Spring Garden Competition 2021 Winners

Award category: Balcony or Small Space Garden

Elken Maxwell, Epping

“I use my balcony as my lounge area since my apartment is small and I wanted more living space. I love gardening and since I don't have a yard, container gardening on my balcony has the been the best alternative. It's wonderful for me as I am still able to plant tulips, daffodils, lilies, perennials and lots of annuals. For vegetables gardening I tend to use the back balcony as it gets more sun.”

^{Elken Maxwell.}

Judges’ comments:

• Great use of colour, space and light.
• Elken has created an inviting and relaxing outdoor living room.
• Great to see a simple water feature incorporated into a small space, which creates a sense of calm through the addition of white noise and benefits biodiversity.

Award category: Community Garden

Bungaree Community Garden, Toongabbie

“From little things, big things continue to grow… from a diversity of backgrounds and ethnicities, our members have a range of gardening knowledge, from the novice to the more experienced and we all share the joy of working together. It brings a sense of fun and satisfaction. We all relish the universal language of food and hence our garden has an emphasis on food production. We bond over all aspects of growing food and are becoming more resourceful in terms of making the most of our garden and incorporating organic principles.”

 ^{Kathleen Matthews, Angela Linfanti, Durga Chudal, Pat Gannon, Henry Kanomiuk, Trish Knox, Rhonda Orr and Glenn Calnan.}

Judges’ comments:

• Bungaree Community Garden has come along in leaps and bounds over the past year. The group adjusted its practices to ensure the safety of members while continuing to maintain and expand the garden during Covid-19 lockdowns.
• The group has shown great ingenuity in the construction of supportive structures such as arbours and netting frames.
• Much work has gone into improving the orchard, which sits outside the fenced area and allows members of the public to forage for fruit.
• A very active, well-organised and socially cohesive group.

Award category: Edible Garden

Greg and Vera Meyer, Northmead

Greg and Vera’s edible garden in Northmead incorporates “Grow beds (30 + foods), chickens, hot compost bays, solar panels, grey water system, worm farms, trees, ponds, frogs, bee attracting plants, neighbourhood food sharing, pizza oven, seed saving, stacking soil regeneration and more.

^{Vera and Greg Meyer.}

Judges’ comments:

• An incredible amount of food packed into one average sized suburban block.
• The garden has grown, changed and improved through trial and error since we last visited a number of years ago.
• The garden beds are well organised and attractive, and the plants are healthy and abundant.
• There are many lessons to be learned from Greg and Vera’s garden.

Award category: Floral or Ornamental Garden

Melek Ozdogan, Carlingford

“My aim is to have a colourful, edible, and aesthetically pleasing garden for all seasons. I like sharing the vegetables and fruit that I grow with family, friends and neighbours.  I also use this as an opportunity to help my grandchildren and their friends to develop awareness about gardening and nature. I try to include both annual and perennial flowers all year. I have a variety of fruit trees and fruit bushes, these include Mediterranean, ornamental, and tropical such as: pomegranates, olive, citrus, fig, avocado, macadamia, guava, jaboticaba, berries.”

^{Melek Ozdogan.}

Judges’ Comments:

• A delightful garden for the senses.
• Melek has a natural ability to combine plants in an aesthetically pleasing way. Her garden beds mix ornamentals and edibles seemingly effortlessly.
• A great garden all-rounder to take out this important garden category.

Award category: Front Garden

Jennifer Chapman, Telopea

“My 100-year-old cottage has a small front garden. The front deck has a relaxing tropical vibe with plants surrounding Great-Grandy's 100-year-old cane lounge chair. The section in front has colourful coleus and other vibrant non-green plants, and across the path is the bromeliad garden which includes a very large alcanterea. On the other side is the Octopus Garden, and under-the-sea world full of succulents. Harry the Cat supervises the garden. There is also a garden bridge. The plants feature hoya, orchids, ferns, bromeliads, succulents, begonias, cacti, frangipani, and many more.”

^{Jennifer Chapman.}

Judges’ comments:

• Jennifer has created a front garden that compliments the house perfectly.
• The front hedge strikes a balance between giving the neighbours and passers-by something pleasant and green to look at, while sheltering an oasis within.
• A great use of foliage colour and texture.
• Very tasteful and individual – feels like you’ve walked into another world.

Award category: Native Garden

Dean Edward Sheedy, Northmead

“The garden is 4 years old and started as a blank canvas of grass and weeds. My aim was to create a mainly native, drought tolerant garden. I used recycled products such as timber sleepers, convict bricks and re-used the sandstone and bush rock that was originally there in the form of old retaining walls.

The garden attracts wildlife such as water dragons, rainbow lorikeets, rosellas, honeyeaters, kookaburras, native bees and there are always tadpoles and frogs in the pond. The native species include varieties of grevillea, banksia, lomandra, kangaroo paws, birds nest ferns, dwarf eucalyptus and a grass tree.”

^{Dean Edward Sheedy with children.}

Judges’ comments:

• This is a beautiful native garden to visit and despite Dean not being a professional landscaper, his garden has been put together in a very professional manner.
• The decision to plant natives was very wise given its proximity to bushland. It is therefore no surprise to see native fauna enjoying the garden.
• Additional features tipping the scales in Dean’s favour include the water feature and night lighting scheme.

Award category: Non-Residential Garden

Parramatta & District Historical Society - Hambledon Cottage, Parramatta

“The garden, which is in the grounds of the State Heritage Register listed 1824 Hambledon Cottage, comprises well-established shrubs, such as wisteria, camellias, heritage roses, grevilleas, brunsfelsia, photinias, oleanders, clivea and agapanthus, as well as perennial and annual flowers. It also has well-established trees, such as bunya bunya, osage orange, jacaranda, liquid amber, hakea and robinia.

With the COVID-19 virus preventing access due to lockdowns, maintaining the garden in 2021 has been a big challenge. We feel the Hambledon Cottage garden is a delight to our visitors, many of whom congratulate us on its appearance, and an enormous credit to our volunteer gardening group of 2 elderly ladies and a man.”

^{Bruce Gregory, Jean Perryman, and Jeff Allen.}

Judges’ comments:

• A well-deserving winner in this category.
• The garden completes the historic Hambledon Cottage and integrates it into its surroundings.
• A lovely rambling layout creating restful spaces for visitors to enjoy, always with a pop of colour to add interest.

Award category: School Garden

Carlingford West Public School, Carlingford

“Carlingford West P.S. has extensive landscaped grounds that provides a stimulating environment for students and teachers. Our Kitchen Garden, a large area on the northern side of the school, has over 30 garden beds. The Kitchen Garden is used for targeted programs, curriculum-based activities and for therapy programs. Our Learning Support Team works with special-needs students in the garden as it provides many opportunities for literacy, maths and art activities. The lunch-time program enables students to come and work in the garden. Some of these students are “lost” in the playground and prefer the guided activities, others just come because they love the garden and gardening. Therapy programs with our school counsellors target students with additional needs. Some students spend a weekly session gardening and cooking the produce they have grown.”

^{Students and staff of Carlingford West Public School.}

Judges’ Comments:

• A very well laid out and extensive edible garden complete with chickens.
• This garden is backed by a wealth of knowledge and serves as a powerful educational and therapeutic tool - I wish my primary school had a garden like this.
• In addition to the edible garden, much of the school’s playgrounds have been beautifully landscaped, making for an uplifting learning environment.