woohoo!
I entered two plants in the county fair and won two first prizes!
First, this plant won first prize in the Foliage cagegory at the county fair:
It's a Begonia Rex (miniature) 'Little Keepsake' I grew in a bonsai dish with some Hemianthus micranthemoides (baby tears....normally grown aquatic unless you're an experimenter like me) as ground cover.
Second, this plant won first prize in the Dish Garden cagegory:
Pictures never do this one any justice...the veins on the leaves are sparkly like lightning bolts and the leaves are velvety. It's a jewel orchid Macodes petola in a bowl with Vesicularia dubyana (Java moss...another aquatic refugee). There's actually a second jewel orchid in the back of the dish that is chocolate brown with gold veins, but it's still very small. I hope to develop this dish into a half brown/half green sort of yin-yang deal. The brown orchid is a close relative of the green (it's also a Macodes) so it makes an interesting contrast.
And for fun, here's my one and only Phal, currently in bloom in my living room
I got 12 blooms on 2 spikes off this plant...a personal best for me.