Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/104211
Sarasota News Leader January 18, 2013 Page 51 AMERICAN ORCHID SOCIETY HONORS SELBY GARDENS SPECIMENS The American Orchid Society awarded Marie Selby Botanical Gardens a Judges Commendation Award and a trophy for "Best Miniature of Show" for individual plant displays at the Sarasota Orchid Society's 56th Annual Orchid Show, A Symphony of Orchids, the Gardens has announced. Both plants are available for the public to view in Selby Gardens' Orchid Alcove, inside the Tropical Conservatory, the release adds. Selby Gardens is located at 811 S. Palm Ave., Sarasota. The American Orchid Society (AOS) is known and respected worldwide for its horticultural judging system, a Selby Gardens news release says. Each month, 35 judging centers around the United States and Canada evaluate plant submissions from the public. In early January, judges assembled at A Symphony of Orchids, where Selby Gardens displayed specimens of Dendrochilum wenzelii and Angraecum distichum, the release says. The Dendrochilum wenzelii was selected to receive an AOS Judges Commendation Award for "being extremely well grown and artistically mounted, displaying more than 1,080 flowers on 96 inflorescences (flower spikes)," the release adds. According to the AOS website, Judges Commendation awards are given "for distinctive characteristics that the judges unanimously feel should be recognized but cannot be scored in the customary ways," the release notes. In addition to that honor, the Dendrochilum wenzelii earned the trophy for "Best Species of Show." Selby's Angraecum distichum also caught the judges' eye, the release says. "This stunning specimen earned the trophy for 'Best Miniature of Show,'" the release points out. Selby Gardens' Dendrochilum wenzelii and Angraecum distichum have earned American Orchid Society awards. Contributed photo