Rogue sunflowers and pumpkins

“Late summer in the garden: rogue sunflowers and pumpkins take over,” was published Sept. 11, 2021, in the Wyoming Tribune Eagle.

By Barb Gorges

A Cinderella pumpkin (French heirloom “Rouge Vif D’Etampes”) was discovered growing perched on a hail guard propped against the back wall of the Gorges yard. It will turn red-orange when fully ripe. Sept. 14 photo by Barb Gorges.

            This summer, I’ve discovered that gardens need editing. The authors, Thomas Rainer and Claudia West, of the garden book I’m rereading, “Planting in a Post-Wild World,” talk about editing to improve how a garden “reads.”

            It means that if the Maximilian sunflower (a perennial) gets comfortable and starts spreading, out-competing its neighbors, do I want one whole garden bed to be full of 6 to 10-foot tall stalks only embellished in September with yellow flowers along their length? No, I don’t. I would like to still be able to “read” or see a few other kinds of plants in that garden bed. So, I started pulling the stalks. They grow off an underground rhizome and they are easy to yank out.

Maximilian seeds from different sources planted in different places in our yard have different spreading habits and bloom times. The hot, dry, side garden produced a few flowers by early August, in time for the fair. Another clump blooms in September but hasn’t spread at all. Perhaps it has tougher neighboring perennial competitors.

            Speaking of the fair, my list of potential floriculture entries was edited by half by leaf cutter bees. The scalloped edges of leaves they leave behind won’t win any ribbons or premiums. On the other hand, it shows my planting for pollinators is successful.

            The feathery blue flowers of perennial bachelor buttons looked spectacular in June. Over the last 30 years they have become a thick drift, suffocating perennials I’ve put in to provide color the rest of the summer. By August, they look exhausted, so I cut them back—they don’t stand up well as “winter interest.” Time to dig some out and give more space to the fall-blooming asters and a variety of black-eyed Susans that bloom much later than the showy ones that got a blue ribbon.

            Every year, gardening in Cheyenne is different. I think due to the 30 inches of snow in March, plants that need winter moisture did well. That maybe explains the peony that finally bloomed years after being planted and the grape vines finally growing more than two feet. But it doesn’t explain why only one of 25 irises bloomed. Charlette at C & T Iris Patch said to give them another year’s chance.

            Our red twig (red osier) dogwood grew more than usual. Many of the stems are green now so I pruned the oldest at ground level to encourage new red stems. And then I put the thinnest twigs in a bucket of water to see if they will sprout roots.

            But one of the euonymus bushes lining the front walk seems to be dying. The six-shrub hedge was probably planted when the house was built in 1962. Catherine Wissner, Laramie County Extension horticulturist, thinks it’s verticillium wilt, a soil-borne fungal disease, and I should dig up the infected shrub and soil. However, the shrub next to it looks great—I’m sure its roots mingle with the sick shrub. Chokecherry sprouts are wasting no time in moving in. Perhaps we can keep them pruned to blend in.

            It’s a very good year for chokecherries. The shrubs the birds planted in the alley are full of fruit—too much for the robins to keep up with so Mark is getting to harvest some.

            This is about the sixth year Mark has grown Anna Maria’s Heart heirloom tomatoes and they are bigger and meatier than ever. Part of it might be this warmer summer. Part of it may be backyard genetics because every year Mark saves the seeds from the best tomatoes.

            On a lark, Mark planted a couple Cinderella pumpkin seeds I saved a few years ago. He started them inside and then transplanted them to what used to hold garbage cans and is now essentially a 3 x 4-foot, 3.5-foot-deep brick compost bin.

The pumpkins have grown 15-inch diameter leaves on yards of vines climbing right over the spruce trees in one direction and escaping into the alley in the other. At the end of July, we found a softball-sized flattish pumpkin (Cinderella’s carriage was a flattish pumpkin) that quickly grew over the next month. It will eventually turn red—if we have a long, warm fall (but with rain, please) so it can fully ripen.

            I hope all of you have had a successful growing season, at least in some aspect. Make notes to help you remember what to try next year. 

The Cinderella pumpkin, Aug. 17. Photo by Barb Gorges.

Fair flowers educate

The Floriculture Department at the Laramie County Fair includes perennials, annuals, herbs, potted plants and flower arrangements. Photo by Barb Gorges.

Published in the Wyoming Tribune Eagle Sept. 17, 2017 “Fair gives lesson about best oflowers to grow locally.”

