​Our 94th annual show was held at Chicago Botanic Garden on September 19 and 20, 2026.

A recap by president Jim Kassner

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Wow! What a great CSDS Show this year, and one full of firsts.

• 45 – The number of exhibitors

• 12 – Novices

• 5 – States represented

• 800 – Competitive blooms on the tables

• 16 buckets – The number of buckets of beautiful blooms provided by our member Liz Cardellafor for the flower tower she built

• $1000 – Flower sales at the end of the show, including those from our members and the tower.  A huge increase over previous years. Proceeds from the flower sale help subsidize our Awards Banquet.

• 50 – The record number of judges and clerks who determined this year's winners

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Speaking of winners.  Take a look at the list of those who won awards.

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Our show is growing, and that bodes well for the future of our club. So many members deserve thanks for their hard work.

• Kevin Maloney, Tom Krewenka, and Laura Matz led the team that delivered our equipment and set up the show, and they led the breakdown afterward as well.

• George Koons compiled all the data to determine the winners.

• Rosemarie Magura recruited and scheduled our volunteers and handled Artistic Design with Lindalee Stuckey.

• Jackie Myers handled photography with assistance from John Kwak, and Laura Matz also managed the Honor Table blooms for final judging and reviewed all the clerking sheets.

• Our Treasurer, Sonia Harmon, ran the till for the flower sale on Sunday.

• Dave Groesch, Charmaine Wuestenfeld, and George Koons kept the troops fed with food deliveries.

• Marian and Jerry Landerholm handled the Classification Table and it was loaded! For those not familiar with this task it takes time and knowledge. Marian and Jerry are our most tenured Sr. Judges.

• Last but not least, Anne Allodi and her Memberhip Teams recruited 37 more members pushing our membership total to 419 members!!!!​

 

Thank you, one and all! We're grateful to every volunteer who helped in ways big and small, and we appreciate each member who pitched in. It was a wonderful example of everyone working together to put on a great event.

 

Here are some photos for you to enjoy.