FLOWER beds, hanging baskets, rosebushes and perennials were in full bloom in Annan this week for the community council’s annual gardening competition.
Victors were announced on Tuesday by judges Val and Peter Russell, who handed the trophy for the overall winning garden to Maureen Braidwood at Newdyke Cottage.
In joint second place was Iain McArthur Blair at Preston Gardens and Pat Jardine at Nia Roo on Stapleton Road.
Furthermore, entries by Margaret Dickie at Silverlaw Crescent and youngster Blair Brunson on Mcmurdo Road were highly commended, with the winner of the commercial section going to the United Reform Church on Station Road.
Judge Val Russell said: “We were very impressed actually, we found it quite a difficult decision because we had three or four that were so similar in standard and they were all people that had put their heart and soul into their gardens – some of them even grew their own bedding plants they then put into the garden. A lot of them had good variety, they had veg plants as well as flowers – it wasn’t just a front garden that they’d done.
“The actual winner, although she’s got a beautiful front garden she’s also got a lot more space round the back and she used every available space. But they were all really good and it was quite a hard decision to pick one above all the others, which is why in the end we came out with one winner and the two runners up.
“There was also one very nice one that a little boy called Blair Brunson had done, he’s only about four and his mum put his garden into the competition because he’d wanted to do some gardening in their front garden. He was a bit shy when we got there and we couldn’t get a lot out of him, but after a few minutes he began to tell us and he knew some of the names of the plants – he had tomato plants and some peas growing, so were quite chuffed to see that.”
