Nice!

Don't you hate the lighting in some of these flower shows? In the past I've used flash but that is harsh and the cameras of yore were not good for high ISO so it was a huge dilemma. Cameras have improved a lot over the years including higher ISO settings.

PS do you have a name of the rex in your fourth photo on the first post? I think I have the same thing but no name.

Thanks for sharing

i am surprised to see competition begonias not in the best of shapes.

i know it's hard to show them right after winter - but it is a very big show ...

their huge displays don't appeal to me, i stopped going.

even ikebana flower arrangements are not what they used to be.

i wondered about the 4th one too - looks like what i bought in FL and we tentatively IDed as 'Pandora'. They don't put labels on large displays, looks like it is in a big bed.

The light really does interfere with the pictures, but I only used my cell phone. I'm not a photographer like you are Butch. The large exhibits did not show names, only the some of the smaller exhibits and the competition plants did.

I still go to the PFS most years because it is fun and I like seeing the big designs and variety of plants. I do not know of a better plant show in the US. Of course Chelsea Flower Show puts PFS to shame. They actually change the plant material out through the week to make sure everything stays pristine. Dibley's exhibit is a dream. I don't make it to London every year though.

I've heard lots of good things about the Philly Flower Show but have never been and that goes for Chelsea too. Seen the news and some video of Chelsea which looks like a dream for gardeners to visit.

Atlanta used to have a flower show which was a big deal at one time. It was basically the same thing every year and I vowed I wouldn't go after 2004 due to the same old show, one rude vendor, and the fact that I only bought one plant that year - my most expensive begonia - a $30 hanging basket of 'Thurstonii' (even if it was a big pot, I hate to spend that much on what might be an annual for me). In 2005 we drove to Miami to see their annual begonia show and sale at Fairchild Tropical Garden. What a delight! I learned a couple of lessons - make sure you take multiple batteries with you for whatever you have for a camera (my battery died 15 minutes after entering and the spare was back at the hotel) and buy at the sales booth before touring the garden. Anyway I was told that PHOE was only 10 minutes away and they had plenty of begonias. I visited Atlanta's begonia club's sale the following week and it was pitiful compared to Miami. The next year I went to my first ABS convention. It was in Miami. I had joined the local club and it would be 2007 or 08 when I went back to the Southeast Flower Show to enter a few begonias and in following years had found myself as a passer at the begonia booth at the SFS. I don't remember the year that they quit having the flower show as the economic downturn affected so many things. They started having the show every other year and eventually abandoned it altogether until they revived it this year - very small though. I entered two plants from a little arm twisting as it is a hassle to remove any pot from a shelf, clean it up, transport it, and fill in the blanks. Then go back to the show after it closes to pick up your plants. It's a big amount of work to do even if you are just a small part of it.

One of our members won first place with this entry. He has a big greenhouse and I want to go see it soon.

His U512 won a blue ribbon as well.

An entry that looks like it got a red ribbon.

My other entry (Cowardly Lion) got 3rd place after I had 4 of the largest outer leaves removed because of another "expert's" opinion that it would look better. I don't think it did but at least 3 people got a leaf (I took the 4th one with me). GRRR!

There were a few from the "pro's corner" which are not judged.

Here are two of mine in the 2008 SFS at the GWCC (Georgia World Congress Center). 'Black Coffee' is the one on the glass table and got first prize and the bigger pot of 'Cachuma' on the floor got second.

There used to be a lot more entries back then. My how the times have changed.

transporting them to a show must be a serious piece of work! your dedication is amazing! fab plants!

what it is very unusual last from pro's corner, with bands of bright green? must be something very exotic? and impossible to keep! ;)

You need to keep your plants going through winter and prepping the pot and plant for a show isn't too bad. What's a bear is bringing them up the stairs for the ride downtown since I can only carry one plant at a time. Still not too bad. What griped me about my first couple of shows is there is no direction where to go when you arrive, no signs, no volunteers to help you bring in your stash. After the first show, it gets a little easier as you know the drill especially if the location hasn't changed. I had to bring in a box of plants (no wagon) and find the proper booth to enter. Then ask if they can watch those while you made another trip to the car to get the next load. One more trip and all six were at the entry booth. Then make sure all your entries are labeled properly and inspected for disease and pests (yay, passed). I had one plant the second year that was rejected because it had some scratches on a few leaves but that was just mechanical damage where a limb or a leave scratched the surface or a person or animal might've stressed the leaf enough to cause damage but not enough to leave a slash in the surface. This begonia is one of the thick succulent leaf types so avoiding damage is hard to do if you grow outdoors in summer.

The pro's corner begonia is just the common sizemorea (used to be U388 aka Vietnamese begonia but named after Mary Sizemore who has introduced many Asian plants to the USA) and anyone can grow it fairly easily. A humid environment will make it larger and lush but the leaves will be more frail. Here is one of my sizemorea begonias when I grew it under a lid.

Whoops this is not sizemorea but a hybrid from it.

Lid on

Here is one of mine in another year. Easy to propagate too!

Beautifully grown canes, but too many showing their 'bare legs', yes I am jealous but bare legs could cost the grower a ribbon at an ABS show. Maybe nobody does that any more. . .

To be fair, winter time is not the best time to show begonias unless you have a great growing environment indoors or a greenhouse. ABS usually has their conventions in spring or fall and are usually in California, Florida, or Texas where they can usually grow outdoors all year or close to it.

Here are a few nice grown canes at the 2015 SWR convention in Dallas.

Looks like someone left a wet paper towel between these two entries.

How would you judge this one? I think because of its nature there are going to be some bare spots going up the stem. I think this is U445 and I had to get this after seeing it in person.

This one doesn't look too bad but I think my aconitifolia would beat this hands down (at

Not pretty, even it isn't a cane.

another one that seems a bit sparse?

the best begonia 'show' i've been too was in Montreal Bot garden. They have a very large space devoted to gesneriads and begonias, with some tropicals mixed in the arrangement. meticulously kept plants, some very large. truly a spectacle.

i took a lot of close-ups and not that many large scale displays. but here's some to give you an idea. this is perhaps a quarter of the pavilion.

Very nice. So many great gardens around the world and this country. Wish I could see them all.

Atlanta has some wonderful displays in their orchid houses and a few begonias (wished they had more). Some of the better ones I've seen for begonias are in Florida and California. Thailand had some great gardens but that is a long way to go.

Here are a few snaps of Queen Sirikit Gardens in Chiang Mai, Thailand