...by their "container" pic ranking lower than an empty bucket, septic tank, and toilet?

What did I miss?

In containers category, a total of 101 pics, toilet pic is #24, Empty bucket #47, another empty bucket #54, septic tank #56.

Are they posted in order of most votes to least? If so, yeah, I was a little surprised that some of those were ranked so high.

Isn't #56 described as a bamboo pot with rainwater? I can't recognize a septic tank. I see a propane tank in the photos, but it comes a lot later. I just think people have different tastes, quirks and differing takes on humor. A week later I might vote for different photos, so I guess frame of mind at the moment of voting affects things, too. I know my own approach is completely muddled! Sometimes I thought it was a good photograph and voted which is I think how it's supposed to work in a 'photo' contest. But often I think I am influenced by a well grown plant and the camera just showed up at the right time. In those cases I'm probably voting on the subject instead of the photograph. Other times something just appeals because of the combination of what's in the photo. Less about the quality of the photo than about the elements seen in the photo. I enjoy the photos presented a lot; not so much the voting. Too hard.

Clicking on the container category, one can look through 79 out of 101 pics. It's possible only the first few pics are in order. If only the first few pics are in order of votes received, IDK why it cuts off at 79 pics. Maybe the ones not shown didn't get any votes?
http://garden.org/apps/photoco...

And forgot to ruminate in initial post about botanical gardens. It seems like an apples'n'oranges situation to include them with personal gardens. For the former, the effort was as extensive as being somewhere where there was a beautiful scene to capture, and pushing a button. For the latter, the effort includes however-many hours of physical labor, planning, tweaking. It's "what I saw that others had done" vs. "what I did in my own yard." It might be cool to separate personal vs. professional gardens in a future contest.

I have no illusions about winning anything in any category because I'm well aware that most of what I do/appreciate/enjoy is outside the parameters of traditional aesthetics, being more about oddities and observing the results of experiments than trying to produce what most would consider traditionally attractive. For example, I prefer a Peperomia flower, or the minuscule, just-big-enough-to-see blooms I found on my watchchain Crassula this summer, to a Peony or daylily, and am well aware that few, if any, others would share the same odd perspective, it's not about me. But doesn't knowing that botanical gardens are part of the mix make it feel silly to spend a few minutes to jump into the fray? I think a lot of others, who do have traditionally pretty gardens that are among the finest of their type, on which they've lavished efforts for decades, would probably feel the same way? IDK.

...and it just seems like fun stuff to over-analyze during the off-season... when there's nothing to deadhead, prune, propagate... :+)

Donald, well said! I had the same thoughts, but failed to present any mention, let alone such an eloquent assessment.

Edited:
Yes, I didn't mention bamboo pot, which I really love with its' caption included, but was confuzzled (and yes, also very amused!) during voting, w/o the caption. And TY if that's propane instead of septic, my bad, clueless about tanks!

But unless I'm counting wrong, bamboo bucket isn't #56?

Maybe the order is different for you than it is for me. There seems to be 10 photos per page on my screen and the second bucket and the propane tank photos are on page 7 out of 8 pages. The propane tank photo would be about #76, I think. and the second bucket #74. I think septic tanks are always underground, so I was looking for an abandoned tank that had been exposed and planted. Sort of like an abandoned swimming pool that's been converted to a garden situation. I've wished the old concrete cellar that once had logs for the top that's at the old house site here was in the yard. Lots of possibilities on using that thing!

Okay I now know what everyone is talking about. I do not get involved in many contest so it was not something I knew was even going on. I have the luck of a slug surrounded by salt so I do not even bother to enter contests.

Okay I took a look. I agree with Donald.....I am not getting the same order of pics you are seeing.

I have to say you Tiffany and Audrey have become my "Want to be when I grow up" girl. I love how both you and Audrey mix your pots for color, combo and space saving pots with the succulents. It is what moved me to my succulent passion.

@purpleinopp, Seeing your combo pots, Tiffany, makes me want to try new combinations as well. Lets me think outside the box

On the picture that you entered, what is the pale plant in the back? Is that a Sanseviera? I'm a little bit mesmerized by that one It really shines with the purple queen and the other succulents around it.

