Enter Your Plants

Have orchids flowering in December? Share them at the Summer Orchid Festival!

Whether you regularly exhibit or are entering your first show, we welcome eligible growers to bring their summer-flowering orchids. Your plants help create a wonderful display for visitors and celebrate the diversity of orchids grown by our community.

Where and when

Georges Hall Community Centre
188 Birdwood Road, Georges Hall NSW

All plants must be entered, labelled and in their correct classes by 8 am on Saturday. Please allow enough time to complete your benching cards and place your plants.

Plants must remain on display until the show closes on Sunday.

Who can enter?

Exhibitors must be members of the Orchid Society of NSW or one of its affiliated societies.

Each plant must have been owned and in the exhibitor’s possession for at least six months before the show.

First-time exhibitors are welcome. If you are unsure about your eligibility or which class suits your plant, contact us before the festival.

How to enter your plants

1. Read the show schedule

Download the 2026 Show Schedule and check the classes and conditions of entry before bringing your plants.

The schedule includes classes for:

Cattleya (Laelia) purpurata and other species.
Slipper orchid species and hybrids.
Cattleya alliance and Oncidium alliance hybrids.
Phalaenopsis and other vandaceous hybrids.
Australian and Australasian hybrids.
Miniature species and hybrids.
Other hybrids.

Choose the appropriate class for each plant, including the subclass where applicable.

2. Prepare your plants

Plants should be healthy, disease-free and presented neatly.

Before leaving home:

Remove weeds, dead foliage and unsightly dead or badly marked leaves and bulbs.
Clean pots and check that plant names are correct.
Stake flower spikes where necessary without changing their natural habit.
Pack plants securely to protect flowers during transport.

Staking must follow Orchid Society of NSW standards. For single-flowered orchids such as Paphiopedilum and Lycaste, ties or supports must be no higher than immediately below the ovary. Check the schedule for the full requirements.

3. Bring your plants during a benching session

You can bring your plants on either:

Friday 4 December, 6:45 pm to 8 pm, or
Saturday 5 December, 7:30 am to 8 am.

“Benching” means checking in your plants and placing them in the appropriate competition classes before judging.

Report to the booking-in person when you arrive for entry instructions and help finding the correct classes.

4. Complete a benching card for every plant

This year, each entry must have a completed benching card placed with the plant.

Entry cards will be available at various society meetings before the show, will have them available on the day or you can download them below and fill in beforehand:

SOF Benching Cards (2)

SOF Benching Cards (2).pdf

79 KB

Each card must clearly show:

Plant name: The species or hybrid name, including the cultivar name if known.
Class: The class number and subclass letter, where applicable.
Exhibitor: Your name.

Please write clearly and check that each card is placed with the correct plant.

5. Place your plants in the correct classes

Once checked in, place each plant in its allocated class with its completed benching card.

If you are unsure where a plant belongs, ask the booking-in person or Show Marshal for help.

The Show Marshal and Committee may rearrange, remove or reject entries and adjust classes where necessary.

Entering a first-flowering seedling

If your plant qualifies as a seedling, nominate it when you check in so it can be identified for seedling judging.

For this show, a seedling is a complete plant grown from seed and flowering for the first time. It retains seedling status throughout the flowering season in which it first flowered.

Mericlones and plants that have been grown on or divided before exhibition are not eligible as seedlings under the schedule.

Eligible entries receive an identifying marker: a red “S” on a small yellow triangle mounted on a wire pin. Provide the plant’s class and location when collecting the marker, and place it with the entry.

Miniature and novelty classes

Some classes have specific definitions. Please check the schedule before entering.

Miniatures: Classes 6 and 18 are for mature plants that are naturally diminutive, with correspondingly small flowers. The schedule specifies an expected flowering portion of the raceme no longer than 6 cm and a flower span no greater than 15 mm.

Novelty slipper hybrids: Class 11 includes intersectional hybrids between single-flowered and multi-flowered groups. It excludes crosses solely between sequential and simultaneous polyfloral groups.

If you need help interpreting these classes, contact us before the show or speak to the show marshal during setup.

Judging and prizes

Judging begins at 8 am on Saturday 5 December, under Australian Orchid Council standards, by judges nominated by the Orchid Society of NSW.

The judges’ decision is final. A first or second prize may be withheld if the judges consider that no entry warrants it.

Champion awards recognise Cattleya (Laelia) purpurata, Cypripedioideae species or hybrids, other species, other hybrids, specimen plants and seedlings.

Initial class placings are provisional until results are collated and finalised on Sunday.

The prize presentation is at 2:30 pm on Sunday 6 December.

Collecting your plants

Plants must remain on the show bench until 3 pm on Sunday 6 December, when the festival closes.

Care of exhibits

The Orchid Society of NSW will take reasonable care of exhibits but does not accept responsibility for loss, destruction or damage. Please read the full conditions of entry in the show schedule.

Selling plants

Plant sales are available to show exhibitors and volunteers who work their assigned rostered shift.

The commission is 15% for plants owned by volunteers who work a shift and 20% for other eligible sales, including plants owned by exhibitors who do not volunteer.