Seeds planted for gardening show
The countdown is on for the 21st Ballinagh Gardening Show, on Saturday, August 29, in Ballintemple Hall. Over the past two decades the annual show has become one of the highlights of the local gardening calendar, attracting exhibitors and visitors from Ballinagh and surrounds.
This year the committee is especially excited to introduce a Children’s Section for the first time- aimed at encouraging young gardeners to grow flowers, fruit and vegetables, and to take pride in their achievements while enjoying exhibiting their own produce. The club hopes it will inspire the future generations and help the show continue to flourish.
The show itself is open to everyone, whether you have a large garden, a small veg patch, or simply enjoy growing flowers in pots. There is no need to be an expert either. Entries cost just €3 each, and exhibitors may enter multiple categories.
Kathleen Lavin, the newly elected Secretary of Ballinagh Gardening Club, has been exhibiting for the past two years. While vegetables may be a future project, her current passion is flowers and floral art.
“When I retired, I completed a Floristry course with Cavan Institute under the guidance of Deirdre Hawthorne. I realised how much I enjoyed arranging flowers,” she said. “My husband John, who is also a club committee member, has always been the gardener, growing beautiful flowers throughout the season, while I enjoy creating floral arrangements from what he grows and planting the pots.”
Kathleen has exhibited Hall Table Arrangements, Wild Flower Arrangements, roses, dahlias, sweet peas and house plants. She says selecting the finest blooms in the days before judging is one of the most enjoyable parts of preparation.
“The Hall Table Arrangement has to be no more than 24 inches high, and it’s always a challenge to create something attractive within the rules. I also love putting together the Wild Flower Arrangement, collecting a beautiful variety of wild flowers from the local hedgerows. Every arrangement is different, and that’s what makes it so enjoyable.”
This year’s schedule offers something for everyone. Flower classes include roses, dahlias, gladioli, sweet peas, hydrangeas, flowering house plants and window boxes. Vegetable classes feature everything from potatoes, onions, carrots and beetroot to tomatoes, cucumbers and courgettes. There are also classes for fruit and floral art.
New additions this year include ‘Best Hydrangea’ and ‘Best Three Blight Resistant Potatoes’.
A number of trophies and perpetual cups will again be awarded, including the prestigious T. Scott Trophy for the winning Hall Table Arrangement, alongside other awards recognising particular excellence in flowers, vegetables, fruit and floral art.
The Ballinagh Gardening Club warmly encourages everyone to take part, whether an experienced exhibitor or entering for the first time. As committee member Mick Goldrick said last year: “Anyone can enter.”
Regular exhibitors know the show is as much about friendship, sharing ideas and enjoying gardening as it is about winning prizes.
Whether you have a perfect rose, a vase of sweet peas, home-grown vegetables, a flowering pot plant, a floral arrangement or a young gardener eager to display their first sunflower, there is a class for you at this year’s Ballinagh Gardening Show.