Great Victorian Hanging
Basket Competition 2020
A great start with an unexpected climax characterised this year's Great Victorian Hanging Basket Competition.
A record number of hanging basket entries from a wide community demographic created the groundwork for what was to be an exceptional 25th Anniversary event for the 2020 Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show. However, all of the planning and pre-event work by many came to a shuddering halt when COVID-19 struck, and everything was cancelled and society seemingly stopped.
Gardeners are resourceful and the Great Victorian Hanging Basket Competition became digital!
Basket competition entrants sent in pictures of their hanging basket which were reviewed, and a short selection was made into a digital showcase. The software used precluded showing a large number of baskets and this was a disappointment. Those uploaded were viewed by many and a popular choice for several of the competition sections was established. Some sections required a different form of review and this was done by the RHSV.
Due to the limitations of the competition (e.g. quality of photos, short notice to entrants) an Overall Best Basket was not chosen for this year.
The baskets that gained a Popular Choice or Best Basket for their various sections are shown here. Congratulations to them and to all of the other entries. The diverse and creative concepts that our entrants can come up with continually amazes us.
Baskets from Acorn Nursery and Formosa Nursery are here shown as a nod to their efforts for the Nursery Challenge. The entries from our nursery friends give another dimension to the competition and are greatly appreciated.
We are planning for next year's event and hopefully COVID-19 is a sad memory by then.
Many thanks to all who entered and supported the competition and those who sponsored and participated in the run-up to the event. It takes many people from a diverse range of areas to bring it all together. Our sincere thanks.
Don Rickerby
RHSV President
