Fairest Of The Faire 2012

The votes have been tabulated in accordance with the rules of the official annual Fairegarden Viola Beauty Pageant, click here to see all of the contestants and read their bios. The winner is Fiona. Please give it up for sweet Fiona as she flutters along the knot garden pathways, waving, blowing kisses and tossing biodegradable beads and recycled paper wrapped organic treats to the adoring throngs. As promised, she will use the prize money to further her education as a freshwater marine biologist with hopes of gaining employment with an eco-friendly firm in that field.

Runner up in the voting, with fewer than a third as many picks as the runaway runway queen Fiona, was her sister, or could be cousin, Ginger. Congratulations to you both, my dears!

***
Memory is an elusive butterfly. During the winter doldrums, which this year are coming in driplets between warmer days, with or without sunshine which burns away any doldrum-like emotions, we enjoy perusing the old posts from years gone by. Doing so, looking at the statistics page offered by WordPress at the least viewed stories, I feel sorry for them. These are perfectly good blog offerings, with smaller photos ala the Blogger platform that we used in the first few months before switching over to WordPress, that can be clicked upon to enlarge. Back on topic, a Viola/Pansy Beauty Pageant was discovered as part of the March 2008 Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. Blooms Of March GBBD 2008 click on the title to view it. The rules were different than the official contest written about for the first time in May of that same year. Store bought, with only names given, these were a delightful mix of colors and form, but none of them were growing in the knot garden gravel. These were purchased and planted in containers and in the ground. The winner was…

…Miss Margaret, Fairest of the Faire Garden, March 2008. She certainly was a beauty, wasn’t she? It is funny to me that no mention was made at all of this preliminary beta version of the official Viola Beauty Pageant. Was that intentional? Honestly, I don’t recall. But we honor all the beautiful pansies and violas that grace us with their charms, so welcome after the winter, whatever sort of weather it blows our way.

Frances

~ by fairegarden on January 23, 2012.

Posted in Musings

12 Responses to “Fairest Of The Faire 2012”

Well, congrats to Fiona, no hard feelings that she was not who I voted for. I thought others did better in the talent portion. But, cheers to Fiona! May she bloom long and prosper in Faire Garden.

Thanks for being so gracious, Carol. The finalists were all winners. It was an honor for them to be in the voting, don’t you agree?
Frances

Carol said this on January 23, 2012 at 6:36 am | Reply
Frances,

Very entertaining display. I found out on Saturday the nursery that provided us with all our pansies and violas was selling them for a buck a six pack and 50 cents for 4 inch pots, no room for more now….

Thanks Randy. Gosh, I wish I lived near that nursery, I am very good at finding room for more violas! They like being squished together.
Frances

Randy said this on January 23, 2012 at 7:01 am | Reply
I ‘m so proud and feel so validated…Fiona captivated me instantly and I have no regrets about giving her my vote. (I only hope I will feel as good about my choice this coming November. Shhh…don’t go there, Michaele!)
I love Miss Margaret. Although she seems quite dainty, she has a luminosity that certainly draws attention. Was she among the original contributors to the gene pool that created Fiona?

Thanks Micheale, I am glad you are happy with your choice. She was very, very popular. Miss Margaret is a pansy, not a viola, but what a beauty! She was planted down by the house, nowhere near the knot garden which is way at the top of our steep sloping property. The original plantings up there were a yellow/white/pale blue viola of the Sorbet variety, back in 2000.
Frances

michaele said this on January 23, 2012 at 7:40 am | Reply
I hope no one’s feelings were hurt. They are all beautiful and it was an honor to have been nominated.

Oh no, Layanee, this was all in good fun. No hurt feelings or jealousy, I am happy to report. Life is ephemeral for these May blooming volunteers. The heat and dryness of that season makes short work of them up in the sunny knot garden gravel. They will only last a couple of weeks, at best. This is really a case of life’s too short!
Frances

Layanee said this on January 23, 2012 at 7:51 am | Reply
Congrats to Fiona, may her plans to be a freshwater marine biologist be realized and her reign over the Knot Garden be benign. Fingers crossed for beautiful offspring. xoxogail

Thanks Gail. Fiona was quite fetching with that interesting coloration. I hope there are similar, and new, different colors this year. The ones I planted last fall were a maroon/white mix. It should be interesting.
Frances

Gail said this on January 23, 2012 at 7:57 am | Reply
I’m happy about Fiona and now that I see them almost together, feeling a little wistful for Ginger. She truly is a beauty and I’m glad she is the runner up. I have to remind myself that for myself it was Fiona by a whisker. Sigh. They are all winners, though, aren’t they? Especially you, Frances. As for Miss Margaret, she just shines in that photo – what a beauty.

Thanks Barbara, you are too sweet. Seeing both Fiona and Ginger so close, I wonder if it was Fiona being shown first, or the bio that might have swayed the voters. They are quite similar. As always, my photography is not consistent, either. There were some real beauties that were not chosen as finalists due to blurry shots. Now Miss Margaret is stunning, I agree.
Frances

Barbara H. said this on January 23, 2012 at 9:27 am | Reply
Beautiful Fiona!! well deserved 1st place

Thanks GT, she is/was quite a beauty!

Gone Tropical said this on January 23, 2012 at 10:40 am | Reply
Fiona’s spirit is powerful…….Miss Margaret is another fave of mine. A little timid, but very happy. Thanks, Frances, for being a nurturing midwife and sharing……..

BTW………when I look at Fiona, the word “HALLELUJAH!” comes to mind……..what’s not to love?!?

Also…….the tiara is to DIE for! Woot!

Thanks for your enthusiasm, Linda! I did have fun with the tiara, after studying them on Pinterest! HA
Frances
ps, I combined your comments, as is usually done with multiples on one post.

Linda said this on January 23, 2012 at 11:42 am | Reply
Such vibrant colours, a lovely lift on a cool January day!

Thanks Gaz, glad you enjoyed this little bit of fluff.
Frances

Gaz said this on January 23, 2012 at 4:50 pm | Reply
Fun!!

Thanks!

Janet, The Queen of Seaford said this on January 23, 2012 at 9:08 pm | Reply
Congratulations to Princess Fiona! I applaud her choice of biodegradable beads as well. All the candidates were lovely, but now that I see Margaret, I think I would have voted for her for a second reign as beauty queen!

Thanks Rose. Margaret would have been unbeatable! What a looker. I have never seen her likes again for sale, or she would be purchased by the gas guzzler-loads!
Frances

Rose said this on January 24, 2012 at 9:11 am | Reply
I am not quite sure when a viola slides into being a pansy. Love the ones that have smutty faces. Splendid kitschery Frances.

Thanks Catharine. I am not sure of the difference either, other than size of flower. I like the violas because they make up for lack of size with multitudes of blooms that don’t need deadheading. And they reseed, in the gravel knot garden paths, anyway. You don’t get the variety of colors from violas as you do from the pansies. I wish the breeders would devote more attention to that.
Frances

catharine howard said this on January 25, 2012 at 4:33 am | Reply

Fairegarden