Buderim Garden Club

The 2021 Garden Festival was a resounding success. The feedback we have received has been overwhelmingly positive, visitor’s all thought the open gardens & flower/photography shows were great. We were very fortunate this year to have had wonderful weather and great crowds. What a relief after all the rain for most of the week leading up to the festival (great for open gardens), and on Friday morning, then fine for twilight markets and great sunny days Saturday & Sunday, storm came again Monday, very lucky.

Had Visitors from other Queensland areas/regions – Brisbane areas, Bribie Island, Bundaberg, Gympie, Toowoomba, Mount Tamborine that made themselves know to BGC. Plus, the many local Sunshine Coast & Noosa visitors. Again, attracting local & regional visitors to Buderim.

This year we held twilight Quality Plant Market, from 3pm-7:00 pm on Friday 15th (after trial in 2019) as well as the usual Saturday and Sunday plant markets. The Flower Show and a much-expanded Photography Exhibition were also opened on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. There were 6 Exclusive Open Gardens in the Buderim area which were selected to showcase the diversity in size and style of gardening in our area. The Gardens were open Saturday 8am-4pm and Sunday 8am-3pm.

Had Bus visits from – Beenleigh (Gold Coast), Caloundra & Maryborough Garden Clubs. Had Caloundra & Sippy Downs age care homes bring their bus and on Saturday had 2 shuttle Busses, Sunday 1 bus (supplied by BGC) take people around gardens. Jenni Campbell our Bus Convenor did a great job coordinating the shuttle buses, with 125 passengers on Sat, and 39 Sunday (Total 164 people using this service). Visitors were able to see the Open Gardens without traffic and parking problems via a free shuttle bus service.

Organisation for the Festival started soon after last year’s AGM with the BGC Committee and with date claimers being sent out to all Garden Clubs. It takes a huge effort on the part of many to stage an event like the Garden Festival. My thanks go to the convenors who carried out their area of responsibility so effectively. This has been very much a team effort and I sincerely thank all the members of our management committee for their individual input and efforts as well as all the Club members who assisted with the setting up of the hall, manned stalls, assisted with buses, sat on Gardens, donated plants and entered exhibits to the competition.

SPONSORSHIP

This year we were fortunate to again have two major sponsors. Manawee Garden Centre sponsored the club by covering the cost of producing the tickets for the festival. They also supported the club by arranging an attractive floral display on the stage, we thank Manawee for their consistent and continued support.

We also received sponsorship from the Buderim Bendigo Community Bank. The Bank sponsored most of the cost of the buses ($1500) which allowed people free travel to the open gardens. The cost of the buses came to $2,200.00. We received much positive feedback for this free service. We are extremely grateful to the bank for their support of this community event.

This year the SCC has again required the BGC to have permit to run the event and the need to have first aiders on site. The BGC applied for and obtained a grant from SCC to train 10 members in First Aid. We thank the SCC for the grant.  

FINANCIALS

Summary, Treasure Anne will give full report on festival finances when all invoice/charges have been received.

The Draft figure has BGC making just over $12,000 profit, great outcome thanks all hard work by members.

PROMOTION AND ADVERTISING/DISPLAYS

We have received excellent coverage in the media this year especially from 104.9 FM and 7 Local news.  The event was advertised widely with Garden Clubs of Queensland (QCGC Newsletter & Flyers, Emails sent to all SE Queensland Garden clubs 6 months out from event & again 2 months to go). BGC used My Open Garden - Open Gardens/Events Alert to notify people of the Garden Festival.

Buderim Garden Festival was well advertised at the Memorial Hall signage 6 weeks. Also, again this year the BGC used the festival flags and they were well displayed around Buderim.

Our festival poster/flag was on display in the Old Post Office for two weeks and at the Bendigo Community Bank Plant display for 6 weeks, to promote the Festival and I thank Steve Wikman, Ken Evans and Nev Douglas who readily helped setup & supplied their plants. At the Qld Garden Expo. 6,000 flyers were handed out at Nambour and various other locations such as local businesses and retirement centres in the months prior to the festival.

SPRING FLOWER SHOW (refer to full report from John Sargaison - Chief Show Steward)

This year, the number of cut flower entries was significantly down on the number of entries received in the 2019 Show (112 v 198).  The reduced number of entries was unfortunately consistent across all other sections excepting the Children and Photography sections. The display this year in the Hall was once again splendid in its colour and the quality of the exhibits was outstanding.

