In September 2013, members of the local bromeliad societies from Louisiana and Texas (along with a few adventurous Californians and Floridians) congregated in Addison, on the outskirts of Dallas, for a show and sale--the 35th annual Soutwest Bromeliad Guild show. This year, the SW Guild Show was somewhat enlarged by the addition of the International Cryptanthus Society show and sale held in the same room.
In the competitive show, 23 exhibitors entered 114 plants in the horticultural divisions and 41 exhibits in the artistic divisions. The head table was larger than usual because several of the exhibitors with far too many Cryptanthus on their hands put entries in the SW Guild Show and in the Cryptanthus Society Show, making themselves eligible for both BSI awards and Cryptanthus Society awards. The Cryptanthus Society Show has been covered in the Cryptanthus Society Journal 28(3); here I will just note that their show added another 43 horticultural entries and 10 artistic entries. Figure 1 gives some idea of how the Show Room appeared.
The sales room featured several commercial growers from the local area and attracted vendors from as far away as Florida and California.
Although the large number of Cryptanthus entered, thanks to the influence of the Cryptanthus Society show, guaranteed that the largest number of major awards in the Guild Show went to entries featuring Cryptanthus, entries featuring Dyckia or Tillandsia were not far behind.
The Mulford B. Foster plaque for the best bromeliad in the Horticultural Divisions was awarded to a large clump of Tillandsia funckiana (Fig. 2) exhibited by Rick Richtmyer of Houston. This clump is notable for the number of living leaves on each growing segment, a sure sign of vigorous growth under excellent growing conditions. Among entries in the Artistic Divisions, the Morris Henry Hobbs plaque went to Allyn Pearlman of Houston for an Artistic Arrangement titled 'Eternal Flame' that featured Cryptanthus 'Corrine' (Fig. 3). Another special award, the John M. Anderson Best Aechmea Award went to Elizabeth Patterson of Dallas for a blooming specimen of Aechmea lueddemanniana x weilbachii (Fig. 4). The same entry was also judged the best plant in Division I (Single blooming plant). This photo illustrates the very strong influence of Aechmea weilbachii on the leaves of the hybrid.
Other Division winners...