By Barb Gorges

I wasn’t thinking of our county fair being a learning opportunity until I overheard one woman visiting the floriculture department say to another, “You should try that in your garden.”

I realized then that the open class entries (all the entries that are not 4-H or FFA) could tell me a lot about what Laramie County gardeners grow, and grow well, at least at the beginning of August.

Checking the fair results at http://www.laramiecountyfair.com, in horticulture (fruits and vegetables), there were only 81 entries, indicating a growing season with a slow, cold start. However, for floriculture [starting on page 148], there were many more entries: perennial flowers (146), annual flowers (84), culinary herbs (64). The other categories, flower arrangements, dish gardens and potted plants, had a total of 55.

Why wouldn’t you plant perennials, the most popular category, in the first place? They take so little work once established. And once you’ve planted a perennial, why wouldn’t you snip three identical flowers the first week in August, place them in a clear glass jar, carry them to the fair and hope for a blue ribbon and $6 premium?

I’ve entered numerous quilts in fairs over the last 35 years (one to two hundred hours or more of work for a chance at the same $6 premium) and understand quilt judging, but I wasn’t sure what floriculture judges were looking for.

The fair book will tell you a little bit, but the 2017 edition is no longer available and the 2018 edition won’t be on the website until next spring. You can contact the Floriculture Superintendent, Chris Wright, through the fair office, 307-633-4670, if you have questions now.

Unlike other competitive endeavors, fair judges give out as many blue ribbons in any class as they feel are warranted. The entries are judged by how well they represent the class. For instance, all seven pansy entries received blue ribbons. However, all the Monarda (beebalm) entries received red ribbons and only $4 premiums.

I chatted with one of the two floriculture judges afterwards. Chris Hilgert, Wyoming Master Gardener coordinator and Extension horticulture specialist, explained he thought all the beebalm was a little past its prime.

Beebalm flower heads are made up of tiny florets that bloom in groups, one concentric ring at a time. Mine had already been in bloom five weeks. But pansies have no florets, just five petals per flower. Mine have been putting out fresh flowers nearly every day since they started blooming in April.

Hilgert has been judging several fairs a year for the last 14 years. He looks for entries that are healthy—no sign of disease or pests. You can pinch off bad leaves, but you can’t remove very many bad flower petals without ruining a bloom.

The containers don’t matter, Hilgert said, though he prefers that they be a size matching the stem length. He’d rather not fish flowers out of the water when they fall into too tall vases. Our fair’s rules call for clear glass or plastic containers and it doesn’t matter to Hilgert whether they are vases or just jars and bottles.

Rudbeckia entry in a jelly jar gets a blue ribbon. Photo by Barb Gorges.

When a class description asks for three stems, or three blooms, the three need to be as uniform as possible: same size flowers, same length stem, and flowers at the same stage of bloom. This year I had a bumper crop of Rudbeckia (gloriosa daisy or black-eyed susan), but in over 100 blooms, only three were identical, and luckily, were fresh enough to last the whole week of the fair.

Avoiding wilting, another of Hilgert’s benchmarks, was easy this year—it was a cool, rainy day when we brought our entries to the Exhibition Hall. However, during hot weather, the fair’s rules stating that all open class entries must be turned in between noon and 8 p.m., but not judged until the next morning, doesn’t work well for the tender plants. And it is another day before the public can view them. Volunteers keep the containers of flowers and the potted plants watered during fair week.

There is a simple strategy for entering floriculture at our fair. Before the entry deadline at the end of June, put in online for every class for which you have something planted. There is no entry fee. No one can predict what will look best the beginning of August when the flowers need to be picked. While seven people had great Shasta daisy entries this year, mine were already finished blooming. Of the 35 classes I put in for, I only brought 14 entries. I didn’t even have hail damage this year. It was just a matter of bloom timing.

There is a competitive aspect to the Floriculture department—those other awards that give you bragging rights: Superior, Best of Show, Reserve Champion and Champion. Those are the purple ribbons, some with fancy rosettes, that transcend the classes.

This year gardeners were rewarded with them for an exceptional hybrid tea rose, a sunflower, a salpiglossis, two mints, three potted plants and a fairy garden. A truly wonderful flowering tuberous begonia, entered by one of my neighbors, Jean Profaizer, was the champion.

