Paph. Krull's Worthy Web 'Aldarra', FCC/AOS

[John M]

Thanks for the reply, Bill.

To answer your question, I believe the judge in question gave the plant an 88 which was certainly fair. Agreed.Also, this particular judge tends to have strong opinions about many things and isn't shy about expressing them. Fair enough. After all, if everyone was as quiet as a churchmouse, nobody would learn anything.The others on his team would take his comments in that context. Well okay; but, we're not really discussing how he might have affected the other judges. We're discussing how he (may have), applied his own, personal biases to his scoring. Although, if his comments were serious and one or more of the other judges realised that, their scores may have ended up lower than if he'd not made the derogatory comments in the first place.The plant received an 89.5 which rounds up to a 90. Remember that the scores have to be within a 6 point range.... It would be VERY intersting to know what each of the other scores were and how they compared to this judge's score; but, that information is only useful in the context of us knowing whether or not the judge was joking or making a serious comment about the dorsal size.

The judging score sheet is pretty well defined, but the ability to apply the standards is the art of judging. Many plants don't fit perfectly into the system but are quite deserving of awards. Agreed....I understand that it's an imperfect process; but, the thing that I'm hanging onto is the possibility of a judge knocking a charlesworthii primary hybrid for having a dorsal that is too big. To me, that is completely indefensible because the whole point of using charlesworthii as a parent is to exagerate the size of the dorsal....while still retaining it's integrity (shape, flatness, etc.). An oversized, floppy dorsal that can't hold up under it's own weight would of course not be worthy of any award. This plant is a spectacular example of the breeder having successfully achieved his goal....and it's that kind of achievement that the judging system is supposed to reward, is it not? After all, since the judging system does grant awards to deformed (albeit attractive or at least, interesting), peloric flowers, how can anyone say that an extra large, round, full dorsal on a charlesworthii hybrid is a detriment? IMO, if the judge's comment was serious, he needs more training.

 

[Brian Monk]

Fantastic plant, Scott. Deserving of the award. Probably deserving of a cultural award in the future, as it seems to be incredibly vigorous.

An aside : Do these charlesworthii x Maudiae types breed on? I would imagine that no hybrids have been registered even if they are fertile, but would anyone here know if they have been used successfully as parents??

 

[Kevin]

I don't normally like these types either, but this one is nice! Great job!

Anyone in Minnesota has to drive hundreds of miles to get to ANY judging center!

Even further in Canada!! :sob: