Keen green Lena 'honoured' to win borough's garden competition (From Harrow Times)
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Keen green Lena 'honoured' to win Brent in Bloom
10:40am Tuesday 11th September 2012 in News
By David Hardiman, Reporter
Lena Jefferies in her award-winning garden.
A green-fingered North Wembley pensioner who has tended her front garden for 25 years says she is “honoured” to have won first prize in the borough’s flower competition.
Lena Jefferies, 74, of Blockley Road, took joint first prize in this year’s Brent in Bloom competition for her stunning display of roses, 6ft high sweet peas and other evergreen flowers outside her semi-detached home.
The keen gardener, who has lived in the house for 40 years and is an active member of Sudbury Court Residents’ Association, received a certificate and gardening vouchers from the Mayor of Brent, Councillor Michael Adeyeye, at the Greenhouse Garden Centre in Birchen Grove on Thursday.
She said: “I felt quite honoured to get that and come joint first.
“I’ve got flowers planted all year round and people do come and admire it – I share a lot my cuttings with the neighbours and I know most of the people here. We’ve got a good relationship.
“Since I put in these plants they grow all the way through the year and it’s easier for the garden to be looked after.”
The competition is held every year and is entered by residents, schools and businesses in a series of categories to mark horticultural achievements.
It serves as the qualifying event for London in Bloom, which in turn leads to a UK-wide competiton.
But Mrs Jefferies says she just hopes that her garden serves as a reminder that getting outdoors and turning whatever space there is available into a splash of colour is much better than a paved-over driveway.
She added: “It’s much nicer to look out on a nice garden rather than just nothing.
“It’s very therapeutic, and I do love the garden. It’s a much better way to spend your free time than watching television or playing on computers.
“I do hope more people take it up.”
Councillor James Powney, lead member for environment, praised the work of all the winners and said the competition showed that Brent has “some of the very highest standards for gardening and horticulture”.
He added: “Gardening and food growing are blossoming in Brent at the moment with many creative and imaginative gardeners and growers in our schools and communities.
“They are contributing to making the borough a far more greener and cleaner place.”
