What a great show – the colourful hall was a joy to behold!

It was quite amazing to see how very many flowers had not only survived but even flourished in all the wind and rain we’ve had this year. In particular, the hydrangeas with their showy blooms had clearly thrived. My own roses had long-since finished blooming, so I was surprised, and pleased, to see the many wonderful entries in the rose classes – particularly the many bowls of roses.

The glorious floral arrangements belie the time and effort taken to produce these creations. Who knew you could cover a hat in leaves as part of the arrangement? These are the only classes which can use bought flowers and foliage, although many entrants raid their gardens instead. Once again, thanks go to Sue Erler for her novice flower arranging workshops this year which have encouraged many of us to give flower arranging a try – we particularly enjoyed the challenge of producing a design in a fruit or vegetable!

Conspicuous by their absence were tomatoes and runner beans which normally grace the display tables at this time of year … they’ll need more warmth and sunshine to start producing in any great quantity. And fewer slugs…However, there was a wide array of other fruit and vegetable entries, especially in the soft fruit categories.

Despite clashing with The Wimbledon Ladies Final, the show was very well attended especially by the local community who came along to enjoy the displays, buy plants, try their luck with the tombola and to relax over tea and delicious homemade cake. It’s always interesting to see which exhibits had been placed by the judges … no mean feat considering that judging is in accordance with the RHS Horticultural show handbook and the WI rules for home produce!

Many congratulations to the worthy winners of the various awards – especially to Ann Haussauer who won both the RHS Banksian Medal and the coveted ‘Best in Show’.

Finally, many thanks go to the Shows team, supported by the Main Committee, who beaver away behind the scenes to pull together the Shows. The fact that each Show is a huge success masks the considerable amount of work required to stage it: months of planning; a flurry of activity once the entries are in and then a mountain of effort on the day. It sounds exhausting and I am sure it must be! It’s also great fun, so if you’d like to help in any way, please let Pamela, the Shows Co-ordinator know. Without the commitment and dedication of the Shows team there wouldn’t be any Shows. So, our grateful thanks go to them and all the people who support the Show in whatever way … where would we be without the all-important homemade cakes?!

There is still one award to present – the RHS Bronze Medal.  This is awarded to the person who has achieved most points across all classes for both the Spring and Summer Shows.  It’s our highest accolade and is awarded at the AGM – I wonder who it will be this year….

Here is a collection of photos from our Summer Show

WOW! What a Show!

The Spring Show in April was an absolute delight. We were blessed with a fine, mainly sunny day which helped bring out crowds of locals and members to enjoy the afternoon – it was the busiest show since Covid. The weather had been dry for a couple of days in the lead-up to the show, allowing our exhibitors to gather together all their exhibits in top condition.  The Hall was a kaleidoscope of colour, and it was amazing to see how very many delicate-looking tulips and narcissi had survived all the wind and rain that the past several months has thrown at them – and us too!

Without exhibits there simply wouldn’t be a show … so many, many thanks to everyone who entered. There were 227 exhibits spread over the 60 classes. The refreshments team provided a wonderful spread of homemade cakes for visitors to enjoy… the only problem was which slice to choose? They all looked absolutely delicious. Jan’s plant sale was very popular indeed as was the tombola. A great time was had by all.

Organising and staging such a show is no mean feat. However, the smooth running of a show hides the huge amount of work that takes place behind the scenes both in the run-up and also on the day. So, our grateful thanks go to Pamela and the Show Committee for all that they do.

The finale of the show is always the presentation of the cups. Many congratulations to the following: 

And here are some memories from the day:

In what has become a bit of a tradition, Grayshott Gardeners went out into their gardens at the beginning of January to count as many blooms as they could find.

The very cold spell we had before Christmas (down to -10 in this chilly garden) and the lack of sunshine since then, meant that the pickings this year were slim.  None of the summer flowerers had held on to their blooms from last season, as we saw in previous years.  And the inclement conditions meant that many of the winter performers had yet to really get into their stride.

But that doesn’t mean that our gardeners came back in with empty lists.  They may have been shorter lists than in previous years, but some plants were still braving the elements, and between us we racked up a total of 34 species.  And how heart lifting those diminutive flowers were.  A tiny reminder that spring is on its way …..

A great way to mark the beginning of a New Year is to get out in your garden and see what is flowering.  That is what a group of Grayshott Gardeners did this year, counting flowers that were fully open on the first day of January 2022. 

Our clever gardeners have planted their gardens so there is a bit of interest in every season, so many of the flowers found were winter favourites – with lots of viburnums, witch hazels, mahonias and pansies (if the deer haven’t treated themselves to a flowery delicacy and pinched all the blooms).  It’s been a mild year so far, so it was interesting to see that some plants were still hanging onto their flowers from the summer.  But perhaps more surprising were the plants that were getting a headstart for the coming season – with one brave pink rhododendron stealing the show.

