Cherrie's Garden Notes
This week鈥檚 programme comes from the village of Broughshane in County Antrim which for a small place, punches well above its weight.
In 1994 the village was the winner of Ulster in Bloom, Britain in Bloom and Europe in Bloom, scoring an incredible creative hat-trick, confirming Broughshane as a front-runner on the journey towards absolute excellence in the realm of urban floral decoration.
In 2007 the village also romped home as winner of Britain in Bloom, followed earlier this month by the brilliant announcement shortly after our visit, that Broughshane had done it again, this time bringing home the ultimate community gardening prize, RHS Britain in Bloom Champion of Champions.
That鈥檚 what I call a result.
Huge congratulations to the team and the volunteers who make it happen and who have played their part in transforming Broughshane into a place which welcomes 150,000visitors a year.
More than 1,200 communities from places great and small in the UK take part in the annual RHS campaign to 鈥済reen-up and clean-up Britain鈥�.
John Woodward, one of the judges, described the village as a 鈥渟hining example鈥� saying that 鈥測ears of hard work and vision, under the motto 鈥榩lants, people and pride growing together鈥� have turned Broughshane into an area of beauty, warmth and charm that has a future as bright as its flowers鈥�.
And bright flowers greeted us too as we made our way into Houston鈥檚 Mill past a stunning window box gleaming with scarlet and green begonias all shiny with rain and brightening the damp October evening.
We were there to record a roadshow by the kind invitation of Ballymena Garden Club, who meet in the Mill every month and who were gathered inside ready and waiting to ask questions and listen to answers.
One of the great things about recording a roadshow programme is the opportunity it brings local gardeners to meet the team face to face and to have specific questions about specific plants answered on the spot.
With us on the night to dispense good gardening advice and as ever, general bonhomie were Jim Bradley and Brendan Little.
We are always grateful to those people who submit questions and step up to the mic to ask them and a special word of thanks to those people who help out by volunteering to ask a question when the original questioner hasn鈥檛 been able to make it along on the night. I always feel a bit like a teacher putting people on the spot when we ask for volunteers, but someone always comes forward to enable the programme to take shape.
And when recording has finished and the kitchen takes over with cups of tea and coffee being made and poured and sandwiches, biscuits and buns being passed around, everyone relaxes and the questions keep on coming till the last person leaves.
Thanks to all the members of Ballymena Garden Club for their invitation and their interest. You can hear their questions and Jim and Brendan鈥檚 answers on-line for the next seven days or by downloading the programme as a podcast. Just go to the Radio Ulster homepage and follow the links.
And join us again next Saturday morning just after 9'o鈥檆lock for more questions and answers when we鈥檙e live from Studio 8 with our phone-in for October. See you then.
