North Bay homeowners are again being urged to show off their front yard gardens as the North Bay Horticultural Society once again holds its annual North Bay Blooms contest.
Society co-president Maureen Ranger says this is the 11th year for the contest where Canada Post carriers pick the nicest looking gardens in the community.
The selection is based on homeowners who go to www.northbayblooms.ca to nominate their own garden or a friend’s garden for consideration.
Ranger says once the gardens are in place she says the postal carriers will be looking for colours, tidiness, innovation and how much variety they contain to help them make it to their list.
The postal list is short-listed by the horticultural society and then the Master Gardeners select the top three gardens.
Ranger says in recent years the society has included vegetable gardens in the contest although there is no separate category for this.
In fact she says the contest doesn’t have any categories.
The deadline to nominate a garden is July 2nd and then the carriers will pick the best looking gardens in the weeks that follow until the Master Gardener’s announce the winners on July 26th.
Three winners will be announced with first place receiving $200 and second and third spots being awarded $100 each.
Although there are no prizes for businesses, Ranger says each week North Bay Bloom will recognize a business effort to beautify its site with a sign.
Ranger says considering the contest has been running a number of years, it’s no surprise that previous winners get nominated regularly because they like to keep their gardens beautiful.
Ranger says everyone is a winner in the contest.
She says not only do the front yard gardens help keep North Bay looking nice, they also get homeowners involved in physical and social activity.
