Youth Ornamental Plant Show rewards young growers at Strawberry Festival

PLANT CITY, Fla. - The 49th annual Youth Ornamental Plant Show took place at the Strawberry Festival recently. The show and its sales encourage the production of high-quality ornamental plants and reward young growers. 

The students who took place in the competition are in 4-H, FAA, or other youth organizations. Each of the participants finds a unique plant species that inspires them, and then they have to achieve production quality for the show months later. 

"What we find is that these kids go far and wide looking for plants," said Shawn Steed, an extension agent for ornamental plant production in Hillsborough and Polk counties. "I'm always impressed and usually there's one or two plants I have never seen or heard of that show up here at this event."

Once the judges painstakingly go through hundreds of plants, the awards are given out for the best quality and show. Following the award ceremony, the plants are then live auctioned to new owners.