Garden club busy for Spring
Spring is always a busy time for the members of the Warragul and District Garden Club and this year has been no different.
Following the usual monthly competition at the October meeting, including the annual George Moore Memorial Iris competition, members travelled to Drouin West for a walkthrough of Aileen White’s garden.
When Ron Blair is not writing his book about “Courage and Sacrifice” by soldiers in WW1, he is tending to his other hobby, growing Irises. Once again Ron won the annual George Moore Memorial Iris competition from a big bench of outstanding locally grown specimens, which gave judge Lorraine Murfett a difficult task.
In second place was Aileen White with third awarded to Dianne Dalton.
Aileen White has won the annual shield for the most competition points throughout the year for the past three years, so club members were pleased to be invited to see her garden.
At the end of October, a bus trip took in the internationally acclaimed Morwell Rose Garden, lunch at the Morwell Bowls Club, a private garden at Hazelwood North and a short stop at Traralgon North Nursery.
The final trip for the year in mid-November took in two unique local Drouin and Ripplebrook gardens. These together with the good weather, a barbecue lunch and afternoon tea provided members with a great day out.
The club thanked everyone, especially garden owners Carla and Gavin Watkins and Lorraine and John Thornbury, for their invitations to visit. Members came away with many ideas they could copy to enhance their own gardens.
The Warragul and District club is a member of the South Gippsland group of Garden Clubs and Horticultural Societies, comprising nine members.
Aiming to give support to the Leongatha club’s annual Rose Spectacular, one of Victoria’s biggest Rose shows, a group from the club took roses to exhibit.
The result was successful with Aileen White gaining first prize with a great bunch of “Charles de Gaulle”. Heather Coustley won championship bunch of David Austin Roses with Golden Celebration and club president Ralph Slaughter gained the Victorian Rose Society bronze medal for show champion “Old Port”. So, the Warragul and District “raiders” from over the hill came away with big spoils.
The next meeting will be at 9.45am on Monday, November 26. Paul Kirkpatrick will return to present “Le Potager-Edible Art” and he will also bring along his range of excellent garden tools for purchase. The annual Christmas lunch will then take place at the Warragul Golf Club.
Visitors and potential new members are always welcome and full details of club activities can be found on the website www.warragulgardenclub.com.