Declan Whelan, 2026 Show Chair
Report on the ORLS Annual Show, 2026
The show was held in Rooms 3, 4 & 5 at RBG, July 11 and 12.
In the horticultural section there were 53 entries, 59 stems in total. Even though it was an early show for us, there was a good variety of stems representing 17 different classes. Declan Whelan won the Presidents Award for best stem with a ‘Ice Caves’
We had a single bloom section again this year which had 47 entries and was again very popular with the visitors. Their favourite was Spring Lake, a red up-facing orange tango Asiatic bred by Lilyfield Farm. I would like to see us enter more blooms in this section.
In addition we had a single bloom seedling section with 30 entries in 6 different classes. Brian Bergman won best seedling bloom with an Asiatic.
We had a special floral design class again this year with the addition of four large duo-designs in the centre of Room 5 There was a total of 24 designs in six classes. The overall theme was Floral and Musical Arts following the Junos in Hamilton earlier this year. As always all the designs were fabulous and much appreciated. Liz Campbell won Best in Show and Nora Hovland won Judge’s Choice. Thanks to Anne Harbord, Mary-Ann Vercammen, and Elizabeth Schleicher for organizing the design section and to the conveners and the exhibitors.
I was pleasantly surprised by the number of visitors who found their way over to see our show. I feel the social media work and signage by Marilyn Cornwell and advertising by Elizabeth Schleicher and RBG helped a great deal. It was great to see so many visitors enjoy and appreciate our show.
Thanks to all who promoted, exhibited, participated and helped during the weekend. With this venue, we only get access at 6:00 p.m. Friday and so we were busy Friday evening getting everything ready for entries on early Saturday morning. A special thank you to those who helped on Friday evening.
Thanks to RBG’s Jon Peter, Alison Cowie, and Sherri Earl and her crew for their help with the event. Special thanks to RBG for allowing us the venue.
I have reserved Rooms 3, 4 & 5 for July 9-11 2027. This weekend was chosen to avoid conflict with the NALS show which we understand is scheduled for the following week – still to be confirmed.
Declan Whelan, Show Chair
Horticultural Division Results
Design Division Results
Best Design in Show and Judges’ Choice
Class 1 dancing shoes
Class 2 sheet music
Class 3 I’m like a bird
Class 4 applause
Class 5 the circle
Class 6 both sides now
Single Flower Voting Results
Single Blossom Voting Section
Public enthusiasm was high again this year for public choice voting for single blossoms. Voting ballots were available on the display table of approximately 40 blossoms entered in the contest. There were about 400 votes cast, and almost 200 of those to the top choices.
