Ready to bloom
Norristown Garden Club hosts annual flower show June 9
NORRISTOWN » Although we’re not yet “knee deep in June,” as poet James Whitcomb Riley once said, the Norristown Garden Club will make it seem that way when “June in Bloom” takes over the Norristown State Hospital Multi-Purpose Building on June 9, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
As the club’s many followers know, the annual one-day exhibit of horticulture and design perfection has been known to grace a different venue each year, from the Plymouth Meeting Mall to various churches, to last year’s vibrant splash at Central Montco Technical High School.
The State Hospital staff is welcoming the Norristown Garden Club back for its standard flower show after a highly successful show there two years ago, noted longtime member Jill Evans.
“The judges liked the facility because they said that the light provided by the large windows was very good for seeing the various specimens and designs,” Evans said. “It’s a very nice facility for the show and it’s part of our wanting to do something in Norristown. It has some beautiful architecture,” she added. “At our last flower show in that facility the Norristown State Hospital Residents’ Horticulture program went down to the greenhouse on the hospital grounds and obtained flowers to make into designs to be displayed in the show. Perhaps they will do the same, or maybe something different this year.”
The club also has an ongoing relationship with the hospital as well, Evans pointed out.
“A Master Gardener from the club meets for one hour each week with patients of the hospital to create plans and then refurbish a peace garden that was started many years ago on hospital grounds. The hope is that this experience will provide training for future employment in the horticulture field for patients when they are released into the community.”
The Norristown State Hospital Residents’ Horticulture program’s community garden on the hospital grounds also tied for first place in the Garden in a Public Space category in the Norristown Garden Club’s annual garden contest
Many people don’t realize that the show is open to submissions from the public, which need to be dropped off at the
Multi-Purpose Building on June 8, from 8:30 to 11 a.m., Evans said.
A simple branch from an evergreen in your backyard may not seem Garden Club-worthy to you, but could well earn you a ribbon, she noted.
“Everybody has something that he or she can enter, if you walk around your property and look at all your shrubs and bushes. They don’t have to be flowering, as long as the leaves are clean and nice.”
Flowering perennials, such as peonies, foxglove and clematis make striking presentations, Evans noted.
“You bring a stem or two that is no more than 30 inches and we provide the container. We fill the test tube with water, you fill out a card and now you’ve entered.”
Judges’ decisions will be announced at Saturday’s show.
The independent judges hail from places like York, Bethlehem, New Jersey, Maryland and Delaware, Evans noted.
“They are ‘accredited judges,’ which means they have attended and passed a series of flower show schools. They are the ones who award the blue, red, yellow and white ribbons and the Special Awards,” said Evans.
Several prize categories include Award of Horticultural Excellence; Awards of Merit; Grower’s Choice Awards; Arboreal Awards; Award of Design Excellence and Awards of Appreciation.
That star of many gardens, walkways and arbors, the rose, will dominate the themes of the many complex divisions and classes in both design and horticulture categories, including “Amongst the roses;” “Roses are red, my love;” and “Time to smell the roses.”
Birdhouses and other examples of “Artistic Crafts” that are garnished with fresh and dried flowers will be spotlighted in the Botanical Arts category.
The Norristown State Hospital Multi-Purpose Building is located at 1001 Sterigere St., Norristown. Signs will be posted. The show will feature food and craft vendors. Admission is free.