The Danesbury Fernery is judged again.
It’s that time of year when the Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council have the opportunity to show the (RHS) Anglia in Bloom judging team our beautiful town and borough. It is a Borough competition sponsored by the Royal Horticultural Society and covers Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire.
This year the WHBC entered 2x categories, one of them being The Fernery, Danesbury Nature Reserve which have been entered in the Historic Parks and Gardens category.
Humble and proud as we are, we do have a proven success record with Anglia in Bloom:
2018 We won a Special Award for a Conservation project. (Planting had hardly started at that stage).
2019 We failed to win – but received a Certificate for our troubles.
2023 We won the Gold Award in the Parks & Gardens Category.
But that confidence could have been mis-placed and the nail-biting started on the afternoon of Tuesday 15th July when a team of independent RHS Judges visited the Fernery. The Judges were Ian Chatters and Angela Barnes The FODF volunteers were standing by their (flower) beds, properly dressed, and ready to smile and answer testing questions.
The RHS Judges have always been very happy visiting the Fernery, and they were undoubtedly impressed once again with the new planting, and the Pulhamite rockwork restoration, carried out since they last visited us. The Judges were clearly impressed too with the continuing strength and organisation of the volunteer Gardening Group that meets once a week all year round to keep the Fernery looking as good as it does.
The results and Awards were announced after a good lunch and Borough Council Bash in Huntingdon in the Autumn.
THE GOLDEN RESULT
Well done the volunteers.
And well done to the Borough Council whose award it is!