Vegetable gardeners rejoice – there’s a new category in the Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College Foundation’s Home and Garden Symposium Flower Show.
The “vegetable plants grown from seed in 2016” category celebrates the beauty of plants that offer us sustenance and joins the returning categories of specimen plants and houseplants; bulbs and rhizomes; roses; herbs and other edibles; annuals and perennials; shrubs and trees; vines, groundcovers and perennial grasses; and informal mixed-cut arrangements in the annual Flower Show.
“Each year, we try to focus on a theme that we hope will offer something new and different. This year we are celebrating vegetables,” said Linda McGannon, who with her husband Dr. Mark McGannon is co-chairing the Foundation’s signature spring fundraiser on Wednesday, May 11.
“We are hoping to get lots of Flower Show entries this year, as we have had a warm spring and lots of rain.”
The Flower Show is sponsored by the Orangeburg County Master Gardener Association. Entry drop-off will begin earlier than in year’s past – at 7:30 a.m. – and continue until 9:30 a.m. in the atrium of OCtech’s Math and Science Center. Complete Flower Show rules are available online at www.octech.edu. Choose the “Home and Garden Symposium” link on the homepage, then “click here for Flower Show rules” on the event schedule.
Display tables and risers will be the same as last year, which allows each entry more space. Coke bottles for individual stems and quart-sized mason jars for mixed arrangements will be available. Potted plants should be clean and free of any insects or disease.
First-, second- and third-place ribbons will be awarded in each category, and there will be an overall award for best in show. The best-in-show winner will receive two tickets to the 2017 Home and Garden Symposium. Winners will be announced following the main speaker’s presentation.
Tickets to the Home and Garden Symposium are $45 per person. Funds raised assist in providing scholarships for deserving OCtech students and special projects at the college. This year’s signature sponsor is Super-Sod.
For more information or tickets, call the Foundation office at 803-535-1246, email pearsonmq@octech.edu or visit www.octech.edu.
