New candidate for April 2024 is an Orchid Display - 'Orchid Species Around The World'. 

A 55 inches (140cm) wide x 35 inches (90cm) deep multi level display using black color pots and natural moss to exhibit of 12 quality orchid species from 10 different genera. Labels identify each plant.

Plants represent important species from Central and South America, South East Asia to Philippines and Borneo, and Madagascar. Each label identifies the name and native range of the species.

Plant List (from left to right):

Prosthechea sima (Dressler) W.E.Higgins (1998).The native range of this species is Panama to Colombia.

Phragmipedium schlimii (Linden ex Rchb.f.) Rolfe (1898). The native range of this species is Colombia to NW. Ecuador. 

Lockhartia amoena Endrés & Rchb.f. (1872). The native range of this species is Guatemala to Peru (Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panamá, Peru). Cultivar - Lockhartia amoena 'Surprise Surprise' CCM/AOS.

Maxillaria sanguinea Rolfe (1895). The native range of this species is Costa Rica to W. Panama. 

Guarianthe aurantiaca (Bateman ex Lindl.) Dressler & W.E.Higgins (2003). The native range of this species is Mexico to Central America. Cultivar - Guarianthe aurantiaca  'Spotted Queen' AM/AOS.

Rhynchostele maculata (Lex.) Soto Arenas & Salazar (1993). The native range of this species is Central Mexico to Central America.

Paphiopedilum rothschildianum (Rchb.f.) Stein (1892).The native range of this species is Borneo (Sabah). Cultivar - Paphiopedilum rothschildianum 'Majestic' HCC/AOS.

Paphiopedilum dayanum (Robert Stone ex J.Dix) Stein (1892). The native range of this species is Borneo (Sabah).

Paphiopedilum philippinense f. album Valmayor & D.Tiu, Govaerts, R. (2003). The name is synonym of Paphiopedilum philippinense var. philippinense. The native range of this species is N. Borneo to Philippines. 

Phalaenopsis amabilis (L.) Blume (1825). The native range of this species is Malesia, Borneo, Philippines to NE. Australia. 

Dendrobium palpebrae Lindl. (1850). The native range of this species is Bangladesh to Indo-China (Bangladesh, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam). 

Jumellea arachnantha (Rchb.f.) Schltr. (1915). The native range of this species is Comoros, E. Central Madagascar. Cultivar - Jumellea arachnantha  'White Silver Queen' HCC/AOS.

Judges' Comments

Wayne Wiegand (Accredited Judge, Northeast Judging Center)

For me the exhibit lacks cohesiveness. Individual plants are nice, but some are under flowered. 

While I like the globe, it is not really part of the exhibit. I think it could have been more embedded into the orchids as they surround, at least the top part of it, so it could still be rotated.

There are glaring gaps, not negative space. For example, the open black space running from the top of the exhibit to the bottom between the Gur. aurantiaca and Rst. maculata on one side and the Jumellea and Den. palpebrae on the other side.

Move them in closer and the orange flowers would overlap the Jumellea's leaves which given only two open flowers, needs to be minimalized a bit.

Same for the Dendrobium, move it in and gain a better balance on each side of the globe. Those are perfect for "grasping" the top of the globe.

The large mass of green leaves on the Phrag. draws my eye away from the flowers. Moving the Prosthechea up would move its flowers over that mass of green.

Clustering the plants around the globe and bringing them in closer to reduce the gaps, in my opinion, would make this a much more cohesive exhibit.

I would not score it.

Wayne Wiegand, PhD

Chair NEJC

Emily Quinn (Accredited Judge, Dallas Judging Center)

A nice exhibit with well grown plants. Not sure what kind of award is to be considered. Too minimalist for Show Trophy, not enough education for educational exhibit. Have no idea of size of growing space and nothing to compare it to. not sure if looking at an exhibit in isolation is worth the time.

