Thanks Vickie

Paul - you do have great shots! Good luck to you.

Now, after the contest is over, I would love to know where that cemetery is located that is in the garden/landscape group. There are several photos submitted that have the cemetery in it, and that is by far one of the best landscaped resting grounds I have ever seen.

no need to wait!
http://garden.org/thread/view_...

that is by far one of the best landscaped resting grounds I have ever seen as well

Thank you Leslieray !!!
@HamiltonSquare

I remember that photo. It is totally fascinating.

What a challenge indeed!
I assume we all got the system notification this morning--close contest, every vote counts, time for the folks who have yet to participate to decide the winners, and the last chance for the rest of us to agonize over our choices...
Should I change my mind, again? re-flip the coin? 2/3 or 3/5?
How many votes did I 'waste' on some picture that I really like, for some incredibly good reason or another, that probably no one else does? Taste is so subjective...too hard to anticipate what the popular vote may be and which photo may need a nudge vote. Cripes! and what if it is one of my own? that I didn't vote for because I've seen it a gazillion times and it doesn't move me like something fresh to my eyes???

Oh, the madness! It would be easiest to vote for three that should not win. I tried to do that iteratively, like kicking photos off the island, but I could not continue. I still need way more than three votes for truly awesome photos in each category!

Y'all have mentioned bugs/birds (and apparently lizards and frogs ) and macros already--not too surprising as categories with tough choices. Trees and shrubs--wow--another category loaded with tough choices for me!


Spectacular show everybody! Pleasure to view and dang near practically impossible to 'judge'!
I hope that there will be some mechanism to discuss a photo and/or let the photographer know how we may have admired a particular photo that didn't win, because there are many winning photos here that will not make the final cut.

Just a few more hours of anticipation...

Does anyone know how many votes we will get for the final 16?
1? 3? just curious...

I think we still get three votes in the best of show judging.

Well said dirtdorphins.
It would be interesting to see the final tallies for each photo.

Thank you for that information Jon.

It has been cold and a little windy here so I am spending time at the computer. I've been looking through my folders and found a number that I wish I had entered. Maybe next time. I join each of you who are anxious to see the winners. What is an appropriate amount of time to wait before doing a photo contest again? Will there be more enthusiasm or will the newness have worn off? Guess Jon, Dave, and Trish will make that decision. We could give a little input It would be fun to see the vote count for the top several photos but might be hurtful to see the count for the bottom ones.

I don't know how a photo contest could get old.
I really like the idea someone gave of having a photo contest that tied in with the plant of the week/month. What a great way to show case the plant/plants.

That was indeed a good idea and I'm contemplating the question. It'll be nice to have the rest of 2014 to think about it before a decision has to be made.

For Best of Show judging, Jon is right. You'll have 3 votes to cast among the 16 first place winners.

Dave that would truly be awesome if we had that type of photo contest. Then maybe the winners of each contest could compete for Best in Show at the end of the year?

What time does the final voting start? I am so excited to see the semi-final entries.

I would enjoy a category for shade plants or shade gardens.

That would be a great category to have Paul.

Best of Show voting starts in just under 3 hours from now. (6pm CT). You'll see the link on the homepage.

How about a best of banners contest????? We have so many beautiful ones already on file but might find a few new ones if it were a contest.

Great idea Marilyn.
Thank you for the voting update Dave.

dirtdorphins said:What a challenge indeed!
I assume we all got the system notification this morning--close contest, every vote counts, time for the folks who have yet to participate to decide the winners, and the last chance for the rest of us to agonize over our choices...
Should I change my mind, again? re-flip the coin? 2/3 or 3/5?
How many votes did I 'waste' on some picture that I really like, for some incredibly good reason or another, that probably no one else does? Taste is so subjective...too hard to anticipate what the popular vote may be and which photo may need a nudge vote. Cripes! and what if it is one of my own? that I didn't vote for because I've seen it a gazillion times and it doesn't move me like something fresh to my eyes???

Oh, the madness! It would be easiest to vote for three that should not win. I tried to do that iteratively, like kicking photos off the island, but I could not continue. I still need way more than three votes for truly awesome photos in each category!

Y'all have mentioned bugs/birds (and apparently lizards and frogs ) and macros already--not too surprising as categories with tough choices. Trees and shrubs--wow--another category loaded with tough choices for me!


Spectacular show everybody! Pleasure to view and dang near practically impossible to 'judge'!
I hope that there will be some mechanism to discuss a photo and/or let the photographer know how we may have admired a particular photo that didn't win, because there are many winning photos here that will not make the final cut.

Just a few more hours of anticipation...

Does anyone know how many votes we will get for the final 16?
1? 3? just curious...

Amen Dirt, amen!

I would like to see a foliage category next time.

All I can say is ..... that trying to narrow down photos in each category to just 3 was a real challenge. I agree about the bugs, birds, etc. category. Some awesome photos that I just had to eliminate from my voting. Ack! But what a mini-vacation to spend a little time going through all the categories and photos!

I am on visual sensory overload now .....