A strong turnout of 56 members and four visitors braved a chilly but sunny winter afternoon to attend the June meeting of the Lakes Entrance Garden Club.
With the club’s highly anticipated annual general meeting scheduled for July, members are being strongly encouraged to consider standing for committee positions to bring fresh perspectives and new ideas to the group.
The June meeting featured a lively interactive show bench, with all attendees trying their hand at judging a diverse and colourful array of winter categories.
Dearne Albert claimed the prestigious best exhibit of the day with a brilliant blue and purple delphinium, while also taking out the photography section with a striking winter landscape captured during her recent overseas travels.
In the popular three cuts Australian native category, Ann Barker took first place with a beautiful selection of banksia, wattle, and orange gum while Stan Barker secured second with a vibrant mix of pink leptospermum, pink grevillea and purple native hibiscus.
Ann Barker found success again in the arrangement in a basket class, claiming the top prize ahead of Shirley Bardwell in second. The orchid one cut section was won by Evelyn Howells with a massive spike of red-burgundy cymbidium, followed closely by Truus Adams with a delicate purple and white miniature moth orchid.
A popular 1970s throwback terrarium category saw an equal first place awarded to Truus Adams for her detailed fairy theme and Shirley Bardwell for her creative seaside display, with Dearne Albert placing second with succulents on white stones. In the bits and pieces section, Shirley Bardwell took first place with an imaginative arrangement set in a palm blade, finishing ahead of Ann Barker’s multi-coloured conifer display. The beginners luck class was well contested, with Shirley Barns taking the top prize with a tan-coloured pitcher plant and Maz Spigt securing second with a beautiful dried arrangement.
Following the competitive judging, member Dearne Albert took the stage as the afternoon’s guest speaker, entertaining the audience with extensive notes and stunning photography from her trip to Norway in March this year. Dearne shared her experiences arriving in a snow-covered Oslo, noting that despite the sub-zero conditions, the clean and orderly city was filled with active locals who share an Australian-style love for good food and coffee. Her presentation highlighted structural winter gardening techniques observed at Vigeland Park, where rose beds were protected with hessian sacks and bulb gardens were insulated under thick conifer branches. The travelogue followed her journey on the scenic Flam railway past massive frozen waterfalls to Bergen, Norway’s second-largest city, before heading well above the Arctic Circle to Tromsø. There, Dearne visited a traditional reindeer farm, rode a skidoo to the geographic point where Norway, Sweden, and Finland meet, and embarked on a historic six-day coastal cruise aboard a working cargo and passenger vessel.
The next meeting of the Lakes Entrance Garden Club, which will include the election of the new committee at the annual general meeting, will be held on Monday, July 20 at 1.30pm at the Mechanics Hall in Mechanics Street, near the library, and visitors are always warmly welcome.
dried arrangement. (PS)
