Many fuchsias growers never contemplate exhibiting or as it is more commonly called ‘showing’ their plants to anyone other than the visitors to their gardens and greenhouses. This is unfortunate as it is a great aspect of growing these beautiful plants.

My adage has always been that it is as easy to grow a plant to a standard that would not disgrace you on the show bench as it is to grow a good plant for your own enjoyment.

How often have you been at a show and said to yourself and heard someone say, “I have better than that at home”… I know I have heard it said on numerous occasions. So why don’t these people show?

My opinion is that it is fear, the fear of being ridiculed and the fear of the unknown. The excuses range from “I am not a member of the society or group” to “I wouldn’t know where to start”.

So let us go back to basics….

Almost every society or group will have written somewhere in the Constitution the aim of furthering the interest and cultivation of the fuchsia. They may also state that they will hold exhibitions and shows for this purpose. This tends to bind these societies or groups into organising an annual show, a major headache for the committee and not least the show manager.

The first thing that a society will need to do is to find a suitable venue for the event. I have exhibited and judged at fuchsia shows in such a variety of venues from sports halls to marquees and all places in between.

Hopefully the venue is in a location with plenty of good natural light, plenty of space around the plants and exhibits, good pedestrian access and decent parking facilities, nearby.

Nothing is worse than having to carry your plants from your vehicles a long way to the show venue with the wind and rain blowing and your pride and joy in danger of being blown away and sometimes you along with it.

If you have been growing your plants as described in the previous sections and stopped them, turned the pot a third of a turn every day and potted them up as and when necessary you should have a plants that are in reasonable shape and in good health, ready to show

CHOOSING A SHOW PLANT

If you want to set out to grow a plant specifically for exhibiting you will need to select plant that is evenly balanced, this can be done at the cutting stage as described on my 'Growing Fuchsias' site by selecting a cutting with evenly balanced leaves from a plant which shows a tendency to being thoroughly balanced throughout.

All the aspects as described on this site will, if followed, help you grow a plant that has a good chance of winning for you on the show bench.

WHAT TO DO FIRST

The Show Committee will have set out what is known as a ‘Show Schedule’ this details all the classes that they intend to have, the rules that apply to the show, the time of judging and sometimes they will publish the names of the judges.

So the first thing you need to do is to obtain a copy of the ‘SHOW SCHEDULE’ as early as possible.

It is not much help to you if you obtain a schedule a couple of days before the show is due to take place, you may miss the date when the last entries are allowed, but more importantly you need to plan ahead.

Remember how your plants need time to come into flower after their last stop, you need to count back from the date of the show, at least allow 8 weeks for single, 11 weeks for double and semi-doubles and up to 15 weeks for Triphylla and species.

An extra few days will ensure that your plants are in full bloom, it is much easier to take a few fading blooms off the plant than try and get the flowers to open.

Once you have the schedule, look at the closing date for entries, you must know when the last date that the show secretary (the person responsible for the administration of the show) will accept entries.

Have a look at the classes that are available for you to enter, there may even be a beginners or a novice class that is put into the schedule especially for those who have either never entered a plant into a fuchsia show before or who have very little experience in doing so. Decide what classes you think you may like to enter and although there are sometimes temptations to enter a lot of classes, until you have a bit more experience and ‘know the ropes’ don’t be tempted at this stage, you will have enough to contend with by just entering a few classes.

WHAT NEXT?

You will need to look at the rules of the show which are usually very basic and designed by the show committee to be easily understood without any ambiguity.

I will look at a simple hypothetical Mock Show Schedule with a set of rules and classes and explain their meanings.