Blooming Beautiful at Little Common Horticultural Society Show

Unexpected and unusual weather patterns caused problems for the Society's gardeners this year but in the event the tables at Little Common Community Centre were laden with impressive flowers,fruit and vegetables that the rest of us only dream of.

Show Secretary Alan Gilby said: "We are a bit down on last year which I think is not surprising because of the weather we had earlier in the year, although the cut flowers, vases of flowers, and potted plants are very good.

"But the vegetables are well down and we would say they are fairly poor

- I think that was expected though."

He thought a highlight of the show was the floral art, with entries by the society's own members as well as from Little Common Flower Club.

There were beautiful arrangements such as those by Amanda Willard who won the Best Exhibit of Floral Decoration, with her golden yellow roses, arum lilies and carnations set against purple echinops.

She also put together A Tribute To Elgar, which was a striking and elegant blend of deep red, white and purple flowers such as roses, carnations and astors.

Marion Longhurst had several stunning arrangements in the show, and won the cup for the highest number of points in the Floral Art Section, while the winner of the beautiful White Magic category was Phyllis McEwan with her roses, day lilies and baby's breath.

Equally lovely, if less flamboyant, were the flower mosaics, with blooms creating intense flat colour - such as the one created by Mrs M.Tully.

Other highlights included the big cheery red begonias grown by John Phipps in the Tom Brownley category, and Alan Gilby's own winning Streptocarpus, which is a delicate mauve flower with bright purple streaks at its centre.

He said: "I suppose I have always been interested in gardening - but I would not say I am the most dedicated...Growing this was not so difficult - it is quite easy. Obviously they succumb to cold, so you have got to keep them frost-free, in the conservatory rather than outside. Then they start flowering and continue over a long period, and when they mature they are easy to divide and make new plants out of."

In the fruit and vegetable section, class winners included Marion Longhurst who came up with large shining blackberries and David Portsmouth who excelled with his Bramley cooking apples, and victoria and greengage plums.

The domestic section was as strong an attraction as ever, with wonderful produce made by members including Joanna Maggs, who won the decorated coffee cake class and collected most points in the cake section, Sylvia Rossiter with her gooseberry jam, Miss E.Innes with a wide selection of delicious offerings including date slices, Muriel Palmer with her savoury quiche, and Andrew Leggat with his rhubarb chutney.

Rodney Reeve is evidently the man to know in Little Common, as he won several categories of wine-making, while Peter Lewis displayed his own home-grown beer.