Pretty in pink, and all colours of the rainbow, at County garden show

Story and photos by Sharon Harrison
While spring this year has been slow to get going – cooler than it ought to be, too dry at first, then wet with more cool thrown into the mix – the spring weather appears not to have totally affected County gardeners’ ability to produce some amazing blooms this early in the growing season.

A delight for the senses, the hall at the Wellington United Church Saturday was filled with an array of colour, delicate fragrance and artful ingenuity at the annual garden show, County Blooms Garden and Flower Show, a true highlight in many local gardeners’ calendar and a signature event for the club.

“It’s the best show we’ve had in years, our membership has increased and people are really getting into this. We are so pleased with the turnout today, and the quality too,” said garden club member, Pat Stuckey.

While colourful blooms dominated the show, from single specimen blooms to a branch of blossom to creative displays, there were also foliage categories, which included many hosta varieties, from the teeniest (less than three inch) to mammoth leaves (greater than 10 inch), and every size (and colour variation) in between.

There was also a small component of early vegetables: lettuce, spring onions, rhubarb and little radishes, as well as collections of herbs.

Organized by the recently re-branded County Garden Club (officially the Prince Edward County Royal Horticultural Society, established 1869), a not-for-profit organization, club members, and indeed any member of the public, may display a bloom or many blooms at the annual show, and you don’t have to be a garden club member to enter either.

Favourites at the show are the showstopper peonies, and there is always a good presentation of them, some giant in size, ranging in colours of pale yellow, peach, pure white, deep burgundy, and the traditional gentle pink. The combination provided a heavenly, intoxicating sweet perfume that wafted pleasingly through the hall.

Long time garden club member Sandra Dowds explained how the peonies they are seeing are a lot more of the newer Itoh peonies [named after Japanese botanist, Dr. Toichi Itoh].

“Very expensive to buy, but people still seem to have them, and they are a cross between a tree peony and a herbaceous peony, and some beautiful colours. The yellow one is the best one now, ‘Bartzella’, everybody wants to have that,” shared Dowds. “You see that here and I saw people bending over smelling it, but the new modern peonies don’t have the smell and they were designed to stand-up, whereas the traditional peonies were from France and they have big, beautiful heavy heads, and they were designed for the floral industry, but they don’t do well in the garden unless you have a peony ring.”

Vivid and bold, as well as softer hues, extended to the gladiolus (in shades of pale yellow, lilac and deep red), iris, clematis, lily, bleeding heart, lupin, foxglove, and giant eye-catching orange oriental poppies.

Surprisingly (given the cool spring), there were even a handful of roses on display: delightful, fragrant, and somewhat small in stature, but nonetheless simply lovely to see in varieties of lemon yellow, white and soft pink.

“Every spring is a surprise, the last one was so early and that affected us, and this year, we’ve got a nice selection of everything and we are surprised that there were roses, but there is a good display of roses,” shared Dowds. “We’ve got enough irises, lots of peonies; we always seem to have peonies every year because they have such a long blooming season,”

Another category included a branch of flowering blossom, usually from a shrub, whether it be lilac or weigela, and there were some gorgeous unknown varieties on display too.

With more than 60 floral contest categories, there was much opportunity for home-grown flowers to win a ribbon, cash or even a trophy in the judged flower show. This year, for the first time, the club charged a nominal $2 per person to be an exhibiter (to help to fund the small cash prizes), but the fee included an unlimited number of entries.

The many different categories mean there is often at least one suited to gardeners that will resonant, but it does depend on what gardeners have growing in their gardens, and what’s ready in bloom in time for the show.

“Whether you grow flowers, vegetables or make floral displays, there’s plenty of opportunities for exhibitors of all ages to win a rosette, or even a trophy.”

Dowds explained that club members walk around with the judge (in the morning of the show before it opens to the public) who examines every single entry, and there are countless entries.

“She will say well, this should get first, and then she explains, this iris has three branches with flowers on the end and that’s good, and there’s no places where one flower has gone over and you’ve snapped it off.

When people come to us afterwards, they ask, why didn’t I get a prize or something, and we say, this is what the judge said.”

But she said it’s nice when exhibiters then come in after the judging and say I’ve got a first in this, or I’ve got a second in this. She said it’s also fulfilling to see exhibitors come back again the following year where they often have more plants to display, and they are more prepared having been through the exercise.

Giant, towering alliums, always a guaranteed show favourite, never seem to fail, and command a presence in the room, especially vertically, but it is the design category that excites many for its artistry, inventiveness and unique qualities displayed.

Unlike the single bloom categories, gardeners could design a display, where this year the theme was “tribute to Mother Nature” and included class categories, such as spring meadow (foliage and grasses), stormy weather (the illusion of movement), bees and butterflies (a small design attractive to pollinators), sun kissed (a vertical design of any height), and whirlwind (a satellite design using two containers). There were also several youth division categories.

The design is always the thing we like the best, the designs and the peonies,” said Stuckey.

“We like the design categories the most, because you have to follow certain rules and they say this is the type of design, whether it is say that the vertical design, you pretty well have to have your flowers pointing up, or it will say, whirlwind, and so you want to show that your flowers are following a certain shape, so that’s a big winner for people,” Dowds explained.

The tea room-style Garden Bistro was back again this year offering some delicious eats (mouth-watering quiche, for example) and refreshments. And outside (in the Wellington Community Market taking place at the same time), there were some kids’ activities (rock painting), as well as a garden club stall selling native plants, and club members were on hand to provide information, share their knowledge and gardening advice.

“We are pleased with the day, and we had a good number of people come through the show,” concluded Dowds.

The County Garden Club can be found  at www.countygardenclub.ca and they welcome new members, and volunteers too to help with their projects. Check out the topics for upcoming meetings, as well as activities and outings they have planned.