Kris Mason (Accredited Judge, Cincinnati Judging Center)

Thank you for this interesting display.  I love the premise of recognizing species and where they originate.  Good information.  Addition of the globe is nice, but not integrated into the display and no apparent explanation with the display as to why it is there.  Would have loved to see the places marked on the globe.  Individual plants are in good condition, well flowered and are good representations of their species.  The height of the display is nice.  Plants are crowded.  Several plants -   Paph. dayanum, Rst. maculata, Jumellea arachnantha get lost.  In general, more space in all directions would enhance the presentation of the plants and flowers.  The labels are nice, associated and placed so that you know which flower/plant they belong to, are large enough font to read easily, but because the intent of the display is to represent key species and geography, I would have liked to have seen the names completely written out (Paphiopedilum instead of Paph.).  Based on the description of the displays intent, I would have loved to see geography listed more completely as not just Borneo (which is a nice addition), but also Southeast Asia.  The description of the display on virtualorchids.org has it, but seeing it on the plants would be helpful for the layperson. The list below the photos on virtualorchids.org of the species is fantastic.  How great would the display be if that information was available with the display?  Alternative to placing on labels, could be a list next to the globe and a title such as on the webpage. Flow of color is inconsistent and when viewing, your eye jumps from place to place. There isn't a lot of correlation between plants and why they are placed where they are in the display.  Nothing to guide the eye through the display.  There are things I really love about this display and some things that aren't as effective.  With the accompanying information from virtual orchids, the display has educational value, but without that information, educational value is more limited.  To give the benefit of the doubt, I pointed under both the educational point scale and the display/show trophy point scale. For education, I was at 77 points, for display, I was at 76. 

Monica DeWit (Accredited Judge, Western Canada Judging Center)

Kudos to the exhibitor for a novel and interesting display of species orchids.  The rounded form of the display echoes the globe that is below the flowers themselves, but perhaps the globe could have been incorporated in some way within the display without overpowering the flowers. (Have fun watering those plants with the globe in there during a show-hahaha).  My idea would be to have the globe either upper left or lower right with the plants "embracing" the world in an off-center semicircle with the different colors in some sort of rhythm. I find the Guarianthe aurantiaca is a bit of a hot spot in the center of the display making for a "bullseye" or is it depicting the earth's magma core?  Ya, I know, I over think things. The pots are nicely covered and the tags have a wealth of information on them which is great for the public to ponder.  It would be difficult to have dark paper for the labels with all that info to be hand written, but perhaps little numbered stickers with each plant and a legend off to one side? Nevertheless, the plants are well grown and groomed and I am envious.

Respectfully

Monica De Wit

WCJC

Deb Bodei (Accredited Judge, Northeast Judging Center)

Orchid Display - Orchid Species Around The World

There is a nice variety of plants in good condition in this small display. Some plants are still not very mature. I could give a generous 47 points for quality and variety. The labels are accurate but distracting and do not blend into the background well so I could not give more than 6 points out of ten for those.

I am struggling to get to at least 27 points out of a possible 35 since we have some issues representing the five principles of designs. There is no way to focus on any one plant since they are all much too close together with the foliage melding into one another which does not allow for contrast. There is no effective focal as a result and no rhythm to draw the eye through the display or create movement. The color flow is not there and the globe is much too large for this display and not well placed. It seems disjointed from the display although I understand the exhibitor was trying to get the idea of world species across. I think a smaller globe or a vintage map set among the plants may have been a more effective prop if the exhibitor wanted to use one.

I am not able to reach a minimum of 80 points in order to nominate this display for a show trophy scoring.

Thank you,

Deb

Mary Cash (Student Judge, Alamo Judging Center)

Artistic Certificate 

Score Sheet for Orchid

Arrangements/Exhibits

Event – Virtual Judging

Date   - April 2024

                                                                                                       Points Scored

DESIGN                                                                     50                                30

      Balance               Contrast

      Dominance          Proportion

      Rhythm                Scale

CREATIVITY                                                            

     Originality                                                             20                                15

     Distinction                                                             10                                 8

Conformity to schedule and/                                    10                                 8 

   or Suitability of purpose

Condition                                                                    10                                10

TOTAL POINTS                                                      100                               71

COMMENTS

Good theme. Color distribution creative. Foliage distribution under par. Distinct openings and gaps due to the lack of foliage which creates large windows and open spaces. Top-center orchid (Paph.) appears higher than the cylindrical shape of the globe (circle). 

