The Chronicle Garden Competition celebrates 70 incredible years
From humble beginnings to today’s success, this event has a colourful story
Over seven decades, Toowoomba has watched this competition bloom into the world-renowned event it is today.
Held alongside the Carnival of Flowers each spring, visitors come from far and wide to enjoy a kaleidoscope of colour and excitement while the entrants open their gardens to the public for 10 days.
THE START OF SOMETHING BIG
The first The Chronicle Garden Competition was held in 1949, in an attempt to brighten the appearance of the town and lift post-war spirits. It was such a success it drew more than 50 entrants in 1950, inspired the creation of the Carnival of Flowers and helped earn Toowoomba the title of ‘Garden City’.
Bringing thousands of visitors to Toowoomba each year, the competition has become deeply ingrained in the fabric of the city.
THE GARDENERS
The winner of the inaugural The Chronicle Garden Competition was Mrs Ruby O’Brien of 269 West Street.
Since then, names like Beh, Swenson, Lloyd, Conquest, Hultgren, and many others have become synonymous with the competition and its development. The gardeners of The Chronicle Garden Competition are a dedicated group of people, with some gardeners having entered the competition for more than 30 years in a row.
This year’s veteran entrants include Lola and Kevin Steinmuller, who’ve entered the competition for the last 42 years, David and Gay Kearey at 35 years, and Ruby Brunner, who has entered the competition for the 33rd year in a row.
THE JUDGES
Chosen from celebrities of the gardening world, competition judges are well known to entrants and gardening enthusiasts.
It is considered a great honour to be invited to judge this renowned competition, and their schedules even used to be published in The Chronicle until the 1980s.
The first judge, D.A Herbert, was a professor of botany at the University of Queensland and was assisted by his wife, with both of them continuing their judging roles well into the 1960s. Following in their shoes have been a multitude of other judges with impressive credentials, like landscape architects Arne Fink and Lawrie Smith, the curators of the Brisbane Botanic Gardens and Mount Coot-tha Gardens Harold Caulfield and Ross McKinnon; as well as Sydney-based horticulturist Stan Peck, Mr and Mrs Stan Roberts, and Colin Campbell. Judging the city gardens this year will be Sophie Thomson of ABC TV’s Gardening Australia program. Sophie’s career spans more than 14 years on television, actively promoting gardening and its benefits, as well as successful books From the Group Up and Sophie’s Patch.
The country gardens judge for 2019 is Kate Heffernan, the botanic consultant to Gold Coast Regional Botanic Gardens and past chairperson of the Queensland branch of the Botanic Gardens Australia and New Zealand. Sophie and Kate will have chocka-block schedules, with the gardens of 122 entrants to view and judge.
THE EXHIBITION GARDENS
Since 1973, gardeners who did not enter The Chronicle Garden Competition but still wished to showcase their gardens to raise funds for charity, would open their gardens to the public. These gardens are the Exhibition Gardens and have raised thousands of dollars since its inception.
THE ABCS OF GARDENING
Ever a staunch supporter of the competition, ABC Radio Southern Queensland has had its own categories since 1992.
The ABC categories are open only to city gardeners entered into Classes 1 - 7.
These categories are judged by radio gardening expert, Penny McKinlay, and TAFE Toowoomba’s Mike Wells.
THE CATEGORIES
Year upon year, the competition has grown and adapted — in its formative years, the competition had just three categories — Open Class (for all gardens in Toowoomba), Intermediate Class (for gardens which had never before won a prize), and Home Builders’ Garden (for post-war gardens of homes built after 1945).
Since then, categories like homestead gardens, small space gardens, and predominantly Australian native gardens have steadily been added and adapted according to trends and changing circumstances in the city and surrounding area.
Today, 70 years later, there are 16 categories in the city gardens section and 14 in the country gardens section, with categories for sustainable and productive gardens, reflective of the need to save water and a desire to live more self-sufficient lives by growing our own fruits and vegetables. This year, some categories have been streamlined for better entrant options and judging.