Gardeners from the Norquay area displayed the bounty selected from their gardens and yards at the annual horticultural show held at the Norquay Communiplex on August 10.
A total of 15 exhibitors brought in a total of 232 entries, said a release from the horticulture association.
Among the participants were first-time exhibitor Lacey Unterschute and her 91-year-old grandmother Helen Heskin, who represented the youngest and oldest exhibitors in the show. Both did very well and both took home trophies.
“As it turned out, most things in our area were earlier than usual this year, so some of our categories, such as red raspberries, which usually have several entries, had none at all, while other later crops such as ripe tomatoes and corn had more entries than usual,” the release said.
A wide variety of flowers were displayed, including gladiolas and dahlias. There were annual and perennial cut flowers and flower arrangements.
Karen Pfeifer of Runnymede, the judge, noted that some of the glads had formed imperfectly this year, missing some buds along the spikes.
In the “I am an Oddity” category, Donna Lulashnyk displayed an upside down glad where just one flower had formed and it was at the bottom of the spike.
There was a colourful and varied presentation of cut flowers with the largest number of entries being in the petunia, pansy and marigold categories, it said. Most exhibitors reported that their lilies had already finished blooming, but there were some lovely tiger lilies on display as well as a few of the glorious and fragrant oriental and Asiatic lilies.
The arrangements of perennials, annuals, wild flowers and centrepieces were interesting and creative, as gardeners work each year with what is available at the time of the show, it said. “The perennial section is new to our show, so we were introduced to the very fragrant bee balm, the feathery liatris and some beautiful hydrangeas.”
The vegetable categories are always popular and were well represented, it said. Beans, beets, carrots, cucumbers, potatoes and tomatoes had the most entries, but this year there was a wider range of vegetables than usual.
The baking categories presented a range of tastes and included buns, cinnamon buns, cookies, cakes, pies and some beautifully-decorated cupcakes, it said. Pies were popular, with raisin, saskatoon, apple and rhubarb pies entered.
An apple pie entered by Gloria Gurski was named best pie in the show.
In a short program during the afternoon, trophies were presented to 12 different exhibitors.
Donna Lulashnyk received trophies for best gladiolus of the show, best dahlia arrangement, best carrots (over five inches long), best white potatoes, best Norland potatoes, and best ripe tomatoes. She also received the vegetable aggregate trophy for the highest number of points in the vegetable categories and the grand aggregate trophy for the most points in the show.
Helen Heskin received trophies for the best decorative dahlia and the best corn.
Deshan Kortello showed the best ball dahlia.
June How topped the competition with her tiger lilies, Asiatic lily, flower arrangement and table centre arrangement.
The oriental lily trophy went to Iris Grywacheski and the best pansy award to Lacey Unterschute.
The best vase of wild flowers was entered by Victor Gurski; the best vase of perennials by Olga Moroz and the best vase of annuals by Gloria Gurski.
John Dyck showed the best green cabbage and Mary Knutson presented a very impressive collection of herbs to take the trophy in that category.
In the baking category, Mary Dyck received the trophy for the best buns and Gloria Gurski had the best pie and the best decorated cake.
The Norquay Horticultural Association would like to express its thanks to community members who took the time to come out and enjoy the displays, the release said.
