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HomeNewsArchives'Outrageous' Blooms at Hibiscus Show

'Outrageous' Blooms at Hibiscus Show

Jan. 18, 2009 – An amazing array of colors bloomed at the St. Croix Hibiscus Society annual show and sale Sunday at Country Day School. There were blooms of all shapes and sizes in colors that haven't been named and one would never expect to see in a flower.
Imagine a large showy ruffled five petal flower in shades of variegated brownish gray blending into yellow then orange at the center and aptly named “Pond Scum.”
“These blooms are outrageous,” said Errol Chichester, president of the Hibiscus Society, serving his second term as president. “They are unexpectedly beautiful. I didn't anticipate so many blooms. We expected about 40 blooms and we had over 135 entered.”
Mario Francis, president of the St. Thomas Hibiscus Society, carefully boxed up and brought to St. Croix more than 55 of its members' blooms for the show and competition.
Chichester, who is also deputy commissioner of agriculture, knows hibiscus plants – he has been a grower since 1986 and has had as many as 400 plants at a time. He said he is now down to 150. He won a number of first places for his blooms, but he said he didn't count how many. One of Chichester's blooms that took best commercial double was clled named “Timeless Treasure," a shade of gray with mauve tones and a pale pink patch on one edge of each petal, Chichester says his favorites are the unusual color combinations such as the grays with gold or olive green shades.
The 2009 St Croix Hibiscus Show Best of Show winners are Bradley Christian with Devil Eye, Errol Chichester with Angel Wings, Bradley Christian with Gator Pride and Clemente and Johanny Magras with Fortuna Fancy. The categories are miniature, double,single and seedling start. The entrants compete as amateur, collector and commercial growers. The winners are chosen from the blooms with the most gold ribbons(first place) awarded by the judges.
“There were so many marvelous blooms,” said Marsha Shuman, Hibiscus Society secretary. “The judges took a long time and had a hard time choosing, with many ties.”
One of the judges, Susan Sheehan, said she loves to judge and it isn't hard to do.
“Judging is generally interesting and fun,” Sheehan said. The blooms are judged on texture, physical damage, visual blemishes, size and symmetry of the blooms.
“The last round of judging is basically the judges preference,” Shuman said.
The society began in the early 1970s, died off, then enjoyed a resurgence in the mid-1980s said Shuman. There are 25 members in the organization.
One member, Debra Tryon, said she went to a hibiscus show and fell in love with the flowers and got into hybridizing.
“There is always someone in the society to help us and share information,” said Tryon. “We also share quality cuttings, seeds and graftings.”
Chichester said the society is always looking for new members.
“Anyone interested in the art of growing hibiscus and committed to the study of hibiscus may join us,” Chichester said. The meetings are held the third Saturday of each month at 2:30p.m. at Country Day School. Each month topics such as pest control, fertilization and grafting are discussed. For more information email Chichester at ecoread@yahoo.com.

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