The 113th Falmouth Spring Flower Show was packed at the weekend with visitors eager to enjoy the colours and scents of Cornwall’s finest spring flowers.
Tiers of daffodils, potted and cut flowers, orchids, floral art, cacti and succulents, flowering shrubs, and hundreds of children’s exhibits, filled the Princess Pavilion, at Gyllyngdune Gardens.
The county’s top horticultural experts who judged and praised the show included Nigel Pascoe, BBC Radio Cornwall’s Garden Line ‘Godfather,’ who singled out a collection of flowering shrubs from Cormac Parks and Gardens, and a towering spray of crimson rhododendrons from Tremough, the University of Exeter’s Penryn Campus.
The other show judges were John Lanyon, the National Trust’s head gardener in Cornwall, Alan Cox cacti and succulent expert, Derek Godridge who judged the photography, and Falmouth daffodil grower and the show’s past president Ron Scamp who said: "I am absolutely delighted with the daffodils entries, a really good effort all round."
St Mary’s Primary School, Marlborough School Art Club, and Boot Up Outdoor Learning entered the children’s classes, which included spring theme painted stones, artwork using recycled materials, and fruit and vegetable animals.
They were judged by Val Bidgood who said: "The standard of the art work is just lovely, the cauliflower poodle stands out and the vegetable seal is fabulous too, they all deserve something."
Twelve-year-old Nancy Nenning’s first prize winning cauliflower poodle was the show’s most photographed exhibit and her nine-year-old brother Otto won a first too for his grapefruit hedgehog.
Sulis Logan-Baker, age eight, from Boot up Outdoor Learning with Falmouth Forest School, won prizes for her artwork and her miniature sustainable dinner plate garden in which she had tucked a handwritten message ‘Please Save the Planet.’
The show welcomed the return of Elizabeth Doidge, who after 40 years of entering the floral art classes was unable to do so last year because she had Covid. She was rewarded for her three first prize winning entries with the Challenge Cup for Floral Art and the Phillpotts Trophy.
This is the second year the show was staged by Falmouth Town Council since the long standing show committee retired four years ago. It was masterminded by Henrietta Boex and Jacqui Owen, the council’s community engagement officer who compered the presentation of the winners’ cups by Falmouth mayor Steve Eva.
Thanking those who helped make the show such a success, Jacqui Owen said: "If it wasn’t for Henrietta Boex this show would not have taken place. As well as revitalising and keeping going the Princess Pavilion since it reopened she has pulled this off too.
"Thanks are also due to Katie Bassett who has revolutionised our judging system with her computer skills, to Simon Penna and the Falmouth Town gardens team, advice from retired show committee members Ron Scamp, Reg and Pearl Sleeman, the enthusiasm of Matt Stannard’s Cormac Parks and Gardens team, and Toby Nenning and his gardeners from Tremough.
"Our loyal volunteers like Val Bidgood are invaluable. I appeal to all who want this show to continue to get in touch with us, we can not do it without you. Where once there was a show committee of 12 this year there were just basically the two of us."
Among the prizes presented by the mayor Steve Eva was one special cup to 12-year-old Nancy Nenning for her cauliflower poodle - the most popular and most photographed exhibit in the show.
The Cormac Parks and Gardens team won the Royal Horticultural Society Banksian Medal, the Sylvanus Treveal Cup, the Carter Memorial Cup and the Chamber of Commerce Silver Challenge Cup. Val Bidgood won the Parry Silver Challenge Cup and the Andrew Cox Memorial Cup .
Ric Reilly won ‘The Best in the Show’ for his orchid and Mabe Garden Club the George Sowden Award.
Steve Fairman and Michael Harris respectively won the Wass Shield and Andre Cox Trophy for their photography.
Alan Trathen’s cactus and succulents won the Hazel Cox Memorial Cup and Jean Cook the Don Hoyle cup for her camellias. The various daffodil cup winners were Falmouth Town Council’s Simon Penna, Reg Sleeman, Ron Scamp and Jenny Cardus .
The primary and secondary school children from Boot Up won the Ken Pound Challenge for the Charles Rowe Trophy and the Youth Group Challenge for the Princess Pavilion and Gyllyngdune Garden Youth Cup.
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