The Suffolk Free Press has published a wonderful two-page spread about our Pride of Sudbury gardening competition, including photos of many of the winners and their gardens.

Pick up your copy this week and take a look!
www.suffolknews.co.uk/sudbury

The results are in - a round of applause, please, for our winners! Photos coming soon.

BEST FRONT GARDEN – Prizes by Perrywood

3rd place: Peter Webb
Judges loved the design of the garden, which encourages visitors to explore further, thanks to a variety of curved beds and borders which thread throughout the space.

2nd place: Joy King
Joy King has made excellent use of a small space. The planting was vibrant and colourful, and traditional cottage plants such as Roses, Dahlias and Peonies filled the borders alongside annual Rudbeckias and Cosmos.
 
1st place: Fred Godding
Successfully defending his title! Fred’s garden combined functionality with a bright and impressive floral display. Sweeping beds of flowers surrounded a gravel parking area. There was a huge variety of planting including exotic plants and a number of unusual shrubs, alongside more commonly grown plants.
 
BEST BACK GARDEN – Prizes by Waitrose
 
3rd place: Lorna Hinds
Lorna Hind has created a very cheerful space at the back of her house.
The basic structure is low maintenance, and she had used this to her advantage to focus her efforts on maintaining colourful planting to a high standard. She must also be commended for caring for a communal space in her street.
 
2nd place James Iannone
James Iannone’s garden epitomised the spirit of In Bloom. He had transformed a rundown communal area into a haven for himself and his neighbours. A high wall was covered with a glorious display of well-planted wall baskets and decorations, and all over the paving was an eclectic array of planters. Judges were impressed with the dedication to the garden: a hose was seen dangling from a first-floor apartment window!
 
1st place: Peter Scott
Our winning entry was a real adventure of a garden. Long and narrow, it has been divided into sections, and it appeared every plant department of the garden centre had been raided in its making! The outside-the-box thinking that had gone into the design was much enjoyed by our judges.

BEST COMMERICAL PREMISES – Prize by LAC Cleaning
 
Winner – Yorley Barn Nursery School
We were delighted the nursery put themselves forward to show all the wonderful work done by the children. We were very pleased to hear how much they enjoy their gardening activities, and hope it will spark a lifelong interest for them.
 
TALLEST SUNFLOWER – Prizes by Drage & Tozer opticians
 
Sudbury in Bloom were able to hand out dozens of sunflower seedlings to Sudbury & Cornard youngsters. They haven’t all come back to us with their measurements but we hope they had positive experiences growing them! Our horticultural expert Mark Mason is convinced he has grown the tallest sunflower in Sudbury but as he didn’t meet the criteria of being aged under 10 we couldn’t let him enter!
 
2nd Lottie Piot
1st St Gregory School nursery class                

BEST CONTAINER OR POT – Prizes by McDonalds
 
This was a category where our judges struggled to compare such varied entries. We saw many impressive collections, lots of different plants and some very creative approaches as to what can be used as a container!
 
3rd Colette Bentley
Probably the entry furthest from the beaten track: an old chest of drawers planted up with succulents!
 
2nd Lorna Hinds
Awarded for the overall quality of her varied collection of containers.
 
1st Anne Vale
Anne’s entry had the wow factor with an abundance of summer bedding plants overflowing from her pots.
 
BEST HANGING BASKET – Prizes by Bridge Farm Plants of Monks Eleigh
 
3rd James Iannone
Judges were wowed by the mass of colourful flowers he had used to cheer up his outside space.
 
2nd Peter Day
A creative approach with handcrafted brackets and containers.
 
1st Peter Webb
Simple planting but done with aplomb!

BEST WILDLIFE & ECO-FRIENDLY GARDEN – Prizes by Ipswich Building Society
 
We were delighted to see wildlife and eco features in all the gardens we visited, regardless of category, including lots of waterbutts, compost heaps, bird feeders, and water features.
Judges were faced with difficult decisions in this category as entries were so different in size and aspect.
 
3rd Colette Bentley
Described by our judges as a lovely garden, the space has been designed to be enjoyed by people and wildlife alike.
 
