HI Donna,
Do not put the plant into a decorative pot. Try slipping the plant and rootball out of the dirty pot and into a clean one of the same size. If that isn't possible try to mould pot it. Put the same size pot into a larger pot and fill in around it with your mix. Remove the pot and remove the plant from the dirty pot and slip it into the opening in the larger pot. Then fill in around the plant covering any neck you might have on the plant.
Fred in NJ

How did you make out at the show? My first one is less than two weeks away. I blew off my first attemt last fall because the plants bloomed to early. This time around I have a couple beauties. We'll see!

Fred, your advice worked like a charm. The plant repotted just fine the morning of the show. Next time I'll plan ahead a whole lot better.

I didn't have a lot in bloom either but I entered my first three violets in the show and here's the tally: 3 Blue ribbons, 2 Best in Class ribbons and a Runner up to Best Semi-mini! Even earned my way to the table of honor! Not bad for a newbie.

I've got a few pics up on photobucket if anyone is interested. Let me know and I'll post the link.

Donna

Way to go, Donna! We'd love to see your plants, we all love pictures. If you can post them here, that would be even better.

I went to the Bay State show last Saturday (near Boston). It's always fun to ooh and ahh, and compare plants to some that you have at home that may have competed well. And buy more plants. And see old friends. And buy some more plants. And see what your friends bought. And buy some more plants.

Barbara

Here's Rob's Hot Chocolate with it's 3 ribbons!
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Rob's Kid Wheezy:
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Twist 'N Shout:
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A couple more of the show:

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More fun than any one should have :-)
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Dish Gardens:
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So much fun!

Hey Donna,
Congrats. You did fantastic for a 1st timer. I only wish all first timers could do as well as you did. Keep up the good work.
Fred in NJ

Oh, Donna, thanks so much for posting those great pictures. And congrats on your ribbons!

Nicely done.

Barbara

WOW Donna!!! You kicked azz!!!!

Congratulations on your winners! The pictures are great.

Vice nice! Thanks for the pics. Wonderful. I exactly how proud that makes you feel. There is only one first time. Bummer!

WTG Donna! You did great and congrats on your wins and thanks for sharing the photos with us.

Donna,
Great pics and plants! congratulations on your wins
Vera/CA

Magnificant pictures.Im so thrilled for you.Looks like you had more fun than a human being should be allowed to have..I cant wait to have something big enough to enter next year!Thanks for shareing the show pictues too.It great to see other shows...:0)..marigene

Thank you for all your kind words and well wishes. It really was a fun time and even though I didn't expect to be staying up half the night preparing, it was all part of the whole wonderful experience.

This forum is really great too. I've learned so much here from your collective knowledge - it helped a lot along the way and paved the path to the first show.

Time to head to the plant room to do some repotting while gazing at my beautiful ribbons ;-)

Thanks everyone!
Donna

Donna,
I know this is going to sound cruel however it may save you from a lot of problems in the future. Whenever I bring my plants home from a show I always strip all the blooms from the plants as I pack them up to come home. The reason is that you never know what you've picked up at the show in the way of bugs. Thrips are the most common and most likely are present in the show room not neccessarily on member plants but at the sale table. When I do get them home I spray the plants with Lysol and keep them in their covered boxes overnight. When I put them back on the shelves I put them on a shelf that has no other plants on them from the rest of my collection. If I had a different room to use I would isolate them there. As I said I know this sounds cruel but it may save your collection from catching any bugs. If you want to look at your blooming plants longer, don't put them in the same room as the rest of your collection.
Fred in NJ

I agree with Fred. I made the mistake of bringing my beauties home in full bloom to show off to family and friends that couldn't attend the show and brought home Thrips!!! I will do as Fred suggested next year!

Another great piece of advice, Fred. I didn't think to take the blooms off at the show but had put the show plants in a separate room right when I brought them home. I'll keep them away from the rest of the collection for 2 to 3 months. Will they benefit from a healthy spray of Lysol now, almost 4 weeks later?

I also bought many new plants and plan on keeping them isolated for a few months. Again, is there benefit to spraying them with Lysol and repotting them in my own soil mix now (with a bit of Marathon) or wait for a couple of months? I always wondered if repotting right away added more stress versus waiting a while before disturbing the roots.

Donna

Hi again Donna,
I doubt that spraying them at this late date would do anything. If you haven't found any thrips after 5 weeks of blooming they should be safe. If you wanted to spray it probably wouldn't hurt the plants but at this time I might try using Neem oil. Neem BTW doesn't kill bloom. I stripped off all the bloom and removed a few rows of leaves on my show plants after my show ended on Sunday. It also demonstrated to the new growers in my club how important it was to do this. I would have loved to look at the AVSA collection that I entered, however, now they are still in good shape and I can regrow them out for my next show in November.
Fred in NJ