Mon, 09/19/2016 - 7:30pm

Carole Zalucky, Boothbay Region Garden Club

From left are Alice Schambra, membership; Gail Morrison, Challenge winner; Carol Lingard, flower design; Mimi O'Neill, president; and Irene Gerny, horticulture and programs. Courtesy of Kathleen Marty

Runners up with their creations, from left, Pat McMurry, Vanda Yonge, Abbie Shaw and Sue Hochstein. Courtesy of Kathleen Marty

More than 30 members and guests participated in the Crazy Container Challenge at this month's Boothbay Region Garden Club meeting at St Columba's Church in Boothbay Harbor on Wednesday, Sept. 14.

Flowers and filler foliage was provided by the club and participants were encouraged to bring a non-traditional, "crazy" container in which to create a floral design. Containers ranged from a garden boot and kitchen colander to a tall spindly vase with an opening no larger than an inch and a half in diameter. The possibilities seemed endless providing an entertaining and instructive afternoon for all who attended and a real challenge to choose one above the rest as the overall winner. Voting was done by secret ballot after all the entries were completed and put on display and one vote per attendee resulted in one winner and four runner up arrangements as pictured.

As it happens, our winner, Gail Morrison, who chose a white enamel pot with red trim as her container, was a guest that day who was not, yet, a member of BRGC. She explained as she was being congratulated that it was her initial thought to fill her container with red flowers to go with the accent color on her pot, however, there were colors in every hue but red available for the Challenge so she went with white and yellow flowers which were represented by multiple varieties.

The four runners up also demonstrated a talent for designing innovative compositions that made the best use of unconventional flower containers. Voting proved to be quite difficult because all the entries were worthy of praise for ingenuity and imaginative design.

The membership of the BRGC always seems to have some fun up its sleeve and invites perspective members and guests to join in and consider becoming a part of this community enhancing organization. The BRGC is affiliated with NGC (National Garden Clubs Inc.) and is a member of the GCFM (Garden Club Federation of Maine). For more information on upcoming events and activities check out the BRGC website at http://www.boothbayregiongardenclub.org/.