Each year nearby Plant City, the Strawberry Capital of the South, hosts the Florida Strawberry Festival.

It is a fun event, and students in eastern Hillsborough County are given a day off to attend the fair, which has a midway, numerous food and beverage vendors, an amphitheater that daily offers shows with groups such as the Oakridge Boys and Alabama, and numerous judging events such as with livestock and crafts.

One of the judged events is Horticulture, and this year Joyce decided to again compete. She last competed in 2011, before all her time was consumed in taking care of Fred and his illnesses.

In previous competitions, such as at the Florida State Fair and the Strawberry Fest, Joyce had competed very successfully, winning numerous Blue Ribbons and even some Best in Show awards. (A perhaps overly simplified explanation of Best in Show is that you not only have the Blue Ribbon winner in the banana category, but that your banana category winner is better that the winners of all other fruit categories ... so in this example you are Best among all fruits competing.)

(It turns that that Joyce’s mother Irene had also been a Best in Show winner in various Women’s World categories at the Florida State Fair and at the Florida Strawberry Fest.)

So back to this year, where Joyce's main entry in Horticulture would be in the Fairy Garden event.

The first task was to find a suitable container for the garden, since a simple, though elegant, dish wouldn’t be enough. We tried building around a wooden giraffe purchased in Jamaica and brought back to the US with some cost and effort. We also tried a wood base from a cut-down tree, but it split and had to be discarded.

Meanwhile Joyce and her friend Lu visited a Flea Market in Plant City and purchased a antique bird cage. It was around 13" in diameter and 26" high. That became the Fairy Garden home.

Then there were multiple trips to Home Depot, a plant store in downtown Tampa, and even to Walmart to find just the right plants. Joyce also had plants mailed in from Arizona and California. And there was a trip to Hobby Lobby and Dollar Tree to get the fairies and fairy home.

As the plants were collected they had to be cared for. And different plants need to be cared for in different ways. Some need sun; some need shade. Some need water; some can only have a very, very small amount of water.

Joyce had a good time talking with friends from the Plant City Garden Club and other competitors who wdere turning in their entries. (The Garden Club people registering the submissions were very glad Joyce had listed all 32 of her different plant types on 3x5 cards.)