Here is the list of what they found – hundreds of flowers counted in total, and 53 distinct species.

Firstly, a very big thank you to everyone who entered our virtual Summer Show.

In total there were 99 entries across the eight classes, and the quality of the entries was very high.  The judges had a hard task to agree the placings, as you will no doubt see from the photos – which are displayed here  Shows | Grayshott Gardeners

There were some very interesting and unusual plants entered – if you would like to know what a particular plant is, please email shows@grayshottgardeners.net, and we will contact the entrant and let you know.

We’re delighted to announce that we will be holding a virtual Summer Show this year!

This is just for fun and there are no prizes, but we do  hope you will get a lot of pleasure out of going round your garden to take your photos and then deciding which ones to enter. If nothing else you will have a wonderful record of your garden this summer.

The deadline for sending in your photos is 5pm on Friday 9^th July, and the classes are:

You can enter one photo for each class, and you can send your entries separately.  You cannot enter a class more than once, and members are asked that the photos have been taken in the month leading up to 9^th July.

Please send your entries to:

Shows@grayshottgardeners.net

Emails should have the subject line “Show entry from (your name)”, and  your attached photos should be named with “Your name and class being entered”.

If you have any queries regarding taking photos of your entries, please contact John Price.

The judging will be undertaken by members of the Show Committee, and results will be published on the website.

Please do enter – and enjoy!

Unfortunately our Spring Show was cancelled this year. Gordon Rae stepped into the breach, once again, and organised a photographic competition.

KathleenBird LRPS, CPAGB, and past chairman of Ludshott PC kindly agreed to be the judge for this competition.

Kathleen was impressed by the number of members who had entered and by the wide range of interpretations of the theme ‘It looks like Spring’.

First place ‘My Garden’ by Carol Wass.

The Judge said that this totally filled the brief with Spring colour. Well balanced and the cock pheasant made it!

Second Place ‘It Looks Like Spring’ by Liz Munson

Kathleen loved the soft colours offprint, soft Spring blossom and blue sky and the smiling face which added some ‘happiness’ to the photo.

Third place ‘Spring Colour’ by Alex Anderson

An imaginative interpretation of the brief. The repetition of red and yellow across the photo was well seen by the photographer. The single figure added further interest to the photo.

Highly commended ‘Spring Iris’ by Sue Wheeler

Gorgeous colour which just shouted ‘Spring”!

We had asked for a touch of humour if possible. These two photographs were chosen for their originality.

‘Rhubarb and Custard’ by Jan Bebbington

‘Spring has Sprung’ by Karen Cozens

Thank you to everyone who entered. There were 21 entries. Normally we would have received about 4 or 5 maximum at the Spring Flower Show.

Grayshott’s recent snowfall had us rushing for our cameras to capture a world transformed by the White Stuff. Here are some of the scenes photographed by our members to remind you of those frosty days. Brrrrrrr !!!

Grayshott Gardeners started off 2021 with our very own Flower Count.  Our members wandered round their gardens on New Year’s Day and counted all the different flowers they could find, where flowers were fully open, and not just in bud. 

The results surprised us all.  There were a grand total of 66 different plant species in flower, all in Grayshott gardens in January.  Some flowers were obvious for all to see, some needed more detective work to spot.  Some were hanging on from last season, whilst some were braving the icy temperatures to start this year’s display.  But all brought a smile to our faces, not least of which the Hebe ‘Midsummer Beauty’, which is clearly one very confused plant.

The full list (English and Latin names) is below:

So why don’t you have a look round your garden and start flower hunting? There may be more happening out there than you think.

It was by chance that Vanessa Thompson discovered a page of “Random Notes on the History of Grayshott Horticultural Society” in an old file. The “Random Notes” describe the revival in 1961 of the old Hindhead and Grayshott Horticultural Society, how a small but determined group of village enthousiasts managed to restart a moribund gardening society virtually from scratch, with a Show, an AGM, a constitution and a democratically elected committee in their first year.

Click on this link: “Random Notes” produced by an unknow author to read about a historic concerted effort by this committee, which, aided by early members (as well as the Parish Council) built up a flourishing organisation with a full programme and an assured future, despite difficulties on the way. The document is reproduced in the original manual typewriter script for authenticity reasons and can be zoomed in from the menu in your browser.

More history:

Terry French has kindly compiled a list of Grayshott Gardeners Spring Show and Summer Show Trophies respectively, with a brief history of their origins. Click on the Shows tab and scroll down for links to these pages.