Loading ...By: Hannah Smith
Most people spent the surprisingly pleasant Columbus Day Weekend hanging with friends, on many of the area’s lakes, or visiting family. However, that weekend I got the unique opportunity to participate in a national horticulture competition held in Cleveland, Ohio. It was a terrific experience and I am already looking forward to next year.
I have been a member of the Saratoga County 4-H Horticulture Team for 6 years. As a member of the team, I meet once a month to practice the 3 aspects of the competition: identification, judging, and true-or-false questions. I compete at the county and state levels. In New York State, the horticulture program is divided up into 3 levels: beginner, intermediate, and advanced. Each level includes a new plant list and by advanced, you need to know 180 specimens, because as you move up in levels, you are not only tested on your knowledge of the new plant list, but the old one as well. Each plant list is separated into 4 categories: Flowers & Indoor Plants, Vegetables & Herbs, Fruits & Nuts, and Ornamentals.
The identification portion is exactly what it sounds like; it consists of identifying samples from the plants on the lists. These samples could be anything from its seed, a twig, or its fruit or blossom. This can be increasingly difficult when you get a twig with no leaves, as it could be anything from a bush to a fruit tree to a simple maple. The true-or-false questions at the state level test contestants on the growing requirements, including preferred soil type or common pests and diseases, of all the plants on the list. The judging portion is composed of four groups of multiple specimens of a plant and they have to be placed from best to worst based on a list of criteria, including uniformity in size, shape, and color, and damage, like bruising and insect damage.
For the past few years, I had been studying at the intermediate level. However, when I got to the state competition at the New York State Fair on August 27th, my coaches asked me to take the advanced test, just as a practice for next year. I left the state fair long before the awards ceremony, and later that day received a phone call from my coaches. They said that I had qualified for the national competition. However, they also said that I had a lot of work ahead of me. The national competition was a mere month and a half away, and I had struggled greatly on identification and true-or-false.
The next six weeks were a crash course in horticulture, including only one meeting with my coaches. I had a handbook and a plant list to help me study, and it was stressful at times. I still needed to learn the relatively new advanced specimens and also the plants included on the national list, such as fig and yucca, because they are not commonly grown in New York. I also learned that the true-or-false portion of the competition tested on different material than in New York. At the National level, as well as in most other states, the written portion of the test covers information about general growing requirements of groups of plants, as well as topics like irrigation, propagation, and commercial plant production. At my one meeting prior to the competition, I got to see exactly what the competition would be like; my coaches had set up the meeting exactly like the National Competition. I got to see different samples of plants I had not yet seen in person, and it certainly helped to alleviate the stress I had been feeling.
The weekend following my review meeting was the NJHA Convention. NJHA stands for National Junior Horticultural Association, which is very involved with community service and promotes the exploration of jobs in the horticultural industry. I left after school Thursday, October 7th, and finally arrived in Cleveland at around midnight. The morning was spent touring the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The outside of the building is very neat and architectural, and the inside is filled with endlessly interesting exhibits on every great moment in Rock and Roll from its origin to today. Unfortunately, photography was not allowed, but I was very glad I had gotten the opportunity to see it. I saw everything from Michael Jackson’s white glove to hand-written lyrics by John Lennon to stage outfits worn by Elvis. Along with the usual exhibits, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame always has a temporary exhibition highlighting a band or singer in rock and roll history. At the time of my visit, this exhibition featured Bruce Springsteen. There were old guitars of his, a notebook he used to write songs, and albums from previous bands that had failed. On the way out of the museum, my mom and I signed a card for John Lennon, who would have turned 70 that weekend. It was an awesome, awesome experience and I highly recommend it if you are ever in Cleveland (its not like you’d be going to watch the Indians play in October!)
Once we returned to the hotel, I met Reilly Pierce and Robert Rastley from St. Lawrence County who would also be representing New York State in the 4-H division this year. We all helped set up our state display, which highlighted horticultural products in New York. After the welcome banquet Friday night, there were study sessions to review for the following day’s competition. It was extremely helpful, and the specimens we saw that night were the same that were in the competition the following day. Saturday morning began with Horticulture Connections, a Jeopardy-type Horticulture game based on horticulture in the world. The questions ranged from “This is Popeye’s favorite vegetable” to “This is the study of tree rings.” Though the team I was on ended up losing, it was a lot of fun, and some of the questions were similar to those on the written portion later in the day at the competition. A separate New York team ended up winning.
Saturday afternoon was the competition. At first I felt extremely overwhelmed, however, I began to feel much more comfortable as the competition continued. We were all so relieved following the competition, and a pool party was held to celebrate the completion of the stressful part of the convention.
Sunday was spent at Cedar Point, one of the top amusement parks in the world. We first talked to the Head of Horticulture for Cedar Point, Tom Roberts, and he discussed the upkeep of the landscaping of the park. I found myself noticing the landscaping much more after hearing him speak. Cedar Point featured such roller coasters as the Top Thrill Dragster, which reaches 120 mph, goes 420 feet up, and lasts all of 25 seconds.
On Monday, the group toured Willoway Nurseries in Huron, Ohio. Willoway is one of the top production nurseries in the country, and features cutting edge horticultural technology in their greenhouses as well as in their fields, including pot-in-pot planting and advanced irrigation and watering techniques. It was fascinating to see the inner workings of one of the major horticultural industries. Unfortunately, I had to leave after that tour to head home, before the awards banquet.
New York State took home many honors from this competition. We received the “spirit stick”, given to the state with the most spirit during the convention. We also took home the award for the best state display, called the Grand National award. Reilly Pierce came in 8th, I came in 12th, and Robert came in 14th in the 4-H division, out of 36 contestants. Another New Yorker, David Lampman, took home 1st in the open division. Overall the Convention was a huge success, and I can’t wait until next year’s convention, in San Diego!
If you are interested in joining Horticulture, it is a great opportunity to meet new people, and a unique experience for college applications! It is a ton of fun, and it would be great to have more people in Saratoga County participating! Please contact me if you are interested.