Whether you ever intend to enter the fair and make some “seed money,” it is worth reading the Floriculture results to see what can bloom in Cheyenne in late summer. I counted over 20 kinds of culinary herbs (although these don’t need to be in bloom), 16 kinds of annuals and 30 kinds of perennials. The most popular, if you put all four classes of it together (white, yellow, pink and other), was yarrow, with 25 entries. It happens to be an easy perennial to grow, too.

Echinacea is another popular fair entry because it is in bloom in early August. Photo by Barb Gorges.

Other late summer standbys are Echinacea (coneflower), Gaillardia (blanket flower), daylily, lilies, various roses, violets, and as previously mentioned, Rudbeckia.

Among the annuals are geranium, cosmos, bachelor buttons, snapdragon, sunflower, marigold, petunia and pansy (though my pansies sometimes come back, acting like short-lived perennials).

When you walk through the display of flowers at our fair, each vase or jarful with its entry tag that you see gives you more familiarity with local possibilities. If you are lucky, the gardener has added the variety name—it’s supposed to give them extra competition points.

With all that information, now is the perfect time to assess your garden, make plans and gather or order what you need for next season. Any end of the season sales on perennials at nurseries? How about seeds, both flower and vegetable? Although they are never seen at the fair, don’t forget spring-blooming bulbs. And think about planting flowering trees and shrubs.

The downside? You may have to dig a new bed to accommodate all your future flower plans. But the bees, birds, butterflies and bats thank you.

How to enter flowers, fruits and vegetables in the county fair

Fair entries winning a first premium get a blue ribbon–and a check for the amount of the premium: first is $6, second is $4 and $3 for third.

Published June 15, 2014, in the Wyoming Tribune Eagle, “Grow a winner. Find out how to enter fruits, veggies, flowers and more in the Laramie County Fair.”

By Barb Gorges

If you grew up in town, you might not realize any Laramie County resident can enter the Laramie County Fair.

This year, the fair is set for July 27-Aug. 9, but now is the time to start planning what you’re going to enter.

“I thought you had to be from a farm. I thought it was all 4-H, but these were people like me” Timi Saville, Laramie County Master Gardener, said of her revelatory experience at the Park County Fair in Powell some years ago.

The following year, her Mexican Hats, a type of coneflower, won a blue place ribbon.

Open Class refers to all the fair competition categories open to the public. Besides the crop and livestock departments, there are also Open Class departments in art, crafts (everything from wood and metal work to jewelry), culinary, needlework and photography.

Since this is a gardening column, we’re going to look at how to enter in the Horticulture Department–fruits and vegetables–and the Floriculture Department–flowers and house plants.

Why enter the fair?

Your work will be judged by experts. That sounds stressful to some, but this is actually an opportunity to get some free advice, since it doesn’t cost anything to enter items in our fair.

And there’s community recognition, possibly causing WTE columnists to call you for pointers on entering the fair.

And there are the ribbons and premiums. In fair language, premiums are prize money. At our fair, first premium equals $6; second premium, $4, and third premium, $3.

If there are 10 plates of cucumbers competing, it is possible that all 10 entries could qualify for first premium—or none may qualify. But premiums checks can add up to seed money or more if you enter several items.

The very best plate of cucumbers will get a purple “superior” ribbon for that class.

And of all the people with purple ribbons in the Horticulture or Floriculture departments, someone will become Reserve Champion and someone Grand Champion.

So, are you in? You are? Good. Now let’s demystify the process of entering the fair.

This is the final year for a print version of the Laramie County fair book. It is already available online.

Step 1–Find the Fair Book

This is the final year the Laramie County Fair is printing the 120-page book available at local agricultural supply businesses like Murdoch’s, the University of Wyoming Extension office, 310 W. 19^th, Suite 100, or the office at the Archer fairgrounds, 3967 Archer Parkway (I-80 Exit 370).

The book is available online at www.LaramieCountyFair.com as a PDF. You may have to look for the link under News/arrival (of fair book).

Step 2–Peruse the categories

Turn to page 46 for Horticulture and page 52 for the Floriculture departments.

Catherine Wissner, superintendent of the Horticulture Department, advises you to checkmark each class that you have the remotest chance of having a plant, flower, fruit or vegetable that would qualify.

Early in the season, when entry forms are due, she said it is hard to know what will be ready at fair time. If you enter a category but end up not having an entry ready—it’s all right—it didn’t cost you anything but the time to fill in one line of the form listing all your entries.

Also check out the Fair Fun contests on page 10, which are open to everyone. There are seven in all, everything from scarecrow building to pie baking contests. The entry form is on page 21.

