American Peony Society Annual Show Results
Honoring the Best in Peony Flower Showmanship
The Annual Show
Each year exhibitors trek to the American Peony Society’s Annual Flower Show and Exhibition to present their finest blooms for evaluation by a team of judges. While peony flowers are generally beautiful, showing them to perfection requires time, effort, skill and sometimes a little luck. Many variables are involved in creating the best presentation of a single flower which may include: a well formed flower, appropriate size, pristine condition, correct maturity, color, petal configuration, and preparation for judging. Of course growing a healthy plant plays a part in the entire production of perfect blooms.
Many flowers each year receive ribbons in recognition of excellent showmanship. Visitors to the Flower Show and Exhibition are treated to the final results by seeing hundreds of blooms prepared to perfection. We hope you are inspired viewing the entries since it is APS goal to enrich everyone lives through plants and in this case the enchanting peony flower.
APS wishes to thank and honor those who show the fruits of their efforts and hope others join in this unique activity. Take a look at the results, much can be learned about best cultivars for showing, the people who show and other entry information. Please see the resource block below for specific annual show results.
Court of Honor & Best in Show
With great anticipation and excitement, the exhibitors prepare their flowers for judging the evening before judging. Judges evaluate each bloom in various divisions and award worthy flowers that meet definitive criteria. The best flowers from each division are selected and further awarded, and further selections are made to determine a number of other awards.
The Court of Honor contains the best from each class group regardless of Schedule Division. Thus it is made up of the best of the best, and it is from the Court of Honor that the ultimate “best of the best” is selected to be the Grand Champion of the show. This award is the highest honor a peony can receive in our annual flower exhibition.
To receive the Best In Show award, a peony must receive a 1st place award in its exhibited class of those classes presenting single blooms. Judges then select from all of the 1st place winners of the single bloom classes for representation on the Court of Honor. The Court of Honor consists of winners according to color and type from each peony group. The Court of Honor is then evaluated to determine the single flower representing the most outstanding show qualities. The winner is designated as “Best in Show” or “Queen of the Show”.