Cliftonville in Bloom Launch Day

What better way to brighten up 2022 than with a great gardening competition? Cliftonville in Bloom causes a buzz every year and aims to increase civic pride within the Cliftonville West community.

This fun, friendly and free competition is open to all ages, all gardening abilities, businesses as well as residents. So no matter if you’re new to planting, or you know your petunias from their peonies, we want you to join in and give it a grow. Together we can help make the local environment brighter, greener and cleaner for everyone to live, work and play.

How to Enter

Visit our stall at The Oval Bandstand & Lawns to sign up on our launch day;

Or complete the online registration at www.grasscliftonville.org by Tuesday 5th July;

Or collect a competition flyer from the Little Library at the Gordon Road Community Garden, fill-in your details, and follow the postal instructions provided.

Competition Categories

Best Front Garden – The goal for this category is to find the display with the most impact – size is not a factor. The entry is for households only, the garden must be clearly visible from the roadside and the majority of plants must be planted in the ground.

Best Container Display – The winner of this category will have a display with the best use of planters, hanging baskets or window boxes. This is the most appropriate category for those who have limited space and not much ground to plant in.

Best Creative Display – Are you creative? Perhaps you want to build a sculpture and fill it with flowers. Have you got a dilapidated chest of drawers, a wheelbarrow, or even an old kitchen sink? Well why not give your DIY planter some TLC, maybe paint it, or cover it in mosaic tiles, fill it with soil, and get growing!

Best Street – You cannot sign up for this category as the winner will be judged on garden’s entered in the individual categories listed above. As the saying goes “you’ve got to be in it to win it”! The more people who sign up to individual categories the better chance your street will have of winning.

Best Community Garden – This category is for a garden that is looked after by residents, it can be a large area, a small area, or simply some flower beds, as long as it’s cared for by local people, we would love for it to be entered into the competition. After last year’s incredible response to the online people’s vote, the winner of this category will once again be chosen by residents! Anyone can nominate a community garden, as long as it’s located in Cliftonville West, it will be added to the online poll.

Best Commercial Display – The goal for this category is to find a local pub, hotel, restaurant, shop, business or organisation that is creating a great first impression with a beautiful display outside their premises. For the first time ever the winner of this category will be chosen by residents via an online poll, so please nominate your favourite commercial display and get voting!

Judging Criteria

Our judging panel will score entrants on:

Overall Design – colour, appropriate plants for situation, quality of plants, upkeep, and ‘WOW’ factor.

Wildlife – wildlife-friendly plants and features e.g. bird/insect boxes.

Recycling – compost bins, imaginative/practical use and re-use of materials.

Sustainability – water conservation/retention, use of permanent planting.