Again, this year we had the Children’s section.  This year Milford Lodge Day-care Centre were enthusiastic participants again, and as Milford Lodge was one of our open gardens, the display was set to see by all visitors to the Lodge. Also, this year the Little Village Day-care Centre also joined the Children’s Section.  We had great entries from the children at Milford Lodge based on the theme of a “Small World Potted Plant”, and Little Village had “Zoned Entries” each done to a theme by group children in aged group zones and were on display @ the hall.

Our Chief Steward and Convenor John Sargaison has once again done a wonderful job. Thank you, John and all who helped as stewards etc. during the weekend.

PHOTOGRAPHIC DISPLAY (refer to full report from Marion Upston – Photographic Convenor)

This year the Photography Exhibition (section 11) was again located in the hall foyer with specially arranged display boards, with 5 classes, 255 entries were received. The quality & standard of the photographs were excellent.

Our Convenor Marion Upston and her helpers have done a wonderful job arranging the display. Thank you, Marion.

OFFICAL OPENING

The official opening of the Show and the presentation of trophies was again held at 2pm on the Saturday and BGC invited Marjorie Van Roy, our patron and sponsor, Peter MacDonnell from Buderim Bendigo Community Bank & sponsor, the State Member for Buderim Mr Brent Mickleburg and Local Councillor Ten Hungerford to present the trophies to the winners of the various sections.

The festival was officially opened by our patron Marjorie Van Roy.

OPEN GARDENS

The 2021 BGC Garden Festival featured 6 Open Gardens. The Open Gardens where selected to showcase the diversity in size and style of gardening in our area. This year due to COVID and problems getting home gardens for display, 4 gardens featured were public/private gardens, the Maroochy Bush Botanic Garden was one to try and encourage public visitors in future, the Bloomhill Cancer Care Centre was also featured and the over fifties Natures Edge complex to demonstrate small gardens in village setting.

Milford Lodge was again featured as example child care centre & gardens (was open garden in 2018, and again came onboard when 1 garden had to pull out this year). The BGC also thank very much the Sheargolds & Atkinson House for opening their gardens on behalf of the BGC. The club donated $300 to each garden to help in preparing a colourful display, which was most appreciated by the owners/organisers. 

Attendance at gardens:

 1 - Maureen & Lee Sheargold - 75 Williams St. Buderim. (Had 791 visitors – all-time record for visitors)

 2 - Natures Edge - 25 Owen Creek Road, Forest Glen. (Had 462 visitors)

 3 – Maroochy Regional Bushland Botanic Gardens. (Had 255 visitors, mostly visitors to area & buses)

 4 – ‘Atkinson House’ 4 Attunga Crescent, Buderim. (Had 695 visitors)

 5 - Bloomhill Cancer Care Centre 58 Ballinger Rd, Buderim. (Had 560 visitors)

 6 – Milford Lodge 28 Gloucester Road Buderim. (Had 585 visitors)

TICKET SALES

The BGC arranged preselling of tickets from OPO, Manawee Garden Centre, Buderim News and Buderim Community Bank prior to the Festival, with some sales @ Newsagent & Manawee over the Festival weekend and we thank those outlets for their help, total 216 tickets sold. This year pre sold ticket via phone (15), next year will sell online as well. Complimentary tickets (life members, open gardens, guests and committee  - 80), discounted tickets ($12) to Garden Groups bus trips (36), Open Garden Sales (102) and $15 ticket sales @ Hall (350), totalled 800 tickets in total, not forgetting the return from $2 coin for Hall entry (total $448).

CATERING

This year the BGC did not have catering in Hall, but asked the Craft Cottage to do all the catering Coffee/Cakes and Lions Club Buderim sausage sizzle Friday, Sat. & Sunday. The Craft Cottage & Lions both did a wonderful job catering for us and the public at the festival. Everything ran smoothly, great food and great service.

Again, Caryll Beck did an outstanding job of catering for workers breakfast on Friday after hall set-up and again on Sunday afternoon post festival brief (under difficult circumstances due her grandson being attacked on Saturday night, we wish Caryll & her grandson speedy recovery).  

