ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A spray rose once again stole the show at the Society of American Florists' annual Outstanding Varieties Competition, winning the Best in Show: 'Brilliant Stars Green Pink' Spray Rose from Connectaflor. It's the fourth consecutive year a spray rose has snagged the top title.
The entry's burst of abundant blooms stood out against a field of competition that included 224 different varieties from 33 growers from Florida, Oregon, California, Ohio, Hawaii, Colombia, Ecuador and Israel.
Judging took place on Sept. 9 at The Ritz-Carlton in Amelia Island, Florida, before the opening of SAF Amelia Island 2015, SAF's 131st Annual Convention.
Judges scored each entry based on color and commercial appeal, stem and foliage, bloom form and size, and overall presentation. The judging panel, which included three retailers, three growers and three wholesalers, evaluated specific categories of flowers, and the highest scored entry of each won "Best in Class."
Click here for a complete list of winners and see below for a roundup of the Best in Class.
Special thanks to the judges for the 2015 Outstanding Varieties Competition: Rakini Chinery, Allan's Flowers, Prescott, Arizona; Oralia Espinoza, AIFD, TMF, Spring Garden Flower Shop, San Antonio, Texas; Karen Fountain, AAF Flowers 'n' Ferns, Burke, Virginia; Roy Houff, The Roy Houff Company, Chicago; Lenny Walker, Kennicott Brothers-Chicago; Joost Bongaerts, Florabundance, Inc., Carpinteria, California; Fred Van Wingerden, Pyramid Flowers, Inc., Oxnard, California; Ken Tagawa, Tagawa Greenhouses, Brighton, Colorado and Lane DeVries, AAF, The Sun Valley Group, Arcata, California.
In addition, SAF would like to extend a thanks to Chrysal USA for supplying the plant food and Syndicate Sales for the hundreds of vases used for the entrants.
Finally, SAF extends a big thanks to Frank and Sara Mischler of Mischler's Florist and Greenhouse in Williamsville, New York, for coordinating the on-site competition and Gay Smith of Chrysal USA for heading up the processing of all of the entries.
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The Society of American Florists is the leading organization representing all segments of the floral industry. SAF is proud to provide marketing, business and government services to its members, including growers, wholesalers, retailers, suppliers, importers, educators, designers and allied organizations. The association was chartered by an act of Congress in 1884.
Source: The Society of American Florists
