And the winners are...
This last weekend was the cactus club's show/sale.  Here's a link to the club's website... River City Cactus & Succulent Society  I entered 23 plants this year (about twice what I usually do) and I got ribbons on all of them!  So I'll start with the two honorable mentions...

This is a Gasteria (not sure of the species) I've had awhile, and it was in one of the community pots at work.  It had gotten very thick with pups, so I pulled it and potted it for the show.  It had a few long leaves that were a little beat up so I pulled thos out and, voila!, it looked great:

And the other that got an HM ribbon was one of my little Dischidia ovatas:

This one is growing in a little lay pot in a teacup and has been doing particularly well.  I was kind of surprised that it didn't get a higher award, but then I never can quite figure out the criteria, so there were other surprises, like two other Gasteria I showed.  This one, which is really nice, mind you, won a first place ribbon...

It's Gasteria gracilis and wow, is it packed in the pot!  But this one, Gasteria batesiana, is a knockout and it got a second place ribbon...

The photo really doesn't do it justice.  The darker parts are almost black - it's really a striking plant.  I was sure this would be a first place winner!

My little Hoya wayetti in the turtle pot won a third place ribbon...

It was in the "novelty pot" division.  Euphorbia milii was also a third place winner...

It's one lush, full plant!  This Pachypodium (I'm not sure of the species) won a 2nd place ribbon...

Crassula ovata minima (the small leaf Jade) also recieved 2nd place.  It's another one I've been growing in a community pot at work and it's gotten quite pretty, though I probably would have "shaped it up" a bit if I'd given forthought to showing it.  But it looked pretty good even in its somewhat of a "wild child"...

On the other hand, my old Jade that I whacked back last year is looking pretty damn good.  I didn't think it was really show-worthy, mostly because it needs one more season to have a thick enough head of foliage so you can't see the pruning cuts.  But I decided to show it under the "educational" category with an explanation of "how to get a thick-trunked Jade."  Well, it won a first place blue ribbon!...

I know the judges hate it when you grow something else in the same pot as a specimen plant, but I think Haworthias as a ground cover are prettier than rock.

More about my winners tomorrow!