QBARS - v12n3 Portland Chapter Show

Portland Chapter Show
Molly Grothaus

A number of factors combined to make the 14th Annual Flower Show of the Portland Chapter held May 10th and 11th the most successful to date. The winter was mild and the early spring, without cold spells to interrupt growth, alternated warm periods encouraging to development with cool periods prolonging the duration of blooming.

Few shows can enjoy as beautiful a setting as does the show of the Portland Chapter staged under the roofed patio of the Exhibition Cool-house with the Society Test Garden in the glory of its prime blooming period as background. Under the direction of Cecil Smith and Howard Slonecker, cochairmen of the show, many enthusiastic volunteers had groomed the Test Garden plants to display their full grandeur and combined their efforts to stage the best cut truss show to date.

The show attracted 600 entries by 32 exhibitors. The quality of the entries and the number entered in several of the categories presented some difficult decisions for our highly regarded panel of judges: W. P. Riddelsbarger, Dr. Carl Phetteplace and Mrs. W. W. James of Eugene, Robert Bovee of Portland, Mrs. Wales Wood of St. Helens and Rudolph Henny of Brooks.

The purple sweepstakes ribbon for the best truss was won by R. 'Mrs. E. C. Sterling' entered by Mr. and Mrs. Wales Wood. The Dr. Corbin Cup went to high point winner George Grace. The best new American seedling not previously shown was judged to be a decorum X 'China' entry which brought the Dr. Goodman Cup home to Rudolph Henny. Howard Slonecker won the gold cup for the best species bloom offered by the Merrell Steel Company, and a special award went to Mrs. A. C. U. Berry who entered a group of numerous and varied species.

Each Portland High School sponsors a particular flower and stages a show in its honor. The rhododendron is the flower of Cleveland High School and the attractive and imaginative arrangements brought from the school's show provided a change of pace for show viewers.

The garden clubs of the area were invited to enter arrangements of rhododendrons or azaleas or both in combination suitable for entry hall. A rhododendron was awarded the best entry in each of the three classifications in addition to the ribbon awards. Mrs. Fred Sperr, Mrs. L. E. Isler of Portland and Mrs. Albert Combs of Milwaukie judged the 12 entries which were staged to add interest to the entrance of the show area. The top award went to the arrangement entered by the Tualatin Garden Club.

Of particular interest to show visitors was the massive new rock garden along the north shore of the island. At the base of the rock garden and reflected in the lake was the attractive commercial exhibit of Esch Nursery which featured R. 'Purple Lace' and used several Laburnum vossii as a graceful background. Rhododendrons and azaleas prominent in the Hillside Nursery exhibit included a number of blood-red R. 'Jean Marie de Montague', white R. 'Queen of the May' edged by the white azalea 'Harvest'.

An admission of 25 cents was charged adults. In spite of overcast and threatening weather the second day of the show the turnout proved to overtax what had been considered adequate parking facilities to such a degree that two special traffic officers were needed to relieve the congestion created by show viewers.