No one came to the ‘Judge training’ which was at 9 am so, instead, we set-up the glad spike “Point Scoring” with Reg and that lasted till noon. Six people who are currently in the glad spike judging course took the point scoring and only one (Mike) was within 5 points of Reg’s score on ALL five categories. Reg said that he will do the point scoring again at the flower show so hopefully the rest of us can complete this part of the required judge training. Even though no one showed up for the judge training we felt fortunate and grateful to have Reg do the point-scoring with us.
Ken Jensen presented Reg with the new glad judge pin as he is the only accredited glad spike judge in Canada and we all expressed our appreciation for him in helping us with glad and dahlia judging over the years. By the end of the summer, hopefully, there will be a few of us who will achieve this ‘Accredited Judge’ status. Reg was very complimentary about the work we have done in the trial garden and in the training.
There were about 14 who came for the flower arranging class which Shirley and Terri-Lynn led. Instead of arrangements they explained and showed how to make and wrap a bouquet and then everyone had an opportunity to make a bouquet in a vase and take both home. Some people were surprised to learn that we had a judging class in the morning, and they were given the hand-outs to take for next year (beginning glad and dahlia judging).
We had the ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the grand opening of the new trial garden with Shirley Cullum (President), Reg Powys-Lybbe (founding member), Ken Jensen (ADS and NAGC Representative), Dan from the town of Olds, and Jon from the Olds College. Shirley advised that sadly we have lost three important people this year, John Henderson’s wife, Laura Lee Henderson, Doug Rumsey’s wife, Marg Rumsey, and Lorne McArthur (founding member). We are retiring the name: “Piper Creek Trial Garden” and renaming it: “The Alberta Dahlia and Glad Society Trial Garden and Show Garden”.
Darrell Hatt smoked a brisket and brought it for the pot-luck supper. We had a small group but the food was delicious, and the company was friendly and relaxed. Mike had brought a cooler full of cold water bottles for everyone.
The weather was just right, sunny and not too hot and not too cold.
We discussed the future of the judging courses at the summer celebration but it was decided to just wait another year and see. Since this is the first year at this location it might take a couple of years to get established. Evan Cullum suggested that coffee be provided next year.
We all agreed that we made some really good contacts this year with the Olds College, the town of Olds, and the Olds Gardening Club.