Turner Valley’s mayor and councillors spent hours mulling over dozens of photographs of gardens, flower beds and yards last weekend in a beautification competition that had 18 residents vying for cash prizes.
Four winners and three runners up were announced in the Town’s inaugural Bloomin’ Turner Valley contest, which challenged folks to stack their properties and planting projects up against others in a friendly competition.
Coun. Jonathan Gordon came up with the idea last spring while searching for ways to engage residents and lift community spirit during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The contest was created to brighten up the community and help residents feel better during these challenging time,” said Gordon. “It’s not a surprise the entries showcased incredibly talented and creative gardeners. Each photo displayed a sense of pride and enjoyment.”
Rather than having judges visit the properties, contestants were asked to submit photographs of their entries to maintain physical distancing protocols, Gordon said.
“Everything was done digitally,” he said. “Councillors judged the categories based on submitted photographs. Each councillor voted on first place and a runner up for each category.”
The votes were tallied and the winners were announced early this week.
“I was really impressed with the photos,” he said. “It really showed that there’s a lot of pride in the community. I want to follow up with a lot of people and say, ‘What’s your trick?’”
The 18 contestants entered one to four categories each, with the homegrown favourite category receiving the most entries and non-residential category receiving no entries, said Gordon.
“I would probably boil it down to a lack of clear communication in the guidelines,” Gordon said of the latter category. “Most of our businesses don’t have the frontage for a garden. Most invested in flower pots and greenery. We’re going to have to work on that category with more specific guidelines.”
The winning entry that stood out most for Gordon was 14-year-old Zephyr Hazenveld in the conservation and environment category. Hazenveld's family owns a permaculture farm in Turner Valley.
“They had a water collection system and they were careful with what kind of perennials and prairie grasses they planted,” Gordon said. “There were several different elements involved and I was super impressed with that.”
Hazenveld, whose mom, Barb, suggested he enter the competition, said his family works hard to live a sustainable life.
“We like to conserve as much as we can, collecting as much water as possible from the roof and rain water so we don’t have to use town water to water our gardens,” he said. “We eat most of what we grow so we don’t have to go out to the store and buy it. And the stuff in our front yard doesn’t really need watering.”
The yard is a family affair, Hazenveld said, with all members playing a role in watering, weeding and harvesting.
“It’s work to be sustainable, getting all the stuff set up for the rain water and making the garden beds and all that, especially if you’re using recycled materials, but it’s good once you get it going,” he said. “Once it’s up and you have a good system going you just keep it going.”
The judges were also impressed with four-year-old Ellie Kronstal’s submission in the Creative Kids’ Gardening category. When the youngster learned she won, mom Erica said she couldn’t stop smiling.
“When they called, I put her on speaker phone and she was grinning ear to ear,” she said. “She keeps telling everyone that she won.”
Erica said when her family moved into the home two years ago, they weren’t sure what to do with the small space in front of their pie-shaped lot. They soon decided on a fairy garden, planting perennials, succulents and daylilies.
Then Ellie added her own element to the space.
“At the front part of the garden she put out all of her fairy things,” Erica said. “She has a little pond, bridges, little fairies sitting in lily boats, little bunnies and birds and bird houses.”
The garden became popular amongst little ones in the neighbourhood.
“It’s a really well-used play area and some of the neighbourhood kids will come over and sit in front of the house and play in there as well,” Erica said. “We’ve already had this for a couple of years, but Ellie has worked really hard on maintaining it and making sure every time she plays in there she pulls the little weeds out and waters it.”
With this year’s Bloomin’ Turner Valley a success, Gordon said plans are in the works to bring it back next year.
“We plan to start the contest earlier next year and change up some of the categories to make it more specific to Turner Valley,” he said. “We’re looking forward to next year and making sure that we get the messaging correct and the categories tightened up with some key guidelines as to what qualifies.”
Other contest winners are Sandy Gregg, first place, and Marjorie Kerley, runner up, for Best Homegrown Favourite Residential Flower Display; Beth Ohlson, first place, and Robert and Cathy Dallas, runners up, for Best Community Spirit Garden/Flower Box Display; and Marion Wolf, runner up for Best Conservation and Environmental Properties.
The winners receive $100 and the runners up $50 from the Town’s community support fund.
