The Louise Estes was clearly the best specimen in the show. I haven't always agreed with the entry that was awarded the GW Best of Show award, but this time there was little doubt it was the best.
I still think the best entry in the show was the English Box of six Blake Hedrick roses. However, the terms of the GW Best of Show award limit it to entries of a single stem, so the box didn't qualify.
I agree that the Louise Estes bloom was clearly the best specimen in the show...and the English Box of six Blake Hedrick roses was spectacular.
However........ I wish the rules would say- other than the Queen of the show- "The Best of Show Award" of a single stem rose was won by ___________________.
The 'Queen of Show' already won the big prestigious award. Why not give another rose, in another class, a chance to be 'best' in show?
For that matter, why does it have to be a single stem? I think the English Box should have gotten it. Maybe whoever came up with the rules should revise them...
The rules were devised by the members of the GardenWeb in an attempt to make sure the big HT collections like the Nicholson Bowl and McFarland Award wouldn't dominate the winning of Best of Show. I can tell you the judges would lean that way simply because they can maintain it is harder to have 9 or 7 well matched HTs than to produce one spectacular single stem. I have been involved in too many Best of Show awards in local shows to pretend anything different. It really is too bad the English Box couldn't win, but it is very difficult to devise a definition that will always get you where you want to end up.
However, if the members of the GardenWeb want to change the definition, it is the GardenWeb trophy and you probably could change it. However, you want to make sure the cure isn't worse than the disease.
The idea of the GW trophy was to judge the best single stem rose of each class (queen) and then to pick the best of these queens in an attempt to level the playing field and treat all classes of roses equally.
The HT Queeen is usually (always?) staged more prominently than the BOS defeating it's purpose and reinforcing the ARS bias toward HTs. I wish I hadn't wasted the money.
