Jennifer Stackhouse (photos Bruce Hutchison)
Masses of flowers are a sight to behold and my town of Sheffield, in northwest Tasmania, puts on an annual flower show to remember.
Sheffield FlowerFEST 2025 was held over the weekend of February 1-2. It attracted around 70 exhibitors with some 600 individual exhibits that filled historic Sheffield Town Hall with colour and fragrance. The show also involves stallholders selling garden-related items from plants to potting mix.
While the event raises money for organisers, the Kentish Garden Club and the community, the main motivation is to increase awareness of plants and gardening.
Unlike flower shows of the past there are no barriers to entry, no strict rules and anyone can take part including children. There’s no charge for entering and people can enter as many exhibits as they like.
There’s also a flower display on the stage that acts as a backdrop for the show and as a setting for harpist and Sheffield local, Kate Fraser, who plays though out the event. Harp music is relaxing and works well with flowers and the acoustics!
Once the display benches are set up – all tiered and draped with black cloth – they are ready for the exhibits, which arrive over a three-hour period on the Friday afternoon before the show opens. This year there were 73 classes to enter ranging from annuals and perennials to potted plants, fruit and vegetable baskets and flower arrangements. With a focus on summer flowers there were masses of roses, dahlias, hydrangeas, liliums and gladiolus.
It is exciting to see the show take shape as exhibits arrive in ones and twos and then in box loads: huge dahlias, fragrant roses, special perennials with delicate blooms, a prized maidenhair fern, and lavish flower arrangements. Most of the single flower exhibits are displayed in green glass bottles, which allow individual blooms to star and help unify the show.
The highlights for me this year were the enthusiasm of both volunteers and exhibitors, the generosity of the judges, the number of young families who visited the show (admission is just $4 per adult, kids free making it a cheap day out), and the response of the local community whether as visitors, sponsors or exhibitors.
The increase in the number of exhibitors this year says the show is spreading enthusiasm for gardening and a love of plants. If there’s a flower show in your area, get involved and help it grow!
