Garden Awards for 2024
All (well, almost all) the plants in my garden are winners. These 2024 Garden Awards are rewards for hard work, excellence, and personality.
The Most Promising Newcomer Award
The nominees are Rose 'The Active', Rose 'Marie du Blois', Unknown Camellia (from my friend).
Most Promising Newcomer Award : The Active Roses
And the winner is : Rose 'The Active'. This interesting rose, named after Samuel Marsden's sailing ship, is believed to be bred from the old rose Mutabilis. The flower colours are a mixture of lemon and pale orange, fading to cream. It's a strong growing rose for a country garden.
Best Foliage 2024
Any type of leaf, variegated or plain, of any colour, on a tree, shrub, perennial or annual is eligible. The nominees are Dark Phormium, Variegated Hosta, Cercis tree.
Best Foliage 2024 : Golden Cercis Tree
And the winner is : Cercis Tree. Beautiful from spring on, a vibrant lime green in colour, turning yellow in autumn. And the prettiest leaf shape, too.
Flowering Shrub of the Year
The nominees are variegated Coprosma, New Zealand Myrtle, and Tasmanian Tree Daisy. Two New Zealanders and an Australian...
Flowering Shrub of the Year : Tasmanian Tree Daisy
And the winner is : Tasmanian Tree Daisy. This beautiful shrub comes in three flower colours (cool blue, dusky pink, and lilac). It's tough, a bit scruffy, though completely unmemorable when not in flower.
Most Useful Perennial Award
The nominees are Miniature Agapanthus (pale blue variety), Lychnis, and Lupins. All the nominees are useful plants - easy to grow, easy to replicate, not too fussy, as well as being pleasant on the eye.
Most Useful Perennial Award : Miniature Agapanthus
And the winner is : Miniature Agapanthus. Often offered free if dug out from other peoples' gardens, miniature Agapanthus is the perfect size for edging a border. The foliage looks good all year round (if sheltered from frost). It flowers in mid-summer and never looks tired.
Best Impact Plant 2024
The winner of this award must make a serious impact on the garden. The nominees are a deep purple Rhododendron (stunning colour-wise), a species single Red Rose (flowering for weeks), and Gunnera (an enormous-leafed perennial). Each of these nominees has an impactful and unforgettable garden personality.
Best Impact Plant 2024 : Gunnera
And the winner is : Gunnera. After being cut back in winter Gunnera is a sleeping giant. By mid-summer the huge green leaves on chunky spiky stems have filled up all the space within reach, and more. Annoying? No way. Awe inspiring!
Best Company in the Garden Award
In 2024 the dogs, the cats, and Non-Gardening Partner have been conspicuous by their absence in the garden. So there's only one nominee, a tame brownish blackbird who has spent hours of his/her life hopping behind me to check for worms etc.
Winner of The Best Company in the Garden Award
This little darling is the winner of the Best Company in the Garden Award.
Best Garden Accessory Award
This award looks at the humble, helpful things that can make the gardener's life so much easier, without costing hundreds of dollars or needing fuel (making NGP's chainsaw ineligible). There is only one nominee, the Kitchen Breadknife.
Winner of The Best Garden Accessory Award
The kitchen bread-knife is the best garden tool ever.
The Supreme Garden Award for 2024?
This is easy - no contest! There's one outstanding nominee. Me, the hard working Head Gardener at Mooseys, who has made so many supreme decisions (and just the occasional supreme mistake). Yeay!
Congratulations!