I too now am curious how the pictures are ordered. Most of the threads do not contain every photo that was entered. So I was a bit bummed, but in a different way. Because I was unable to get online for several days, I didn't get to see all or vote first round. Here's my guess: if you didn't vote for your own photo, and no one else voted for it either, then it's likely it's not currently showing up. That, I was disappointed about. So my guess also is that they are showing up in some sort of order as to how many votes received. But if a lot of them only received *1* vote, then maybe no order to that at all. ??

I am also curious about how the finalists and runners up are presented. I'd love to see all of them, and as a submitter, it would be helpful to me to see how many (or few) votes each of my entries garnered. I suppose it may be a bit disheartening if you didn't even get one vote (I don't vote for my own pics) but then again, that is useful information. I don't think anyone should feel slighted, it was just so darn difficult to decide which ones were truly 'the best of the best'.

I agree.

Well...
hope you don't mind me joining in on the 'kind of bummed out' theme here --containers and beyond--

I do know how the results are presented--it is the same as last year where lots of folks wondered the same questions.

The results are ordered according to the number of votes received, and in the case of containers that is a high of 27 and a low of 1.
The photos that received no votes are not displayed.
So, the first few pages are photos that received multiple votes and the last however-many pages are photos that received a single vote. Vote numbers after fifth place are not publicized so there is no way to know when the two-vote photos end and the single-vote photos begin.
Photos that have the same number of votes are displayed in random order.
With all of the single-vote photos in random order, essentially tied for "last place" if you will, it can certainly give the impression that a bucket ranked higher than a propane tank that ranked higher than a container with plants in it, when they may have ranked exactly the same.

Hope that helps.

...and I also vote for more votes! three is just not enough

When I saw that glorious bird I knew I didn't need to vote for it in the first round because I would see it in the second round and vote for it then--so I voted for my distant runner-up little bee because I love that little bee and I didn't want her to be left out is that terrible?

I'd like it if after the 1st three and the honorable mention 4th place were fixed, ALL the photos were back up for viewing whether they got any votes or not. There was one I starred and almost voted for that I can't find. I guess it didn't get a vote. I wanted info on the plant depicted - what it was and where it was growing - all that sort of thing. I can't find it to post the query. It was a really nice specimen of something and a nice photo as well. Really, out of 200 or so photos, there's not much difference between one vote and zero votes. There's not a great deal of difference between three votes and zero votes for that matter.

Oh dang! that is tragic.
Yes, it would be just as well if all the photos were back up for viewing and inquiry.
If you had any idea who may have submitted it...I know the all the photos are view-able and inquire-able from the member's profile whether they got any votes or not. Or if you remembered the category, maybe they submitted others and you could check a few profiles...long shot, I know.
Just wish I could help you find that plant.

dirtdorphins said:
The results are ordered according to the number of votes received, and in the case of containers that is a high of 27 and a low of 1.
The photos that received no votes are not displayed.
So, the first few pages are photos that received multiple votes and the last however-many pages are photos that received a single vote. Vote numbers after fifth place are not publicized so there is no way to know when the two-vote photos end and the single-vote photos begin.
Photos that have the same number of votes are displayed in random order.
With all of the single-vote photos in random order, essentially tied for "last place" if you will, it can certainly give the impression that a bucket ranked higher than a propane tank that ranked higher than a container with plants in it, when they may have ranked exactly the same.

Thanks for posting this. Though I didn't know for sure, this is as how I thought it probably worked. I am no photographer (yet anyway - have been reading up at the photography forum but generally too busy in summer to put much into practice with flowers outdoors and such), and only submitted two photos just because I liked them. My photos can't compare with those posted.

TY for the inputs & helpful explanations! I wasn't surprised at all about the top finishers (in the categories in which I participated.) But sure was curious about the empty bucket & tank, in particular.

Cinta, TYVM! Ibis, TYVM. I think you're asking about this one?
http://garden.org/pics/2015-11...
It has Sansevieria 'Moonshine,' Tradescantia pallida, Graptoveria 'Opalina' and I think the little reddish succulent is a Sedeveria, but not totally sure I've kept track of it for sure (I move stuff around often.)

Tiffany - yes, that's the one I love that Sansevieria, I'm going to have to get 'Moonshine' Thank you!