Flower Shows

Flower shows combine artistic vision, horticultural mastery, engineering, and sophisticated craftsmanship to create a brief, but brilliant display of beauty in time.

The purpose of the flower show is three-fold: 

Once a year we hold a Flower Show that is open to the public.  This show combines three separate judged competitions: Flower Design, Horticulture, and Photography.  Before the show, trained judges evaluate members’ flower designs, horticulture specimens, and photographs. Ribbons are awarded and points are assigned toward awards at different levels in each category. Those awards are given to the members accruing the most points in that category at the end of each year.

Flower Design

Each year, the floral design committee determines a schedule, which will address a new area of design. This schedule is meant to encourage club members to learn new skills and broaden their abilities. Members who wish to submit flower arrangement and design entries usually attend a workshop prior to each show to learn how to create a flower design that meets the particular requirements of the show, as well as GCA requirements and standards. Requirements are based on the “principles of design”: balance, contrast, dominance, proportion, rhythm and scale and the “elements of design”: light, space, line, form, color, texture, pattern and size. Creativity is important as are distinction, conformance to, and interpretation of the class schedule. Invasive and endangered plant materials are prohibited.

Horticulture

One of the goals of the Cohasset Garden Club is to promote interest in, and knowledge of, a wide variety of garden plants and how to successfully grow them here in coastal New England.  Horticulture activities include two horticulture shows per year that showcase member’s finest foliage and/or flower specimens that they have cultivated in their gardens. We hold one show in summer or early fall to which the public is invited.  Horticulture competitions give the members an opportunity to display and receive awards for prime perennial flowers, herb and leaf specimens, flowering branches from shrubs and trees, vines they have grown in their gardens, and their own cultivated container grown plants. Before the show, member’s exhibited specimens are evaluated by trained judges on the quality of their flowers, foliage or fruits according to formal guidelines specific to each type of plant.  There are also regional shows that include exchanges of plants grown by all the clubs in our GCA Zone.  Workshops on propagation and preparation of specimens for exhibit help to educate the members on how to grow and choose a healthy and beautiful plant, techniques of organic cultivation, and the value of native species for our community.

Photography

The beauty of plants, gardens, landscapes, and nature in many forms can be captured by photography. Through photography, members further demonstrate their knowledge and love of gardening and nature.

Two photography competitions per year give members an opportunity to test their skills and creativity within an assigned overall theme. Each theme is further divided into different classes and each member may enter two classes but only one entry per class. Before the show, exhibited photographs are evaluated by trained judges on the quality of composition, creativity, technology, and adherence to the theme.  The photography committee awards the “Lucia Woods Photography Bowl” to the club member who accrues the most points for the year in photography competitions.

The club also hosts photography speakers and workshops, which promote the art and science of photography at all skill levels prior to photography shows.