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The weather outside was frightful, but inside the St. Mark’s Episcopal Church Parish Hall everything was sunny and bright Saturday when the Calusa Garden Club held its Simply Silver 25th Anniversary-themed Flower Show.

Saturday’s flower show was the finale of the Calusa Garden Club’ Florida Federation of Garden Clubs sanctioned Standard Flower Show that was judged in accordance with the “Standard System of Awarding as set forth by the National Garden Club, Inc. Handbook for Flower Shows, 2007 edition, and – The decision of the judges is final!,” said Flower Show Co-Chair Lindy Kowalczyk.

There were nine judges, some from Naples, one from Fort Lauderdale, and other judges who come down for the winter and reside elsewhere, and they’re all certified by National Garden Clubs, Inc.: Deep South Region; Florida Federation of Garden Clubs, Inc. District IX.

Co-char Lindy Kowalczyk noted that her co-chair was Doris Wentland. The Calusa Garden Club (CGC) committee chairpersons and members began putting the flower show together on Thursday when the containerized or mounted horticulture and cut specimens were brought to the Parish Hall. Then Friday morning the cut specimens and design entries were brought in.

The judging began at 1 p.m. Friday, Kowalczyk explained, noting that the show was then open to the public Saturday at 9 a.m. and closed at 4 p.m. “We raised approximately $410 in donations from visitors during the show, and an additional $450 or so, from our raffle ticket sales.

“We’re working toward the Standard Flower Show Award #5, which means we have to do a book of evidence called Flower Show Achievement Award and we had to have a certain number of entries each in the design, horticulture and type as well as special exhibits.” But that’s not all, she said, there show had to be “theme staged” and this year’s theme was 25th Anniversary, and last year the CGC theme was “Circus.”

“That’s why we had the piano for the Division I – Design theme Anniversary Serenade Class 2 titled Anniversary Waltz. For instance, the horticulture division theme was Sterling Sliver Patterns and each section was titled for classic sterling silver patterns like Chantilly and Paul Revere,” she explained, noting (if you attended the show, dear readers) the staging colors were silver and black. And you thought that those black covers under each entry and all those silver bows and shiny stuff ware just happenstance? Tsk, tsk.

Truth be told, the Calusa Garden Club’s Flower Show was simply gorgeous, and it’s evident that even the judges thought so, judging (I couldn’t resist) by the quality and number of Standard Flower Show top awards seen everywhere in ribbons with rosettes colored in gold, purple, burgundy, to name a few, in the design Ddvision or the brown, green or orange ones, for instance, in the Horticulture Division or Special Exhibits Division. There was even more, but it’s time to list a few of the Standard Flower Show Awards. Did we mention that to merit any one of the following awards you had to merit a blue ribbon for first place? Enough said.

Design division: Award of Design Excellence, Linda Spell; Designers Choice Award, Sue Oldershaw (CGC President); Table Artistry Award, Linda Spell; Petite Award, Mary Marcotte.

Horticultural Division: Award of Cultural Excellence, Linda Colombo; Arboreal Award, Betsy Ross; Award of Merit, Dale DeFeo, Connie Lowery, Barbara Messner, Marion Thompson, Doris Wentland. Calusa Challenge Award, Linda Colombo; Calusa Native Plant Award, Lori Fredericks; Collectors Showcase Award, Bonnie Schneider, Dee Bare;

Special Exhibit Division: Educational Award, Frances Diebler;

Additional National Garden Club Awards: Award of Appreciation, Junior Gardeners.

“We sponsor and support the Junior Garden Program held weekly at Tommie Barfield Elementary School. There’s a different program every week, and we’ve been doing that since the school year started in September,” said Kowalczyk, noting that the Calusa Garden Club of Marco Island was organized in 1982 by Eva Schlieser, who founded the club and recruited the original 35 members with a newspaper ad. The current president is Sue Oldershaw, and the club now has approximately 60 members.