Roses smell sweet

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Roses smell sweet

Flower power: Dawn Green, Mavis Wightman and Glenice Wilson, all of Leongatha, prepare bouquets for sale.

Flower power: Dawn Green, Mavis Wightman and Glenice Wilson, all of Leongatha, prepare bouquets for sale.

Winning spirit: Graham Turton and Shirley Turton with her winning entry, best exhibit of a miniature rose.

Winning spirit: Graham Turton and Shirley Turton with her winning entry, best exhibit of a miniature rose.

Precious petals: Lillian Brittain and Sandra Macdonald, both of the Rose Show Committee, take a breather outside the Leongatha Rose Spectacular. Lillian holds her prizewinning exhibit and Sandra holds the Tilly Aston rose.

Precious petals: Lillian Brittain and Sandra Macdonald, both of the Rose Show Committee, take a breather outside the Leongatha Rose Spectacular. Lillian holds her prizewinning exhibit and Sandra holds the Tilly Aston rose.

 

IT’S the scent that hits you first.

And the Leongatha Rose Spectacular not also smells good but it’s a pleasure to see and helps to promote the town’s profile.

The perfume of the flowers is one element that Wanda Egerton truly appreciates.

Wanda has attended every Leongatha rose show for the last 15 years to judge the best scented rose.

She has been blind all her life and came up with the original idea for rewarding the best aroma.

Not surprisingly, Wanda enjoys judging at the rose show, which gets her into the country to sample the glorious perfumes.

She is a client of Vision Australia and also volunteers with them.

At home she runs a square-dance group and a dinner group for Vision Australia.

She is also involved in blind sport and sits on interview panels as well as doing public speaking at events such as the rose show.

The winner of the top honour, champion rose, was Arie Bos of Welshpool, who also won several additional prizes.

The champion’s prize was donated by Birch, Ross and Barlow.

Beat Ollington won best container of roses (one variety) and a prize from Jackson and Lawry Optometrists.

Rosemary Wood of Leongatha won the best container of David Austin roses and a prize from Marriott’s Machinery.

Shirley Turton won best exhibit of a miniature rose with a prize from Leongatha Newsagency.

Jose Rutherford won best stem of David Austin and was awarded a prize by Knight’s Toyota.

Jesselyn Griggs won best novice rose and a prize from Kurinda Rose Nursery.

Other winning entrants included Dorothy Maxwell, Chloe Nesci, June McIndoe, Ricky McNaughton, Jane Millard, M. Bellingham, Michele Stothart, Lillian Brittain, Jesselyn Griggs, Rosemary Wood, Hilda Kruse and Heather Sullivan.

The prizes were awarded by John ‘Pokey’ Poke, whose program Pokey’s Garden runs on ABC Radio.

He advised attendees that this month’s Gardening Australia magazine has a feature on the Leongatha Rose Spectacular.

As for tips for those wanting to win prizes in the future, Jose Rutherford recommended using Neutrog Sudden Impact for Roses and Neutrog Seamungus as a tonic through the winter.

Heather Sullivan divulged a tip from knowledgeable fellow winner, Rosemary Wood, who says to fertilise roses in every month that has an ‘r’in it.

Jose suggested pruning in July then spraying well with lime sulphur.

John Poke also advised throwing lime onto the soil after pruning to encourage a deeper bloom.

His special tip was in the numbers: 156 days from pruning to blooming, and 28 days between cutting a dead flowerhead and seeing a new flower.

John also advised pruning on an angle, to avoid black rot, and mulching so that the soil retains water better.

Morewell Rose Garden puts on pruning demonstrations for those keen to learn the art.

Leongatha Rose Spectacular’s ‘featured rose’ was the ‘Tilly Aston’, named after Matilda Ann Aston, born 1873, who was blind, attended university and became a poet, writer and educator.

Tilly initiated the founding of the Association for the Advancement of the Blind, which is now called Vision Australia.

Vision Australia was the major sponsor of the event.

 

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Posted by on Nov 11 2013. Filed under Community, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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