Plympton Gardeners Association staged their 73rd annual summer show in August, the first for three years due to the COVID pandemic.
The event in Harewood House was formally opened by the Stannator of Plympton, Pastor Arno Bessel. While overall exhibit numbers were down, there was still plenty to see displayed on the benches, with two vegetable classes in particular having a record number of entries – rhubarb and cherry tomatoes.
Arthur Hext led the way in terms of quality of exhibits, scooping so many prize cups that they had to be boxed up for him to carry away. Among his trophy wins were the Roy Pook Trophy for carrots, the Des Spedding Memorial Cup for best potato exhibit, the C T Twitchett Memorial Cup for best vegetable exhibit, PGA Fruit Bowl for best apple exhibit, the Miss Moreton Cup for best gladioli, the EC Lewis Cup for his sunflowers, the Phil Damp Memorial Trophy for best exhibit in the flower section , PGA Vase for best overall flower exhibit, the Mrs J I Stopporton Trophy for his collection of cultivars and the G & D Davies Cup for best fuchsia exhibit.
Arthur didn’t have a clean sweep though, with several other people also picking up trophies and certificates. Bernice Lewis’ sweetcorn netted her the certificate for best fruit or vegetable exhibit for a novice and Maureen Styler scooped the Captain Joyce Cup for best winning floral art exhibit. First time exhibitor Joan Hogg also won a trophy after coming first in the rhubarb class.
As well as fruit and vegetables the show also had domestic science, handicraft, photography and children’s classes. There was an impressive array of entries in the four photography classes, resulting in a tie for first overall in the show for photography between Charlotte Willis and Maureen Styler.
In the domestic science classes new entrant Joan Hogg also picked up an award for best novice’s domestic science exhibit and former Stannator Natalie Harrison took the Skip Rolfe Trophy for best exhibit in preserves.
Lydia Ross was this year’s recipient of the June Shaw Trophy after being judged to have made the best fruit cake.
Young Isabella Hensman was the runaway winner in the children’s classes, winning the Gilbert Cup in the colouring competition as well as taking first place for her animal made from vegetables and her decorated pebble.
Unsurprisingly given his number of trophy wins, Arthur Hext took the award for most overall points in the show with former Stannator Sally Luscombe being the runner up.
Roy Rogers was also awarded the National Vegetable Society Plaque for his prizewinning collection of beetroot.
Despite the reduced exhibit numbers Show Secretary Paul Hutchings described it as ‘a great first show back.’ Talking of the impact of the hot and dry summer on exhibit numbers he said:
“We are down on the vegetables and in particular the flowers by at least fifty percent.” He said a number of people phoned him up to explain that they had absolutely nothing left to show as their flowers had been bursting into bloom and drying right out.
While garden flower exhibits were heavily impacted by the hot and dry weather the show did see a boost with the number of potted plant entries.
Although Plympton recently lost its fuchsia and geranium group, the Plympton Gardeners Association is flourishing and expanding. Their focus nowadays is more on what Paul describes as ‘social gardening’ rather than the exhibition growing which the association was more geared towards in the past. More details about the Association and their regular meetings can be found on their website plymptongardeners.com.
(Story courtesy of the Plympton Podcast)