2nd Steve Laws
Another excellent garden with a glorious display of wildflowers at the time of our judges’ visit
 
1st John Hughes
A well-organised garden with lots of feeding. Highlights included a swathe of wildflowers and a pond suitable for all sorts of visitors.

We are looking forward to taking part in the first Green Sundays event in Sudbury on 20th June.

We will be on Market Hill (St Peter's if wet) 10am-3pm with activities, giveaways, competition entry forms and advice.

To tie in with our Pride of Sudbury gardening competition we will be handing out lots of free plants to help residents with their entries.

After visiting the Make-Your-Own-Plant-Pot stand, head to us to try your hand at potting up a bee-friendly perennial or herb, free to take away afterwards.

Children aged 10 and under can claim their free sunflower seedling so they can take part in our Tallest Sunflower category (residents Sudbury & Cornard districts only). We will also be giving out lots of free grow-your-own plants, including tomatoes, potatoes, courgettes, cucumbers, sweet peppers and chilli peppers.

To raise funds for our work about town we will have a selection of plants grown by our volunteers available to buy too.

Find out more about the event by clicking here.

We want as many people as possible to enter this year's Pride of Sudbury competition, so to help everyone boost their confidence and gain their greenfingers we have produced a series of video tutorials.

Head to our Tips & Advice page, or our Facebook page, to watch the videos, which have been produced especially for us by sponsors Bridge Farm Plants.

Videos include Wildlife Friendly Gardening, Planting Hanging Baskets, Planting Containers & Pots, and a fun Sunflower Growing video for children.

Get watching, get inspired ... and get entering our competition!

Sudbury in Bloom is encouraging everyone to get out in the garden with the launch  of the Sudbury in Bloom 2021 resident and business floral competition 'Pride of Sudbury' on June 11th.

The Pride of Sudbury competition is operated and run by Sudbury in Bloom for the residents of Sudbury and local districts.

It offers a unique opportunity for residents and local organisations to work together with the Town Council to improve our town and local environment.
 
Each category will be judged in terms of design, floral content, imagination and the inclusion of wildlife and conservation.
 
You can enter online by clicking here or pick up an entry form from Sudbury Town Hall in Gaol Lane.

The closing date for the competition is Friday July 16th. There is a later closing date for the Childrens’ Sunflower Competition which is Friday September 3rd

Prizes are being sponsored by local businesses and there are still opportunities for sponsorship through Sudbury in Bloom - click here to contact us

The presentation will be at the Town Hall subject to any ongoing restrictions applying at the time.
 
This year we are hoping to be able to Judge on site but we will ask entrants to keep their distance! 

For our May working party we headed to Market Hill to clear the worst of the weeds around the paving slabs by Gainsborough's statue and St Peter's.

With restrictions easing we are looking for more volunteers to join us at our summer working parties.
Find out more and register your interest on the Get Involved page - click here.

We have been working with sponsors Bridge Farm Plants of Monks Eleigh to revive one of the beds on the McDonalds roundabout on Northern Road/Waldingfield Road.

Babergh District Council contractors cut back the ivy which had spread across most of the space, with Flowers Groundcare kindly rotavating the roots free of charge.

Sudbury in Bloom volunteers and Bridge Farm Plants staff carried out more clearing. The bed was then manured with alpaca manure (a first for us, so we will be interested to see how much difference it makes!) and finally we got to the planting.

We supplied lots of Salvias grown by us, along with own-grown ornamental grasses and Agapanthus. The rest of the plants were donated free of charge by Bridge Farm Plants to provide low-maintenance year-round colour and interest. Plants include Cornus dogwood, Euphorbias, Erysimum shrubby wallflowers, Pittosporums and Phormiums, alongside spring bulbs which should pop up year after year.

We expect it will be a year or two for the planting to really fill out but we think it is looking much better than before!

We have had a number of socially distanced work sessions at Sudbury Resource Centre over winter and spring.

The courtyard area has had quite an overhaul. The sloped bank has been cleared and new planting added, including a couple of small trees.

The back fence has had a lick of paint, and edging added and painted to help define the area. Our volunteers have also repaired some of the garden furniture, and given existing planting a tidy-up.

Previous planting at the front of the building has been providing splashes of colour throughout the spring, and we hope it has lifted the spirits of all using the hub!