COUNCIL OF GARDEN CLUBS TO HOLD WEEKEND FLOWER SHOW

Cape Girardeau area gardeners won't be able to rest on their laurels Saturday and Sunday. They will be judged on their laurels, along with their roses, ferns, irises and other plants.

The Council of Garden Clubs, composed of five Cape Girardeau horticulture organizations, will sponsor its annual standard flower show this weekend at the Family Life Center of the Centenary United Methodist Church, 333 N. Ellis.

When doors open to the public at 1 p.m. Saturday, ribbons will have been awarded for first, second and third place and honorable mentions in more than 40 classes. Exhibitors will be judged on creative design, color harmony and distinction.

Publicity chairwoman Edna Ruth Fischer said the council has sponsored flower shows each year for the past 35 years. New green thumbs enter every time, along with the perennial gardeners.

There are pages of rules from the National Council of State Garden Clubs for exhibitors to follow. Six nationally accredited judges will pick the best flowers, although not literally.

Fischer and other garden club members hope the show will expose people to the beauty of gardening and perhaps help membership.

"Garden clubs have a place in the community, and there aren't any other organizations that will do what they will," Fischer said. "But people only have so much time, and they have to choose what they want to do with it."

Each of Cape Girardeau's five clubs sponsors a different project. For example, the Cape Girardeau Garden Club makes Christmas wreaths for the Veterans Home and other buildings. But all of the clubs join together in caring for the rose garden in Capaha Park.

The flower show will run from 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday and noon to 3 Sunday. Sponsors will ask a $1 donation for the upkeep of Capaha Park's rose garden.