Green hellebore - these plants are becoming very fashionable with some very beautiful cultivars and species

Shows and Competitions

Shows

The club holds three shows per year: a small Spring Show held as part of a monthly meeting in April, a small rose show also held as part of a monthly meeting in June and the large Annual Show in early July, held in the Jubilee Hall.

The Annual Show celebrated its Golden Jubilee in 2006. There was a record number of entries (over 600) in 30 classes. There are numerous prizes and trophies which have accumulated over the years and which are the subject of keen competition.

The classes include those for children as well as adults; novices and experienced growers; fruit and vegetables; cut flowers and plants; boxes, tubs, containers; photography, artwork and flower arranging; wine, preserves, cookery and many more!
It is great fun to enter and a good family time.

For photographs of the 2007 Show please click here.

Competitions

The Gardening Club has taken part in the Hanging Basket and Window Box competition at the RHS Hampton Court Flower Show for the last few years. We have been successful in winning bronze medals on at least three occasions. This competition has now been deleted from the schedule and we have been successful in bidding for and obtaining a place in the Inspiring Spaces competition which involves deciding on a theme and then planting the space to match the theme. Hopefully we will at least emulate past successes or hopefully exceed them. Gardening Club members who are interested in being a member of the team to design and produce our entry should email.

It is sad that such a section as the Hanging Basket and Window Box competition has been removed from the schedule. The official reason for this was that standards were not high enough. We suspect that the RHS is devoting more and more space to the income generating professional exhibits and nursery entries and is leaving behind the amateur competitor with much more limited resources.

Chilli chilli bean bang - the entry for 2006

Our entry for 2007 was entitled Free B's and was entered in the Wildlife Friendly theme of the competition. It successfully achieved a bronze medal

The bronze medal winning entry for 2007 - Free "B's"

In 2009 the Club entered the Inspiring Spaces section of the RHS Hampton Court Flower Show rather than the Hanging Basket and Window Box competition. This was because that class had been discontinued, which was a great shame since yet another avenue open to amateur groups has been closed. The entry was called Checkmate and is shown below. It was inspired by the 2m x 2m space which was allocated to each entrant in the class, and the similarity of that space to a chess board. The entry achieved the outstanding result of a silver gilt medal. Congratulations to all those involved.

Checkmate - the silver gilt medal winning entry at RHS Hampton Court 2008.

The Gardening Club has for many years entered a team for the Hampshire Federation of Horticultural Societies annual quiz. In 2007 our team were runners up and in 2008 the team won the competition. The initial heat for 2009 is at Otterbourne Village Hall on September 28th 2008. If you would like to take part please email. There is a report on the final of this competition for 2008 which you can read by clicking here.

We also take part in a small local quiz, as a social activity, with teams from Upham, Denmead and The Meon Valley (Droxford). This is being held this year on April 11th at the Catholic Church Hall. Again if you would like to be involved in the team, please email.