On a warm Wednesday night, gardeners and local leaders gathered at the Piazza Colombo to celebrate a successful gardening season.
Trail in Bloom handed out awards after judging over 60 gardens in 15 categories while guests sipped wine and tried to stay cool in the evening sun.
Chair of the Trail in Bloom committee, Annette Gallatin, said she was happy with the entries and the winners.
“We are absolutely proud,” she said.
“The gardeners have their passion and they live it and they share it. You walk into a yard and you are just 'wow'ed. It is everything from the rustic to the elegant to the whimsical. The gardeners' personalities just come through.”
For Gail Winters, it was a night of firsts. She won first place in the ‘First Time Entry” category at the awards ceremony.
Her reason for putting her garden on the judges list?
“My family has always been bugging me to enter,” she said after the ceremony was finished. “My husband put so much work into it, I thought I’d better enter.”
Her favourite plant in her garden are the peonies because they are easy to cultivate.
“They are so pretty and they are the least amount of work,” she said while laughing. “I know they aren’t a weed!”
As for the actual awards ceremony, Gallatin says it was a great success for the committee.
“They went beautifully,” she said.
“It was our first year on our own because the person who did it for six years retired, but everything was alright. Everybody feels happy about it.”
The Trail in Bloom Committee already has some ideas for next year's ceremony.
“We have a list of to-dos for next year,” she said. “We'll be ahead of the game.”