RAFFLE

This year we had a total of 20 raffle prizes to the value of $3,000, due to the great support by mainly Buderim and other Sunshine Coast business (see list below).  Extra special thanks to Maureen Michael our raffle convenor, and thanks committee members in assisting to obtain the great prizes.

Monster Raffle Prize Draw Order & list of Business who provided prize

1st Mitre 10 Kunda Park – Oval Bowl Cascade water feature (value $500)

2nd Ingenia Holiday Voucher – Value $500

3rd Mitre 10 Kunda Park – Cylinda Spout Cascade water feature (value $400)

4th Manawee Garden Centre- Large parcel of selected Searles Garden Products $150

5th Gift Pack of wine from State member, Brent Mickleberg + Forest Glen Café - $50 V. & coffee cup + Forest Glen Bakery – 1 X $50 voucher (value $125)

6th Bunnings $100.00 Gift Voucher

7th Chemist Warehouse Forest Glen – personal care basket products (value $100)

8th Sunshine Coast Organic meats (Kunara) Gift $50 + SG Bakery $10 V. + Worm Buffet $39 from Mitre 10 Nambour (value $100)

9th Forest Glen Bakery – 1 X $50 voucher + Forest Glen Butcher $25 V. + SG Bakery $10 V. (value $85)

10th KunaraMarketPlace Forest Glen - $50 voucher Forest Glen Butcher $25 voucher + SG Bakery $10 V. (value $85)

11th Terry White Chemist, Gift basket of personal care products + SG Bakery $10 V. (value $80)

12th Buderim Landscape Centre $50 voucher + SG Bakery $10 V. (value $60)

13th Buderim Tavern - $25 voucher + 2x1kg bags Gardenmate (Earthlife) + SG Bakery $10 V. (value $60)

14th Buderim Pharmacy - Gift box- personal care products + Castello Cafe Bar $5 V. + SG Bakery $10 V. (value$60)

15th Forest Glen Butcher $25 voucher +1x4kg Gardenmate (Earthlife) + SG Bakery $10 V. (value $50)

16th Beefys Voucher – $35 +4kg bag Gardenmate (Earthlife) (value $50)

17th Beefys Vouchers – $35 +1kg bag Gardenmate (Earthlife) + Castello Cafe Bar - $5 V. (value $45)

18th Bottle of Wine from Federal member, Ted O'Brien + Woolworths’s gift card + Castello Cafe Bar $5 Voucher (value $45)

19th Essence of Buderim Book + SG Bakery $10 V. + Castello Cafe Bar $5 V. (value $40)

20th Selection of gifts from Buderim Post Office + SG Bakery $10 V. + Castello Cafe Bar $5 Voucher (value $40)

Note – All prizes had a Gardens of Buderim book to add to prize, value $20.

Stalls Holders & BGC Plant Stall 

The lawn ‘Green’ area between the Hall and the Craft Cottage housed 13 stalls, with one stall out front of hall. BGC was very pleased with the location stalls due COVID, and the quality of the different stalls and the general flow of people traffic. Most stall holders were very pleased with their location and sales. Most expressed interest in returning next year. The Club receives 10% of the taking and this year we made $3,277.00 from the stalls.  Special thanks to Mike Kelly for arranging the stall holders that attended this year and for location/plan of marquees on the Green. Some stall holders did not attend this year (had 20 stalls in 2019) due the requirement to have stall insurance cover.

Our Club plant stall did exceedingly well and we thank all members who donated plants. We raised $3,596.00 on plant sales and this surely due to Steve Wikman and his team, many thanks. The standard and quality of donated plants from our members was very high this year, volume down but all plants sold (Steve your messages have gotten through).

IN CONCLUSION

I would like to thank all members of the Club who volunteered their time by sitting on gardens, working on the plant stall, selling raffle tickets and Open Garden/Hall Tickets, helped to set up for the flower/photographic show, and take it down again. Thanks to Caryll Beck and the ladies who made/served the Friday morning breakfast. I would like to thank the Convenors all of whom did a great job in their area of responsibility and who made my task much easier. I would like to thank everyone on the committee for the role they played in making this Festival the success it was, especially treasurer Anne Leach who had lots of money & finances to deal with. I must thank Kathy my wife for great cleaning of hall toilets during the festival, and helping with catering, and putting up with me and all the time I spend on the festival organisation.

