that had previously been assessed by our judges. Information sheets on judging and a pointing sheet to help in placing the plants were given to everyone. They were then challenged to select the top 4 plants and place them in order from 1 to 4 and to hopefully place them in the same ranking as the judges.
Our judges then revealed their decisions and explained the reasons for plants being eliminated and for their final choices. The plant that they gave first place to was Meiracyllium trinasutum.
The Table Show
Unsurprisingly this was won by Bryan Adams with his Meiracyllium trinasutum A small creeping plant, native to Mexico and northern Central America and mounted on a piece of bark. with eleven spikes on the plant, six with fully open flowers and the remainder in bud or partly open. Each spike had up to four flowers, which were mauve, slightly darker on the lip, and with a faint fragrance.
Unfortunately we do not have a photograph of the plant but it is easily found on the Web.