An abundance of blossoms made for a blooming good show!

April’s meeting of the gardening club is traditionally our Spring Show and what a show it was! The challenge each year is to see what is in bloom in our gardens and to find flowers that have not been either battered by wind and rain or scorched by sunshine.
Many varieties of daffodils had come and gone quite early this year, but tulips seemed to be in their element, just in time for the show. Blossom too seemed to be in abundance and so the village hall was filled with wonderful floral displays.
Elsie Jordan was again our judge this year and as always she carried out her duties with care and professionalism. Elsie commented on the quality of the entries and how difficult her job had been choosing from so many worthy entries. She said it had been the best standard she had seen at the club and Elsie has been judging for many many years.
The Jack Brazier shield which is given for ‘best in show’, was awarded to Tricia John for a pot of stunning tulips. Tricia had won the tulip bulbs in the gardening club raffle at the October meeting and planted them up in the autumn. What a super story! Tricia was also awarded first prize in the ‘Pot of Spring bulbs’ class, so well done Tricia.

Other entries worthy of a mention were Judy Robertson’s single daffodils,
Glenys Allen’s small vase of mixed flowers, Ruth Henley’s vase of blossom, Laura Jones’ large flowered double daffodils, Sue Johnson’s bowl of succulents, Molly Jones’ hellebores and Margaret Link’s mixed daffodils.
Finally, the much coveted prize for the longest stick of rhubarb went to Ruth Henley and I believe it was two feet long! We must find out Ruth’s secrets of success.
The ‘overall show winner’ prize this was was a draw between Laura Jones and myself, so we were each awarded a trophy and therefore there was no runner up this year.

Whilst the judging took place, members enjoyed a cuppa and home bakes, kindly served by Sharon again this month, and a catch-up with friends before beginning the challenge of the gardening quiz.
Our experienced Chair, Sheila Maddocks set the questions, using her extensive knowledge, to produce a very tricky quiz. This year’s winners were Tricia John, David Wall and Sally Harris. Well done to them!
Laura Jones once again took on the coordination of the entries to the photograph competition and did an excellent job of displaying them to great effect. The winning entry was from a new member, Sue Johnson, who had captured a beautiful image of a bee pollinating a flower. This will be used as the cover image on the gardening club’s printed programme for 2026-27.

The next meeting of the gardening club is on Thursday 14th May which will be our AGM followed by the annual plant sale. This is the final meeting on this year’s programme at the village hall until October. We will be holding our annual garden visit in June, when we will be going to Aulden Farm near Leominster. The final gathering of the club is the member’s picnic which we will be holding at Stockton Bury Gardens, Kimbolton in July.
If you would like more information about our gardening club and its activities, please contact me.  Bev Harris [email protected]