MOSES LAKE — You’ve worked all year to make your flower garden a thing of beauty. What better way to show it off than to enter them in the fair?

The Grant County Fair has divisions and classes for every kind of flower or flower arrangement under the sun. Valerie Parrott, president of the Columbia Basin Garden Club and a judge in the fair’s horticulture barn, has tips for making your flowers look the best they can.

“Flowers are judged on how close they are to perfection,” Parrott said. “It doesn’t matter if they’re the smallest flower or the largest flower. It only matters how close to perfect the bloom is.”

With that in mind, Parrott said, timing is crucial. Exhibits are dropped off Monday morning of fair week, which this year is Aug. 11, and judging begins at 9 a.m. Tuesday. That means the flower you’re entering needs to be perfect right then.

“A lot of times, (gardeners) will bring in a flower that in a couple of days is going to be perfect, but it’s not quite all the way open yet,” Parrott said. “So that is going to deduct points, because it’s not a perfect bloom.”

Some flowers don’t last a long time, especially in the August heat, she said, so it’s perfectly acceptable, even encouraged, to replace the flower for display after the judging is over.

“So if you have like a sunflower that was really good, pick another sunflower off your plant and bring it in maybe on Thursday when (the other one) is all crumpled up,” Parrott said. “Lots of people, especially if they’re showing hibiscus or things like that that only have a day or two, they just come and replace the flowers so that there are still pretty things to look at through the fair.”

The Grant County Fair Exhibitor Guide suggests putting cut flowers in warm water as soon as they’re cut and leaving them there for several hours or overnight. Keep the leaves out of the water, the guide adds, as this causes flowers to wilt quickly. Late afternoon or early morning are the best times to cut flowers.

Obviously, the condition the flowers are in is a major factor in judging.

“Are (the flowers) the color that they should be? Is the flower sunburned? Does it have brown petals around the edges?” Parrott said. “That’s what we’re looking for. (If) it looks really good on the front, but then you turn around the back and it’s all sunburned and old, that’s going to knock you down in points.”

Balance is also an aesthetic factor, Parrott said. Having too much stem for the size of the flower makes it look wonky. Potted flowers are judged 35% on cultural perfection, including symmetry; 25% on the flower itself; 25% on the foliage; and 15% on the color, according to the Exhibitor Guide.

“Say you have your flower and it’s towering two feet in the vase,” Parrott said. “That’s not going to be as symmetrical as you want it. A good amount of space is to have your bloom sitting maybe four inches above the vase.”

The volunteers at the barn can help exhibitors a little bit with presentation, Parrott said. There are tricks they can do with plastic wrap and cotton balls to help flowers look the best that they can.

However, they can only help if they’re not already busy. Once Monday rolls around, they’re going to be scrambling to get everything set up for the fair. The best way to enter flowers — or anything else — is to pre-register. Pre-registration closes at 9:59 p.m. Aug. 4, according to the exhibitor guide.

Transporting flowers is an area where many exhibitors run into trouble, Parrott said.

“People never think about this,” she said. “(Sometimes) they just cram everything into a Mason jar and bring it, and by the time you get there, your flowers are all crumpled. A really good way is to take some waterproof tape and make a grid pattern on top (of the vase). Then you can just poke your stems down into each one of those (spaces between) and transport your flowers and they’re not going to all crunch up against each other.”

For the folks who want to go a little further, there are categories for floral design, planters, fairy gardens and other creative arrangements. There’s even a competition for people who turn their plants into little creatures.

There’s also a category for freak blooms, Parrott said, as long as the oddity occurs naturally.

“Sometimes we get double-headed sunflowers,” she said. “Last year my son brought in … four blooms that had all fused together (into one). (I’ve also seen) flowers where half is this color, half is (another) color.”

Parrott will offer a free class in preparing flowers for the fair on Tuesday at her business, Pieces by Parrott. For more information, visit Pieces by Parrott’s Facebook page at bit.ly/PiecesByParrottFB.

An earlier version of this story gave an incorrect deadline for pre-registering to show flowers. It has been corrected above.

    The Junior Flower Division at last year’s Grant County Fair. The fair provides green vases, and volunteers can help exhibitors with displaying their flowers if time allows.
  

    Prize-winning flowers displayed on the head table at the Grant County Fair. Flowers are judged on their perfection, so it’s important to time the bloom so it looks its best on the first day of the fair.
  

    The Grant County Fair has categories for those who like to get creative with their floral displays.
  

    The Grant County Fair has a category for natural oddities like this multi-headed sunflower.