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Another Chelsea triumph
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That, however, is exactly what happened earlier this week – and in a very special and prestigious location.
That location, of course, was Chelsea Flower Show, an event which stands head and shoulders above all the other horticultural events held throughout the length and breadth of Britain.
As participants in the show, a JFU team decorated a stand with a remarkable display of Island produce arranged to resemble three stained-glass windows and a variety of other sculptural shapes, including spires made of leaks and spheres constructed from radishes. Fittingly, the display won a gold award from the famously hard-to-please Chelsea judges.
The JFU team, whose members are justifiably proud of what they have achieved, clearly deserves congratulations for a job well done, but there is another important dimension to their achievement. The huge numbers of visitors passing the display will have their attention drawn to the excellence of Jersey produce – including the Jersey Royals occupying a centre-stage position.
Having previously won gold in 2009, the JFU can be regarded as old hands at Chelsea, but they were not the only Jersey representatives to taste success this year. St Helier Parks and Gardens created an impressive display celebrating the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, topped by large facsimiles of a Jersey stamp, and this won a silver gilt award.
The fact that some 30,000 plants were used to spell out and decorate a jubilee message is impressive enough, but the Parks and Gardens team had only 16 weeks to prepare for the show after another participant pulled out. As team member Dale Hector said, 16 weeks is ‘like yesterday’ in the horticultural world.
As our many gardens, private and public, demonstrate, there are many talented gardeners, growers and landscape specialists in this Island. Some of those who are at the very top of their game can assert that their efforts compare very well indeed with those of the best in the land and that when it comes to competition, they are more than capable of scooping the top awards.
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