Step 3–Fill out the Static Entry Form and get it in by July 14

Horticulture and floriculture entries are static entries—because unlike livestock, they don’t move. Find the form on page 117 and 118. Only children need to fill in the age information and have their parents sign.

Once it’s filled out, send it in [Page 10 is where you’ll confirm the information for sending in entry forms.]:

–online at www.laramiecountyfair.com,

–OR print a Static Entry Form from the website (or cut it out of the book) and

–scan and email it to fairoffice@laramiecountyfair.com,

–OR fax the form to 634-4511,

–OR mail the form to 3967 Archer Parkway, Cheyenne, WY 82009.

Step 4—Pick up entry tags at Archer, July 24-25, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Corrections can be made at this time, so check your tags over before taking them home.

“Tomatoes – Specimens should be uniform in color, shape, and size, and free from cracks, sun scald and blemishes, ripe, solid and without stems.” Disclaimer: these tomatoes are from the store.

Step 5—Prepare your entries

While most Open Class departments accept entries July 31, noon – 8 p.m. (Culinary is the following Tuesday), Floriculture and Horticulture accept entries Aug. 1, 8 a.m. – noon.

This means your tougher fruits and vegetables can be harvested the night before, and tender stuff early in the morning. Flowers should be hardened off the day before (see accompanying information).

Timi Saville, who placed in nine of the 11 classes she entered last year, said to make sure you follow all the specifications.

Read vegetable descriptions on pages 46 – 49 so you know exactly how to prepare each item.

Once, her entry was disqualified because she only had four stems instead of the five required for chives—one got lost in the trip to the fair.

“It might be a good idea to cut a few extra to have on hand in case a flower gets crushed,” she said.

And bring extra water, she added.

In Floriculture, the required flowers need to be in plain, clear glass or plastic containers. Any container not plain enough could disqualify the entry. Timi uses containers she finds at the dollar store or food jars with labels completely removed. House plants are fine in their regular pots.

For vegetables, you will need a plain white paper plate with the entry form taped or stapled to it. Make sure your entries are very clean—sometimes judging requires tasting.

Step 6—Bring your entries to the Exhibition Hall

On Aug. 1, 8 a.m.-noon, head over to Frontier Park, where you will pass your entries over to fair volunteers who will set them on display.

Step 7—Return to see judging results

Judging is Aug. 1, 1 – 5 p.m. and is closed to the public.

The Floriculture and Horticulture entries are on display between judging and release of entries. During the fair, the Exhibit Hall is open to the public 9 a.m. – 9 p.m.

Step 8—Pick up released Horticulture and Floriculture entries

Entries in these departments will be released Aug. 4, 5-7 p.m.

You’ll want to collect your ribbons, vases, potted plants and any of your fruits and vegetables that are salvageable.

Other static open class entries are released Aug. 9.

Step 9—Get your premium check

Premium checks are usually available when other open class entries are being released at the Exhibit Hall, which is Aug. 9, 3-5 p.m.

If you don’t claim your check, it will be mailed to you.

Step 10—Consider entering the Wyoming State Fair

You do not need to enter a county fair to enter Open Class at the state fair, which will be held in Douglas Aug. 9-16. Horticulture and Floriculture entries can be delivered Aug. 9 or 10, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. Pre-entry is not necessary, but there is a $1 processing fee per entry. Explore your options at http://www.wystatefair.com.

How to keep your flowers fresh or

How to harden off your flower exhibit

It is generally recognized that afternoon–especially cutting in late afternoon, when the greatest amount of sugar has ascended into the leaves and blooms–as well as a “hardening off” process, will help insure a winning entry.

Flower stems should be cut cleanly at an angle with a sharp knife or pruning shears and plunged into deep, hot water: 110 degrees Fahrenheit is ideal. Plunging plants up to their necks in cool water works as well.

It is a good practice to carry a bucket of water to the garden and to place each cut specimen in the water at once. Lightly crush the base of woody stems on plants such as lilacs to improve the intake of water. Some flowers, such as Dahlias, Euphorbias and Poppies, need to have the cut tips seared over an open flame.

Following cutting and water treatment, specimens should be placed in a cool, darkened room. After several hours, when the water has come to room temperature, add ice to the water and leave the flower material undisturbed overnight or place flowers in a refrigerator or cooler at a temperature between 38 and 40 degrees for six or more hours before they are to be shown.

Flowers prepared in this way improve their substance and will hold their freshness longer.

From the Wyoming State Fair Premium Book