| BACPS 2008 Show and Sale |
| My Winning Secret Revealed |
| Upcoming Events |
Flowering Drosera regia |
by Doris Quick
Date: August 16, 2008
Open to members and the public: 12:00 to 4:00
Location: Lakeside Park Garden Center, 666 Bellevue Avenue, Oakland
Details: Detailed information can be found
at www.bacps.org/show.html
Open for those selling plants to set up: 9:00am to 11:45am
We have the best growers
coming from all over the state to sell plants this year. So far we've received
confirmations from Lois Ochs, Peter D'Amato, Margaret Boomer, Don Elkins, Phil Faulisi,
Mike Wang, Mitchell Davis, Steve Sykes, and David Connor. If you haven't let Doris
know how many tables you need, please do so soon.
If you have some plants to sell, contact Doris at doris_q@pacbell.net.
Open for those displaying plants and setting up: 9:00am to 10:30am
Judging starts at 10:30, so please get your plants to us before then.
Show Categories
- Venus Flytrap - Dionaea
- Sundew - Byblis, Drosera, Drosophyllum, Roridula
- Butterwort - Pinguicula
- American Pitcher - Sarracenia
- Asian Pitcher - Nepenthes
- Other Pitcher - Brocchinia, Cephalotus, Darlingtonia, Heliamphora
- Aquatic - Aldrovanda, Genlisea, Polypompholyx, Utricularia
- Arrangement - Dish garden, Terrarium
- Art Work - Art
If you don't have that competitive desire but want to show off some of your plants,
we'll have a display area. Please bring them before noon.
Also, judged plants must remain until 4:00pm. There is nothing more disappointing
than coming late to the show and seeing a bunch of empty places on the tables.
Number One Thing You Can Do to Help Make This a Successful Show
BRING YOUR PLANTS!! As with every year, the success of the show is not in what
the vendors bring, but what the MEMBERS bring! Not only your enthusiasm for the
plants, but your ACTUAL PLANTS! Without your beautifully grown plants there is
no show. Please, bring them in. They don't have to be perfect, they don't have
to be rare, and you don't have to enter them for judging, you can just display
them. We are always surprised that there are so few Venus flytraps, and usually
only one or two Cephalotus. Please bring your plants to show.
For entry forms and information go to: www.bacps.org/showinfo.html.
What Else Can I Do to Help?
Print out our new and fantastic poster
and hang it up at any public place that
allows it, especially nurseries, pet shops, and campuses. We MUST get the word
out!
Have you noticed that there is more to the show every year beyond just plants?
We have had science projects, fun facts to know, Venus flytrap feedings, images
of BACPS events, and how to grow carnivorous plants. Have you thought that the
show needed something more to make it that much more complete and professional?
Something to teach, amaze, or just fascinate someone?
Contact Stephen or Doris
and tell us what your idea is, and we can tell you if we have room for it at the show.
We can always use some "experts" to answer questions or perhaps give a talk.
There will be VFT feedings again this year. We need members to volunteer their plants for feeding.
They'll be returned after the show "fat and happy."
OK, let's get going! Go to the website often and look for updates.
If you didn't pick up a poster at the last meeting, it's on the website.
Take them to your college campus and your local nursery and pet shop,
wherever they might be seen. We MUST get the word out!
by Tony Gridley
Often I am asked, "Tony, the number of ribbons you won at last year's
show was truly amazing. What is your secret?"
OK, truth be told I was never asked this question. Not even once. Not even
close. But let us suppose someone did ask it.
I'm so glad you asked, because the secret to winning a carnivorous plant
competition is actually deceptively simple. I myself cannot hope to
compete one-on-one with any member who has a greenhouse, or purifies
his or her water, or builds special grow chambers, or has available a
ready-made perfect growing environment like, for example, the Albion
Bog, which is owned and operated by The Nature Conservancy so don't get
any ideas.
No, I live in a tiny studio apartment, use whatever water comes out of
the faucet, am not about to feed bugs to my plants, and cannot afford to
buy a lot of rare species. So when it comes to the serious business of
carnivorous plant competitions, what am I to do?
The winning strategy I'm about to share with you is this: Bring a lot
of plants.
Last year I entered 16 plants in the show. Everyone else, combined,
brought a total of 65 entries, and this number includes four dish
gardens and three works of art. Bringing 19.8% of the total entries
pretty much guarantees seeing your name many times in the winner's
circle. But bringing only one plant you feel might possibly be worthy
of the judgment of others shows a shameful lack of fighting spirit.
As a further refinement of the winning strategy, you could plan to
corner the market in any one category. For example, in the "Aquatic"
category last year, there were six entries, of which five were mine.
Admittedly, I didn't win a blue ribbon, which justly went to Ken
Kirkpatrick for his really spectacular Utricularia calycifida. But -- and
here's the key point -- I still would have won second and third ribbons
WITH DEAD PLANTS.
The club will also benefit by your hauling more plants to the show.
Eighty-one total entries are not nearly enough to wow the general public
and get them enthusiastic about our hobby. They need to be overwhelmed
by plants of as many sizes, shapes, and species as we can muster. This
is a win-win strategy that helps everyone.
Sheer numbers, I'm telling you.
August 16, 2008: BACPS Annual Show and Sale, Lakeside Park Garden Center, Oakland
September 25-28, 2008: ICPS Conference, Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, Australia
November 15, 2008: Fall BACPS meeting,
University of California Botanical Garden, Berkeley. Gina Morimoto and Arthur Yin will be talking about the
Nepenthes of Mt. Kinabalu.
January 24, 2009: Winter BACPS meeting,
University of California Botanical Garden, Berkeley. Program TBD.
April 4, 2009: Spring BACPS meeting,
University of California Botanical Garden, Berkeley. Ron Long will be speaking on the Nepenthes of Sumatra.
July (tentatively) 2009: Potluck at California Carnivores in Sebastopol. We'll set the date as soon as the date of the show is decided.
Photo Credits
Drosera regia flowering on his fire escape this summer -- Tony Gridley; 2007 show photos -- Stephen Davis
The BACPS Bulletin serves as a monthly forum for members to make CP-related
announcements: events, want ads, items for sale, information sought,
growing tips, etc. Submissions must be received by Tony Gridley
(tgridley@comcast.net)
by the 23rd of the month prior to publication.
www.bacps.org
