2022 American Peony Society Exhibition Southern Peony Wins Artistic Design Novice Rosette Award

2022 American Peony Society Exhibition Artistic Design Award
Novice Class 3 "Perennial Garden"
After the judging is complete at the American Peony Society convention, all of the entrants are always excited to go see what if any ribbons they might have won. I was one of those people since I entered a few designs into the Novice category of the APS Artistic Design section of the Exhibition this year. I was thrilled to learn that not only had a won a couple ribbons on my designs, but I also won the highest award in the Novice category, the Artistic Design Novice Award!


2022 Southern Peony Wins Artistic Design Award
It looks like I actually won this "Novice Artistic Design" award before, in 2019 APS Convention Southern Peony Wins 3 Blue Ribbons in Artistic Division & First Rosette, but it looks like I wasn't awarded a Court of Honor for that Novice Artistic Design Award last time. I'm not sure if that was a mistake or they just started putting the Novice Design awards on the Court of Honor this year.


2022 American Peony Society Exhibition
Court of Honor, Artistic Design Novice Award
I was told, though, that this year they've changed the rules. Now anyone who has received a "Court of Honor" award must now compete in the professional division of that class going forward. It sounds like for any future exhibitions, I will be in the professional category for either flowers or artistic design! - since I've also placed on the Court of Honor 1 time in the cut flower division, 2015 APS Southern Peony Court of Honor Winner - 'Keiko'. That's a little scary when you know you have to compete with the likes of professional growers (in the cut flower competition) and professional flower arrangers (in the artistic design category).


2022 American Peony Society Exhibition
Court of Honor

2022 American Peony Society Convention Flower Exhibition Seedlings

2022 American Peony Society Convention Flower Exhibition Seedlings
For the last few conventions at least, the Seedling category of the American Peony Society Flower Exhibition Seedling class has been judged by Don Hollingsworth (loves early double herbaceous) and Nate Bremer (loves tree peonies). You can check out my interviews with each of them on our Southern Peony Hybridizers page. This year did not change that judging practice, as they both judged the Seedling class again this year as well.


2022 American Peony Society Convention Flower Exhibition Seedlings
It seems like the Seedling judges really favored the anemone style peonies this year, and a couple of double or mostly double herbceous varieties. There were so many beautiful tree peony varieties on the Seedling table this year, but I'm not sure why none of them were awarded a pink Certificate of Merit ribbon. I guess they didn't meet the standards or bring anything new into the range.

Seedling entries in the APS Exhibition are not ranked with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place ribbons like the other show flowers. If they are deemed worthy, they are instead awarded a pink "Certificate of Merit" ribbon by the judges. It looks like this year Tim Stanek of Iowa took home lots of pink ribbons and almost swept the category!! Congrats, Tim! Check out this year's winning flowers below...

Peony "Crm #1" Tim Stanek

Peony "SPECKS" Tim Stanek

Peony "H3521" Don Hollingsworth

Peony "PK OR JP" Tim Stanek

Peony "ODD LACTI" Tim Stanek

Peony "DRK PK JP" Tim Stanek

2022 American Peony Society Convention Exhibition Flower Show Court of Honor

2022 American Peony Society Convention Exhibition Flower Show
Court of Honor
The American Peony Society Convention Exhibition Court of Honor was a bit smaller this year, perhaps due to the smaller size of the show overall. Being a smaller show, it fit the venue (the Univeristy of Michigan Matthaei Botanical Garden Auditorium) well and was a good step after a 2 year hiatus due to public health concerns. Peony 'Pastelegance' was the Best in Show flower this year, a repeat on the Best in Show list after first winning Best in Show in 2016. This is a happy coincidence, as Peony 'Pastelegance' is also the APS Gold Medal winner for 2022 as well!


2022 American Peony Society Grand Champion
Peony 'Pastelegance'

Congratulations to all of the exibitors on the APS Court of Honor!

2022 Novice Best Specimen Peony 'Waucedah Princess'

2022 APS Reserve Champion Intersectional Peony 'Sonoma Halo'

Best Blush Lactiflora Peony 'Mrs. J. H. Neely'	Best White Wood Peony Peony 'Koshina-yuki'
Best Species Peony 'Anemonefolia Rosea'	Best Yellow Blend Woody Peony Peony 'Jack's Point'
Best Maroon Woody Peony Peony 'Maria Teresa'	Best White Lactiflora Peony 'Henry Sass'
Best Pink Woody Peony Peony 'Elemental'	Best Pink Lactiflora Peony 'Monsieur Jules Elie'
Best Red Hybrid Peony 'Commando'	Best Pink Hybrid Peony 'Nosegay'

2019 APS Convention Southern Peony Wins 3 Blue Ribbons in Artistic Division & First Rosette

Southern Peony Artistic Design Entries
1st Place "Happy Days" & 1st Place "Honored Guest"
I must say I was very proud of my "Happy Days" arrangement that I entered into the 2019 American Peony Society Flower Exhibition this year. Of the three arrangement I entered, it was definitely my favorite. The bright yellow colors of the hostas and the irises just popped like rays of sunshine and made me feel happy whenever I looked at it. The arrangement category honored a Saunders peony by the same name, Peony 'Happy Days', a lutea hybrid with colors of rose and gold. The "Honored Guest" arrangement was nice too, honoring another Saunders Peony 'Honored Guest', a white single with pink flares. Since I didn't have a Peony 'Honored Guest' to put into the arrangement, I used a single white tree peony and made flares of pink bleeding hearts coming out all around the white flower. The "Great Lady" arrangement honored Peony 'Great Lady', another Saunders hybrid, which blooms as a single hot pink peony in my garden. So I used a single hot pink peony, but the arrangement was supposed to be tall like a great lady. So I used tall fern fronds, which are feminine, yet commanding.

