Prize winning gardening group that’s flourishing with new members
By Oliver Rogers
March 12, 2024
Horticulture and gardening in Southport and the north west of England is blooming amongst members of the U3A’s Southport Gardening Group. The group has around 1900 members and other gardening groups in the area have over a thousand members according to the Southport group co-leaders, Lisa Fryer and Diane Fitton.
Diane Fitton moved to Southport during lockdown and says: “If you don’t know anyone in the local area, joining the U3A is a great way to meet people and have the option and opportunity to make connections.”
The U3A, which stands for University of the Third Age, is an international organisation that aims to provide education and stimulation mainly to retired members of the community. The motto of the organisation is ‘learn, laugh, live’ and started in the UK during the early 1980s.
In 2022, the Southport Gardening Group entered a show garden in the prestigious Southport Flower Show and it gave them a taste of putting together a garden for a big event. The garden was designed, created and built by the gardening group to promote the U3A movement and showcase the varied groups at the U3A.
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Lisa says they put together a garden they wanted and she says: “It was a 6 by 6 metre garden and we had absolutely no budget. Local businesses lent us a fence, summerhouse and we got grass and plants. We borrowed some trees!”
Diane says that the flower show takes place during August and most of the colours are ‘hot’ reds and yellows she says the group’s planting scheme stood out. Lisa agrees and says: “We didn’t realise how difficult it would be to find the muted/pastel colours and there wasn’t that much choice at that time of year.”
Both agree that the digging and construction was hard work. Diane says the group picked a colour palette of whites with mauves, which made the garden restful. A bookcase listed all of the different U3A groups and activities that had helped to contribute to different parts of the garden.
The garden impressed the judges at the show and won the Large Gold Medal for ‘Community/Charity Garden’ and The Brian Aughton Memorial Trophy for ‘Best use of Plants in A Display.’
The first Southport Flower Show was held in Victoria Park in 1924 and has since become the UK’s biggest independent flower show.
There is discount for all U3A members on entry price to the Southport Flower Show.
The team picked up a silver guilt medal last year and plans are being developed for their next show garden. The Southport Flower Show celebrates 100th anniversary in 2024 and it is likely to be a very large and special event.
The Southport Gardening Group organises regularly monthly talks and visits to gardens for members.
Find out more about a U3A group near you by visiting their website.
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