John Lyon

President & Festival Organiser                                                                                                                           

Chief Steward’s Report 2021 BGC Flower Show

 In the month leading up to this years’ show we had very little rain excepting for two days in the week before the show.  This welcomed rain appears to have helped with the quality of flowers as demonstrated by the entries received this year. The number of cut flower entries was significantly down on the number of entries received in the 2019 Show (112 v 198)*. 

The reduced number of entries was unfortunately consistent across all other sections excepting the Children and Photography sections as shown in Table 1. 

Consideration should be given to ways of increasing the number of members, and in particular new members, entering both monthly and annual competitions.

Our judges for Sections 1- 9, Heather and Noel Prior were very pleased with the quality of flowers and plants entered.  It was suggested that BGC consider allowing members to use their own containers in which to display their entries.  This would enable members to prepare their entries at home and make it easier to transport entries to the show.

Consideration should be given to changing the Show rules to enable the use of display containers other than those provided by BGC.

Congratulations go to all members who submitted entries and had a go, I am sure that you enjoyed the experience of competing. 

In particular I would like to congratulate our 2021 major trophy/prize winners:

Champion Rose – Elizabeth Hales

Champion Bloom other than a Rose – Teddy Gove

Champion Flowers from Exotics – Elizabeth Hales

Champion Flowers From Natives – Nev Douglas

Champion Foliage Collection – Joy Fixter

Champion Bonsai – Reg Gibson

Champion Plant in a Standing Pot – Nev Douglas

Champion Hanging Basket – Steve Wikman

Champion Novelty Arrangement – Lynda Reynolds

Champion Fruit, Vegetables and Herbs – Cammie Pettiford

Champion Garden Photography Exhibit – Chris Holland

Encouragement Award – Cammie Pettiford

Most Points Section 1 Cut Flowers – Pamela Sheahan

Most Points Sections 6 and 7 Standing Pots/Hanging Baskets – Nev Douglas

Most Points in Show Champion Member – Teddy Gove

As mentioned previously the number of entries in the Garden Photography section increased again this year with 255 entries received across the five classes. A big change this year was the number of non-members who submitted entries in the show (69 entries).  Non-members figured prominently in the prizes taking out 10 of the 11 prizes on offer.  Members now have the challenge to keep on improving their photographic skills to get back on the winners list. 

Consideration should be given to having a guest speaker at a monthly meeting and/or running a workshop for members on garden photography.

This year non-members submitted their entries in hard copy whereas members submitted their entries in electronic format which were then bulk printed.  Judging was carried out using the hard copy of the photographs.  This variation could have provided non members with an advantage and therefore consideration should be given to having only one entry format for all, either electronic or hard copy.

Consideration should be given to:

1. having all entries submitted and judged in electronic format to provide “a level playing field” for all entrants (also consider a fee for non-member entry to go towards covering prize monies); and
2. setting the closing date for entries in the Photography Section at two weeks prior to the Show to enable greater time for the judging process and subsequent printing and preparation of photos for display in the Show.

The photography section set-up and judging was carried out on Thursday in the BWMCA Hall foyer.  Some of the hired display screens were in poor condition which made it difficult when mounting the photos. Also lighting in the foyer is not optimal for viewing the photography entries.

Consideration be given to:

1. sourcing better quality screens either with existing the supplier or an alternate; and
2. looking at ways to improve the lighting (temporary or permanent) in the foyer.

Special mention must go to Marion Upston who put in an amazing effort in preparing (printing, mounting and labeling) all of the entries for display.  The external judge for the Photography Section Barry Beckham was very impressed with the quality of images submitted. 

Two Buderim childcare centers participated in the Children’s Section, Milford Lodge (62 entries) and Little Village (7 entries).  It is always a pleasure to see the children participating in the show and hopefully encouraging a lifelong passion with gardening.  As Milford Lodge was also an open garden the entries were left there for display.  Judging was carried out on Wednesday and the entries from Little Village were picked up and staged in the Hall on Friday. 

This year we trialed the use of online entry for the Photography Section and for judging sections 1-9.  There were some minor glitches but overall, these changes worked well. Special mention goes to John Leach for his time and expertise with these initiatives. 