My First Artistic Design Rosette 1st Place "Honored Guest" Novice Design Award	1st Place "Great Lady"

When the results for the show were announced, I was astounded to find I'd won 3 1st place blue ribbons, plus a rosette for Novice Best Design! This is the first year I've ever won a rosette in a design category. However I was really shocked that it was the "Honored Guest" arrangement that actually won the Novice Best Design Rosette. I felt sure that the "Happy Days" entry I'd entered was my best effort. It was interesting to see the comments from the judges on the backs of my entry tags. That's the thing I think is pretty neat about the Artistic Design category, all of the artistic designs are judged by local certified design judges (not APS judges). Regardless of which arrangement won, I am very grateful to have been able to enter into this category in the APS show. I owe many thanks to the APS members that donate peonies to the artistic design category every year, and to Kris who graciously allowed me to harvest hostas, iris, and bleeding hearts, and other foliage from her garden. Thank you!

2019 American Peony Society Convention Flower Exhibition Court of Honor

2019 American Peony Society Court of Honor
There were so many pretty peony flowers on the show table this year. Two of the top honors went to people who'd never won those awards before, 2019 APS Best in Show Peony 'Noma Volz' Awarded to First Time Grand Champion Winner, Mike Miller and 2019 APS Treasurer and First Time Entrant Wins 2 Court of Honor Ribbons & Best Novice Specimen Rosette in the American Peony Society Flower Exhibition. Also this was the first time ever that Peony 'Norma Volz' has ever won the highest honor in the show, Grand Champion / Best In Show. To me, that makes for a pretty exciting flower show! There were lots of firsts this year, and I can't wait to see how the show goes next year in Chicago!

Peony 'Age of Victoria' Best Novice	Peony 'Norma Volz' Grand Champion	Peony 'Jacks Point' Reserve Champion, William Seidel Memorial Award

Peony 'Garden Treasure' Best Yellow / Yellow Blend Intersectional, Best Intersectional	Peony 'Madame Claude Tain' Best White Lactiflora	Peony 'Victory' Best Blush Lactiflora
Peony 'Waucedah Princess' Best Pink or Pink Blend Tree Peony	Peony 'Vesuvian' Best Red / Maroon Tree Peony	Peony 'Mabel L. Gore' Red Lactiflora
Peony 'Coral Scout' Best Coral Hybrid	Peony 'Ice Age' Best White or White Blend Tree Peony	Peony 'Pastelegance' Best White / Blush / Yellow Hybrid, Allan Rogers Memorial Award
Peony 'Kamata-fuji' Best Purple / Lavender Tree Peony	Peony 'Buckeye Belle' Best Red Hybrid

Peony 'TP Sdlg N' Best Seedling	Peony '3442' Best Seedling	Peony 'Petticoat Parade' Best 3 of a Kind

2019 APS Best in Show Peony 'Noma Volz' Awarded to First Time Grand Champion Winner, Mike Miller

Mike Miller with his First Ever Grand Champion
Peony 'Norma Volz'
It was an exciting day on the show table all around with many entrants on the Court of Honor this year that may not have been the usual suspects. The same was true for the winner of the whole show - both the flower and the entrant. Mike Miller of Great Seal Peonies won the top honor for the first time ever at the 2019 APS Flower Exhibition this year. Peony 'Norma Volz' was the flower that won him the honor, eliciting three ribbons - a 1st place Blue Ribbon, a Court of Honor Rosette (light blue) and the Grand Champion Rosette (purple). You can tell by the look on his face how thrilled he was, and I couldn't have been more happy for him. It really is nice to see new winners on the Court of Honor and for the Grand Champion of the show. Peony 'Norma Volz' was also a first time Grand Champion, as this peony variety had never before won the show's top honors - until now! Congratulations to Mike with his prize winning show flower, Peony 'Norma Volz'!


Peony 'Norma Volz'
2019 APS Best in Show / Grand Champion

2019 APS Treasurer and First Time Entrant Wins 2 Court of Honor Ribbons & Best Novice Specimen Rosette in the American Peony Society Flower Exhibition

Kris Wins Novice Best Specimen on the APS Court of Honor
Peony 'Age of Victoria'
As I examined the final selections on the American Peony Society Court of Honor this year, my heart leapt with excitement as I found that Kris had won a spot in the top honor of the entire flower show! I practically ran to find her and bring her back to the table at the front of the show. I think I might have been more excited than she was! Her Peony 'Age of Victoria' won a blue 1st place ribbon for its class, the Best Pink Hybrid Court of Honor rosette and the Novice Best Specimen rosette!!! 3 Ribbons! Wow!!! I think she was surprised that she had placed a flower in the Court of Honor - the best of the best flowers in the whole show! Little did she know another surprise awaited her...


Kris Wins 2 APS Court of Honor Ribbons
Tom & Kris with Peony 'Coral Scout'
As Kris was chatting with friends and fellow APS members about placing a flower on the Court of Honor, I decided to go over the rest of the table to see who else placed a flower there. I was surprised and excited to find another flower with her name on it, Peony 'Coral Scout', which won a blue 1st place ribbon in its class and the Best Coral Hybrid Court of Honor rosette. So not only had she placed a flower on the Court of Honor on her very first show, she had placed 2 flowers on the Court of Honor on her very first show! What an achievement!!! I could tell her husband, Tom, was very proud of her, and so were her entourage and fellow APS members - Deb and I!


Kris with Her Entourage
Adriana, Kris, & Deb