The Great British weather often conspires against staging a garden show. In previous years gardeners have faced an absolute deluge in the run-up to the show. This year however, we had the complete opposite with weeks of dry, sunny weather playing havoc with potential exhibits.

As I’ve said before, gardeners are a hardy, resilient bunch and were we put off entering? Absolutely not! In fact, I’m very delighted to say that there were 256 exhibits from 29 entrants. Of those, seven were new entrants, the majority of whom were placed in at least one of the classes they entered, with some winners. Absolutely brilliant! Many, many thanks to them for ‘being brave’ and entering. I do hope they enjoyed the whole experience and will enter once again next year.

A quote from a club member: “Well done to the winners, think anyone who enters is a winner though, and so nice to see new entrants this show”

Feedback from the judges: “Wow, what a great show given the weather.  There were some lovely exhibits, and a great variety of classes, as usual”.

A huge thank you to all our exhibitors and to everyone who came along to enjoy and support our club show. Many thanks too to our Judges who were: Sheila Rapley (Plants, Flowers and Vegetables); Jackie Squance (Floral arrangements) and Jill Arthur (Home Produce).

Summer Show Prize Winners Trophies are awarded to the exhibitor with the highest number of points in the relevant classes.

The prizes were hotly contested with some very close runners-up:

• Home produce: Amanda Dowden came second, with one point less than Janet

• Photography:  Gill Foster came second, with one point less than Karen

• Smith Cup: Viki Cresswell came second, with one point less than Gill; while Ann Haussauer came third, with one point less than Viki!

• Davies Tankard: Bronwyn Pennington came second, with one point less than Alan and Pamela

In 1820 the Banksian medal was instituted in honour of Sir Joseph Banks, one of the founders of the RHS. Initially it was awarded to exhibitors of objects brought to general meetings but, by the late nineteenth century, was given to societies for distribution at their local exhibitions. Today, RHS Affiliated Societies who hold an annual show receive a replica of the original Banksian medal, which is awarded to the person who receives the most points in a show’s horticultural classes – fruit, flowers and vegetables.

A special mention for     

Gill Purkiss who has been a wonderful exhibitor for many years, and has won almost every award previously, both in the Spring and Summer Shows. This was her first Best in Show for the Summer Show, and it was awarded for three hydrangeas of the same type (class 21b).

Finally, special thanks to the Show Committee who stage these events on our behalf. Each show brings its own challenges and all require great teamwork, attention to detail and sheer hard work. Without their dedication there just wouldn’t be the shows for us, and the local community to enjoy. So, on behalf of all Grayshott Gardeners – Thank you all!

Here are some more photos from the Summer Show 2025:

The vagaries of the British weather are always a challenge for us gardeners. Last year, the challenge was how to stop potential exhibits from being battered down by the weeks of wind and torrential rain. This year however, Spring had definitely sprung in time for our show and so the main challenge was whether to move potential exhibits into the shade to hold them back a bit or to move them into the warm sunshine! Well done to our members who contributed across all the classes – it was especially good to see some new entrants.  The judges were delighted with the quality of the entries, and said it was really excellent to see such support for our club.  Hope to see you all again at the Summer Show.

The glorious weather brought out the local community in their droves to enjoy the spectacle and they certainly weren’t disappointed! The show offers such a wide variety of exhibits that there was something for everyone to enjoy, young and old alike: viewing the stunning exhibits; admiring the artistry of the craft exhibits and floral arrangements; voting for their favourite photograph; having a flutter on the tombola or recharging over tea accompanied by a wide selection of delicious, homemade cakes. Some people however, barely paused to admire the wall of colour greeting them on entering the hall – they were focussed on making a beeline to the perennially popular plant sale! This year there was the added interest of Jan’s delicate floral watercolours for sale.

The finale of the show is always the presentation of the cups which this year were awarded as follows:

Gladys Wilmot Cup (Home-produce) – Amanda Dowden

Denyer Cup (Flower arranging) – Sue Erler

Craft Prize – Eda Hughes

Photography Prize – Karen Cozens

Spring Cup (Spring bulbs) – Judith Rae

Gardeners Cup (Cut and pot/container-grown exhibits) – Ann Haussauer

Novice Cup (The exhibitor with the highest number of points who hasn’t won a cup before) – Amanda Dowden

Whitehouse Cup (All classes other than photography and craft) – Judith Rae

Best in Show Plate – Ann Haussauer

Spring Show Winners 2025

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Pictures speak louder than words and here’s a selection of photos that sum-up the happy afternoon: 

Finally, there’s an enormous amount of effort involved in putting on a show, much of it behind the scenes – so a huge thank you to everyone for their help and contributions which helped make the Spring Show such a success.  Now… must start thinking about my Summer Show entries….

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.

This year there were 12 entries, far more than we would normally expect to see at a Summer Show in the Village Hall.  There was a wide range of interpretations of the brief “A Cosy Corner”.

Once again, Kathleen Bird, President of the Ludshott Photographic Club, kindly agreed to judge the entries.  Kathleen chose the photograph of Karen Cozens of a snake tucked away in the corner of her little pond as the winner.

Kathleen said that it fitted the brief perfectly and was the most imaginative of all the entries.  It would have been difficult to capture that instant, but it had been well done.  The photograph was well exposed and composed.  The snake eyeing the fly on the rock made it! Karen wins the £20 first prize.

Kathleen also highly commended:

2nd Place: Liz Munson’s “Cat amongst the Fuchsias”

3rd Place: Sheila Aitken’s “A Cosy Garden Scene”

4th Place: Carol Wass’s “Squirrel in the Feeder”

Highly Commended: Lynne Callender

Thanks to all that entered – it is much appreciated.

Gordon Rae thanked everyone who entered the competition and was delighted with the results. Grayshott Gardeners excelled themselves. There were 19 entries out of the 25 who collected their seed potatoes in February, more than any previous year. One more and they would not have fitted on Paul Coleman’s table!

As we were unable to hold a Summer Show in the Village Hall, undaunted, we held the potato competition out of the rain, in the garage.

There was a wide range of shapes and sizes. Helen Deighan’s were the largest by far and looked as though they had been fed on steroids and Helen Sanderson’s were very close behind.

That said our judge, Mavis Hallt, the wife of the late Mike Hallt, after whom the cup for class 49 is named, arrived armed with her list of ‘Judging Criteria and Staging Hints’, ready to make some difficult decisions. Mavis used the following guidance to come to her final decision.

The three potatoes exhibited should :-

• Be carefully washed
• Be shallow eyed
• Be of uniform size
• Be similarly sized as this is more desirable than being the largest/heaviest.
• Have clean unbroken skins
• Have no sign of disease or scab
• Be of a good size

After considerable deliberation, sorting and re-sorting, Mavis delivered the result.

First Prize and the Mike Hallt Cup     Andy Karayianni

Second Prize                                      Dick Smith

Third prize                                           Gordon Rae

Fourth Prize                                        Mary Herbert

Mavis considered that Andy’s potatoes, taking into account and balancing all the above criteria were worthy winners of the First Prize and the Mike Hallt Cup.

The cup will be presented to Andy, by the chairman Anne Waddell, at the first meeting we are able to hold back in the Village Hall.

Thanks once again to everyone who entered what is a fun competition when the GGs cannot hold a proper show.

There are particular thanks from the President and ‘Mrs President’ who have several fine boilings of exhibition spuds!

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!