Allowing the exhibit to flow from left to right and top to bottom will allow one’s eye to flow evenly over the entire exhibit. This gives grace and beauty to any exhibit.

Without giving the exhibit grace and beauty, one’s interpretation of the exhibit becomes somewhat choppy, possibly confusing which may result in a loss of interest towards the overall understanding and importance of the entire exhibit.

Kudos to the exhibitor.

Mary Cash – Student Judge – Alamo Judging Center

Steve Gonzalez-Costa (Accredited Judge, Chicago Judging Center)

Pretty nice selection of very well grown and bloomed plants – very nice as a standalone display maybe competing against all others in a regional show.  I don’t know whether the intent was educational – this is probably the biggest issue I have with it as it shows where a plant is from and has the nice globe in the front.  Looking at the criteria for education exhibits (this one does not strike me as one for conservation efforts or especially not artistic), I would have hoped for a more direct link to education or conservation as the AOS handbook says for calls in a clear manner for “preservation and protection of orchids and habitats” – or what the habitat is.  To me this would have been something like linking the Paph. rothschildianum to something somewhere saying that although Mt. Kinabalu has a protective area, it is losing 5% of natural forest annually or something like that or info on the habitat.  I also would have like to see labels on the globe showing and pointing where each plant was from – and it being firmly affixed to something so the show goers could rotate and see the case for each area/species presented – maybe two banners to the left and to the right of the globe have easy to read detail?  Who can resist rotating a globe? The labels are nice and large and legible, but the light color on that size labels seems to detract a bit. I will pass on any awards for now – but – I just might go out and buy myself a globe as I think this is a start of something that the general public will enjoy and take away something memorable on orchids.  After all, orchids made me always think of location from where they came from.  Again, lovely, well arranged display.

MT Vijay (Student Judge, Northeast Judging Center)

Good visual balance with pale colors around the oval shaped perimeter with orange punctuating in the middle. Centrally rising Paphiopedilum rothschildeanum intrudes into this circulatory rhythm. If the designer, on the other hand, visualized this arrangement to be an inverted heart, more colors should have filled in the void around the flowers of the Paph. rothschildeanum. Guarinthe aurantica's orange flowers, being relatively darker than those on the paler rim, dominate as well as punctuate the green foliage canvass. Selection and placement of the flower sizes appear proportionally coordinated. The prop at the bottom to illustrate the world is distracting and unnecessary, for the good selection of the species from the tropical orchid habitat speaks clearly about the title.

Pam Noll (Student Judge, Alamo Judging Center)

A very nice, though small, exhibit of flowering orchid plants arranged to mimic the circular globe below.  The artistic arrangement is interesting with the warm colors lined up vertically with the warm orange G. aurantiaca as the dominant focal point in the center of the arrangement, the dark, vertical Paph. rothschildianum above and the reddish Maxillaria below it.  The cooler pink, yellow, and white colored species balance the arrangement on opposite sides.  Rhythm is introduced by placing plants with erect inflorescences in an arc across the top of the display, and pendent and arching inflorescences near the base of the exhibit.  Labeling is clear and easily read.  The variety of the flowers included achieves the intent of the exhibit, aptly named “Orchids Species Around the World”.   My evaluation of this exhibit is ‘Positive’.

Pamela Noll, Student, Alamo JC

Christian Carrillo (Accredited Judge, Northeast Judging Center)

All the plants and flowers look to be in very good to excellent condition.  There also seems to be a good diversity of plant material with at least seven different genera of plants.  The arrangement of the display is nice and the orange cattleya in the middle does a good job of drawing my attention to the center of the display.  The Paph. rothschildianum at the top center is also another nice placement of a plant.  Overall, there is nothing wrong with this display, but it also doesn't have enough plant material for me to score it 80 points.  The included genera have a lot of leaves and not enough flowers to balance out all the greenery.  Because of the lack of flowers and general plant material, I wouldn't be able to reach 80 points. but I do commend the exhibitor for displaying nicely grown and very clean plants. 

Exhibitors: David and Joan Rosenfeld (Central Jersey Orchid Society,  NJ)

and Sergey and Elena Skoropad (Accredited Judges, Northeast Judging Center, NJ)