Flower Show Well-Attended This Year

About 30 people anxiously awaited the opening of the Royalmount Room doors last Thursday evening for the official opening of the Horticultural Society’s Annual Flower and Rose Show. Until about 15 minutes after the scheduled opening time, a clerk from the group kept coming and going into the main downstairs room at the Town Hall to deliver the slips for the various winners.

“We’re sorry that you had to wait, but I hope that it was worth it,” said president Kathy Elie before she announced the prize winners. (Next year she promised to have a second clerk to speed up matters). At least 70 people eventually attended this year’s show.

That seemed well to be the case this year, at least in my humble opinion. The entered roses seemed exceptional while the flowers and various flowers and arrangements were as beautiful as ever.

“It was a pleasure to judge the rose category,” commented judge Claire Laberge who’s the rose expect at the Botanical Gardens and helps to label those at the Town’s Rose Garden. “I’m always amazed at the quality. There were some wonderful specimens.”

For the flower section, judge Linda Hinck, who has regularly given her expertise over the years, noted that there was a “good quality” this year, but added a helpful hint that people submit smaller containers for their arrangements.

Handed out by councillors Erin Kennedy and John Miller, the awards mostly went to past winners. Dawn Kennedy again won the Ewing Trophy for Best Non-Rose and tied with Frances Khalil for Most Aggregate Points for Decorative Arrangements. The latter also won the Leroy Shaw Trophy for Aggregate Points for Flower Specimens.

Wendy MacKenzie took home the Homeowners’ Association Trophy for Aggregate Points for Potted Plants while 10-year-old Daphne Trent once again took top honours for Most Outstanding Junior Entry for her colourful flower arrangement. Beatrice Arsenault, also 10, took second prize in the under 16 category for her (apparently almost) equally fine entry.

In the rose category, the awards were again dominated by two names. Roberta (Robbie) McAlpine, who missed last year’s show due to family commitments, came away with three prizes. They were for Aggregate Points for Hybrid Tea Roses, for Modern Shrub Roses, and the Bart Malott Tray for “Rose of the Show.” Except for last year, she’s the only name on it, noted Elie.

The other name was Elie, John and Kathy, of course. They won for Aggregate Points for Miniature, Floribunds, and Grandiflora, and the Jubien Trophy for “Queen of the Show” in honour of the late Ernest Jubien who was “the heart and soul of our organization for so many years.” (Mrs. Elie later remarked that it was “certainly a good year for roses.”

Lastly came the People’s Choice award, or the 80th anniversary trophy, that started a few years ago. Members can vote for one out of several outstanding entries. Almost embarrassingly, Elie announced that she and her husband had won. “I can’t believe it,” she said.

In her opening remarks, Elie thanked Town Hall concierge Romeo Desormeaux for his considerable help in setting everything up and TRAM member (and gardener) Marilyn Wax for her “wonderful” posters for each rose and flower category.

“It’s the best show that we’ve had, I think,” she concluded. In a later interview, Elie qualified that comment to be at least since they re-started the annual show in 1998, the year of the Ice Storm during which former president Ernest Jubien tragically passed away.