Owners of gardens across the Parish of Aldingbourne have been recognised for their skills in the Parish Council’s first ever horticulture competition.

The Council’s inaugural ‘Aldingbourne in Bloom’ contest invited residents of the Parish to enter in three different categories – best front garden, best containers or patio pots, and best garden or containers/patio pots created by a young person under 16.

Judging of the shortlisted entries took place on 7th July, with the judges impressed by entrants’ skills in creating both large and small gardens.

At a special winners’ presentation ceremony at Aldingbourne Sports Community Centre on Saturday [12th July], eleven gardens received awards. There were certificates for all bronze and silver winners, and garden centre vouchers for those awarded gold. In addition, the overall winners of ‘best front garden’ and ‘best containers’ received vouchers for free entry to Denmans Garden.

 

The winners and judges of the competition L-R: Mike Palmer and Gwendolyn van Paasschen, owners of Denmans Garden; Cllr Michelle Harbord, Vice-Chair Aldingbourne Parish Council; and contest winners Helen Franklin, Eryn Johnson and Debbie Holcombe

Overall winner of ‘best front garden’ was Debbie Holcombe for her garden at 20 Ivy Lane. Helen Franklin of 4 Manser Villas, on Westergate Street, gained the highest marks for ‘best containers/patio pots’, while three pupils of Ormiston Six Villages Academy, including Eryn Johnson, won the ‘best garden created by under 16s’ category.

Commenting on the entries, Cllr Michelle Harbord, Vice-Chair of Aldingbourne Parish Council, said:

“Given that this was only the first year of the competition, we were very pleased with the number and standard of the entries we received, and congratulate all the winners. We stipulated front gardens only as we wanted everyone to be able to admire the winning entries, and hopefully encourage others to smarten up their plots and perhaps enter next year!

“We are very grateful to Gwendolyn van Paasschen and Mike Palmer, the owners of Denmans Garden, both for being part of the judging panel and for generously providing free entry to their beautiful garden for the overall winners of the competition”.

Gwendolyn van Paasschen commented:

“We were delighted to be invited to be part of the judges’ panel for this inaugural contest. This area of West Sussex has an incredibly rich horticultural heritage, in which Denmans has played such an important part. As well as colourful planting and variety, we were also looking for wildlife-friendliness such as plants attractive to bees and butterflies – we were impressed by the amount of effort that had gone into the winning entries.

“We looking forward to welcoming the overall winners to Denmans!”

Overall winner Debbie Holcombe added:

“I only found out about the competition because someone put a leaflet through my door – I never expected to win! But I’m very pleased with the result, as I put a lot of effort into the garden, not just in summer but all year round. I know the Parish Council are going to be running the competition again next year, so I encourage everyone to have a go!”