We also trialed improving the quality of the Class and Section award certificates by using a team of five volunteer Calligraphers who manually scribed the recipient’s names on the certificates before lamination.  BGC sincerely appreciates the effort put in by the non-member volunteers.  This part of the Show is always stressful as there is a tight turn around required and there is significant scope for error in particular at the end of a long day.  Unfortunately, there were a number of certificates with either incorrect or misspelt names entered which then caused problems and rework on Saturday. 

Consideration should be given to reverting back to entering certificate recipient names electronically in parallel with the printing of labels for the prize money envelopes to reduce the potential for error.

The Friday show set-up commenced at 7am with a good number of enthusiastic members helping out and within one and a quarter hour the hall was ready to accept entries.  It was a pleasure to watch the transformation with such a great team in action.  The set-up was followed by a very welcomed cooked breakfast provided by Caryll and her team.  It is touches like this which make the week-end such an enjoyable experience to be involved in.

Entries were accepted from 9:00am and by 2:00pm the hall was looking and smelling wonderful. Judging commenced at 2:00pm and was finished by 4:00pm and the Hall was opened to the public.  The preparation and placement of prize winner certificates was completed by 8:30pm.

Overall the judges were very complimentary with the quality and staging of the entries in this years show.  Some entries in Section 1 Cut Flowers were not prepared/staged as well as they could have been e.g flowers sitting too low in the bottle, faces of the flowers not pointing to the front, flowers crossing over to show off the best of the entry - suggested improvement being training of preparation assistants

Consideration should be given to:

having more preparation/staging presentations at monthly meetings and/or workshops; and

creating a formal role/s of “Competition Preparation Assistant” and training these members to assist in educating members when entering both the monthly and annual competitions.

Over the week-end our volunteers maintained the show exhibits in a great condition for the benefit of our visitors.  Some members went to the effort of bringing in fresh flowers on Saturday and Sunday to replace the wilting entries staged on Friday.  It was very pleasing to hear the many positive comments from our visitors who were suitably impressed with the quality of our Show.  This is something that our club should be justly proud of.

The official opening of the Show and presentation of trophies was held at 2pm on Saturday and there were a number of visitors and members present in the hall to witness this.  The State Member for Buderim Mr. Brent Mickelberg, Marjorie Van Roy, our patron and major sponsor (Manawee), Peter McDonnell (Buderim Bendigo Community Bank) our other major sponsor and Councilor Ted Hungerford participated in the opening and presentation of trophies.

Consideration should be given to the purchase of a Trophy for the Novelty Section

The show closure and dismantle again went off well due to the willing volunteers in attendance.  This year was unique in that the Hall had been rehired from 4:00pm which necessitated commencing the dismantling of the show earlier than programmed.  This did cause some problems in that some cuttings were taken without consent before the owners were present due to other volunteering commitments.

Consideration should be given to:

1. extending the hall hiring period to enable adequate time for the orderly dismantling of the Show; and
2. amending the Show rules to prohibit members taking any entry or part thereof, on completion of the Show, without the approval of the owner of the entry.

Following the clean-up, we held a Festival debrief in the upstairs room and Caryll again excelled with lovely food which all present thoroughly enjoyed.

In conclusion I would like to sincerely thank again those who submitted entries and to the army of volunteers that assisted in any way with the running of what was a very successful 2021 Spring Flower Show.

John Sargaison

Chief Show Steward

Champion Rose – Elizabeth Hales

Champion Bloom other than a Rose – Teddy Gove

Champion Flowers from Exotics – Elizabeth Hales

Champion Flowers From Natives – Nev Douglas

Champion Foliage Collection – Joy Fixter

Champion Bonsai – Reg Gibson

Champion Plant in a Standing Pot – Nev Douglas

Champion Hanging Basket – Steve Wikman

Champion Novelty Arrangement – Lynda Reynolds

Champion Fruit, Vegetables and Herbs – Cammie Pettiford

Champion Garden Photography Exhibit – Chris Holland

Encouragement Award – Cammie Pettiford

Most Points Section 1 Cut Flowers – Pamela Sheahan

Most Points Sections 6 and 7 Standing Pots/Hanging Baskets – Nev Douglas

With our Flower Show this year we are introducing an easier way to submit your entries for the Garden Photography section. All you need to do is click on the button below and then insert the details and attach your photos as directed.

There are five  classes in the Garden Photography Section (see details below Show Schedule) and each person can submit up to  three entries in each class. Please note that entries for the Garden Photography section close on Friday, 8 October.