Front Garden Competition and What the Judges Are Looking For
Bishop’s Waltham in Bloom has been holding an annual front garden competition for many years so we felt it was time to refresh its scope, although it does remain broadly the same. All we’ve done is add one more category, The Best Front Garden, and clarify for entrants what the judges are looking for.

In private gardens, the Hanging Basket needs to be planted up with healthy, well-cared for plants, and have a balanced shape and floral impact. The judges will be looking at just one basket, so if you have more than one, we’d like you to indicate (with a ribbon or something similar) which one is to be judged.

In the Best Display category, you can have some fun! The judges will want to see a number of containers (a minimum of three but they can all be different sizes and shapes) displayed together to make a colourful and interesting group with lots of floral impact. Or this category could consist of some imaginative ideas for planting up a feature such as a wheelbarrow or a bicycle. The main point here is that this is a floral display, which is not planted in the ground.

The Best Front Garden category widens the scope to include more than floral, so as well as colour and flowers it can feature 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 the garden cannot be seen from the road due to high fencing, wall or hedges, access will be needed on the day of judging.

The categories for the commercial premises remain the same. The hanging baskets at each one 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 floral display of containers.
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 your premises look, but also how your street looks and how lovely Bishop’s Waltham looks!