The Garden Club of Athabasca has just announced the winners of its first Garden Contest, and already club members are brainstorming ways to improve and grow the contest next year.
Judging took place from July 23 to Aug. 6: Conn and Margaret Brown won the best front yard category; Louise Legace won best backyard; Kathy Husel took top honours in the best flower in a container category; and Ann and Bill Sheremeta won best residential edible garden.
Bill said he and his wife entered the contest “just for fun,” but that’s not to say transforming their backyard into a food source was an easy task. When they moved to their Cornwall property 11 years ago, much of the yard was covered in gravel and had a motorhome parked in it. The small existing garden contained only a rose bush and a few perennials.
Now, tomatoes, dill, zucchini and other vegetables jostle for space along the back fence, a raspberry patch fills one side, and flowers cover one corner.
“I have it way too crowded, but I always want one more,” said Ann of her plants.
Garden club president Martin Brousseau said the contest goes beyond bestowing laurels on individuals and helps build an appreciation of the community’s aesthetics as a whole.
“It encourages neighbours to visit and people to walk the street and look at different gardens. Really, that’s what led us to choose this kind of a project,” said Brousseau.
It turns out those with a green thumb are good at getting greenbacks to multiply, too. Brousseau said the Garden Club decided to put on the contest when it realized it had a surfeit of club funds after off-season fundraisers, including a Valentine’s pie sale, netted more cash than expected.
Each first-place winner received $100; second- and third-place winners won $50 and $25, respectively.
Winners were chosen by a panel of three judges independent of the garden club: Myn Hursin, Rudy Thiel and Marilyn Mol. Although the garden club outlined judging parameters, Brousseau said judges were given freedom to adjust criteria at their discretion.
“It was an idea we had, but like all ideas, sometimes you need to improvise or modify them to make them work.” Brousseau said.
The modifications will continue next year. The club hopes to expand the contest to include villages throughout Athabasca County instead of staying strictly within Town of Athabasca limits, as was the case this year.
Brousseau, like many garden enthusiasts, knows the importance of proper nomenclature, and he would like to see the Garden Contest renamed the Garden Evaluation, an idea he got from a St. Albert event with a similar name. He said the word “evaluation” encourages community pride instead of competitiveness.
“That’s really what we were after last year when we decided to start this project,” he said.
