I have noticed that some growers end up with a boat load of "Award of Merits" almost every year for their plants, while other growers never have any at all. I think those are voted on by garden judges who tour your garden... ?? A certain number of votes are required to get an award- but unless you have the judges, you are out of luck. Quite a few of those are only with the important people, and many that actually are deserving of that award are left out by being in an area where there are no local garden judges. Always seemed a bit tilted to me....
