By Ian Bunting
Copyright dailyrecord
It was a bumper year for entries into North Lanarkshire Council’s NL in Bloom Awards, with tenants across the area showcasing their colourful creations and glorious green spaces. After a fabulous spring and summer, local gardens were looking their best thanks to dedicated, green-fingered tenants who worked tirelessly to get them competition ready. From communal areas and imaginative small spaces to total transformations and gardens packed with produce, an array of gardening expertise was presented to judges who enjoyed sampling some homegrown and homemade produce including apples, pears and some lavender lemonade. In addition to the yearly categories of best individual gardens, judges’ choice, best sustainable garden, best shared space and best use of space, the council added new ones, which included young gardener, best new build garden and retirement housing category. The competition, open to council tenants, ran from April to August and saw a 13 per cent rise in the number of entries as well as more first-time nominees and winners. This year’s overall winners were Adam and Anne Allerdyce from Bellshill who joined all category champions at a celebration to mark their success and receive their awards. Judging took place over two days and the panel took to the road to view the gardens at their best, commenting on the creative, talented and dedicated tenants across the area, whose garden spaces brightened the lives of not only one or two tenants but, in many cases, the entire street. Housing convener, Councillor Michael McPake, attended the celebration event and presented tenants with their certificates. He said: “Our NL in Bloom awards is a fabulous event that covers the length and breadth of North Lanarkshire. “Our tenants are rightly proud of their garden spaces, and our awards always have a competitive edge with new ideas and designs being created every year. “Judging the gardens is incredibly difficult and we took to the road to view the shortlisted gardens and talk to the tenants about their designs. “I’m always blown away by the creative, talented and dedicated tenants whose garden spaces brighten up their lives, their neighbours and, in many cases, the entire streets. “Well done to everyone involved.” “Word is definitely spreading, and our competition is growing year on year,” added Tracy Lennon, tenant participation manager. “This year we saw an increase in non-traditional shared space such as multi-stories as well as the more traditional retirement housing, and we therefore decided to separate these categories. “In addition to the new categories a few special gardens have been selected to win a ‘Judges Choice’ award. “This is just one of a number of events in the tenant participation calendar and is a great opportunity to get to know your neighbours and other keen gardeners from across North Lanarkshire. “Get involved and be part of your housing service.” *Don’t miss the latest headlines from around Lanarkshire. Sign up to our newsletters here . And did you know Lanarkshire Live had its own app? Download yours for free here .
