Are you pleased with your plans for how your front garden is coming along? Do you like making a display of pots and containers for the summer, or looking after a full and cheerful hanging basket? If so, why not consider entering the Bishops Waltham in Bloom Floral Competition? Closing date for entries is on 30th June.
The front garden competition – and it is about front gardens – takes place every summer, when two judges (kind people, not from Bishops Waltham, who understand the frustrations of gardening and the vagaries of the weather!) are taken round the town to assess the entries in the following classes:
Private Property
- Best Hanging Basket
- Best Display
- Best Front Garden
- Most Florally Attractive Street
- Most Florally Attractive Part Street
Commercial Premises
- Best Hanging Baskets
- Best Display.
The size of your front garden or your driveway or your courtyard doesn’t matter – it’s all a question of enhancing not only how it looks but also how your street looks, and therefore how lovely Bishops Waltham looks!
We think it might help if we clarify for entrants what the judges are wanting to see.
In private gardens, the hanging basket should be planted up with healthy, well-cared for plants, and have a well-balanced shape and floral impact. You don’t need to have planted it up yourself but you do need to have looked after it for six weeks or so before judging.
In the Best Display category, you can have real fun! The judges will want to see at least three containers, which can all be different sizes and shapes, displayed together to make an eye-catching, colourful and interesting group with lots of floral impact. This category could also consist of some imaginative ideas for planting up a feature such as a wheelbarrow or a bicycle. The main point here is that it is not planted in the ground.
The Best Front Garden category widens the scope to include more than floral, so as well as colourful herbaceous plants, it can feature shape and structure in the form of shrubs and even trees. If there’s a lawn it should be neatly mown with clear-cut edges (unless it is part of a wild garden). Please note that if a front garden cannot be seen from the road, access will be needed when judging takes place.
In the categories for the commercial premises, the hanging baskets will be judged as a whole, whether there is one basket or many. And the display category is the same as for the private premises, ie a clever and colourful display of containers.
If you’d like to take part, please contact Jacky Kippenberger, j.kippenberger@btinternet.com for an entry form. All entry forms will need to be completed by 30th June and judging will take place on Friday 17th July. All competitors will be invited to our annual BBQ which is held at the end of August. This is when the winners will be announced, and the shields and certificates given out. We look forward to hearing from you!
Alternatively an entry form can be found by following this link.