Caroline Hammat
For the second year two Millicent businesses have joined together to recognise and celebrate local gardeners with a garden competition.
On Sunday the winners of the Spring Garden Competition were announced at McCourts Garden Centre.
Kim McCallum’s Boandik Drive garden won the Lifestyle Garden award and the Residential Home Garden category was awarded to Jeff Simpson for his Park Terrace garden.
Mr Simpson’s well kept garden won this same category in the 2022 competition.
Alicia O’Brien won the Large Residential Home category for her Skeer Street garden which began as a vacant grassed block 21 years ago.
It that time Ms O’Brien has created an extensive colourful garden which surrounds her home revealing a wide variety of plants.
This year’s judges Andrew Lesslie, Kay Bradley and Marg Lang are all keen gardeners themselves.
They took two days to view the eleven gardens in the competition.
Using criteria supplied by Christine Agnew of McCourts the trio were unaware of the winning gardens until the announcement on Sunday.
“It was interesting, we all saw the gardens in a different way” Ms Bradley said.
“Everybody had their own little stamp on their gardens.”
“I think it’s like judging a painting, there are different colours, shapes and sizes of the gardens and they are all producing these creative gardens, everyone is different” Ms Lang said.
“Thank you to all the participants because it’s not an easy thing to go into something like this.
“Nobody ever has a perfect garden.”
The Spring Garden Competition is a collaboration between McCourt’s Garden Centre and South East Property Sales and Management.
