Essential See the real thing: end of financial year clearance.

No other collection even comes close to the fine imported carpets you’ll see at these unbeatable end-of-year prices in the Persian Carpet Gallery. You’ll select from Australia’s largest and most respected collections... gathered over 50 years of astute selection at their source. All handcrafted and guaranteed authentic with assured trade-in value. In fact many are rare masterworks of excellent provenance, heritage and heirloom quality This is an investment that will improve with age and continue to reward you every day At these prices, even your accountant may approve. And you can take one home to try before you buy.

The Kiama Garden Club’s Spring Garden Competition has officially launched for another year and contenders are urged to get colourful and creative in their gardens and enjoy the wellbeing gardening brings.

“The purpose of gardening is to share your garden with others,” says competition coordinator Ursula Lischer, who encourages all gardeners to enter regardless of experience.

“Entering the competition gives you an opportunity to receive feedback on your garden and you just never know where that will take you,” Ursula says.

While judging doesn’t take place until October, Ursula encourages gardeners to fill gaps in their gardens now while the planting time is ideal and “think about what’s going to be looking its best in Spring”.

Jenny and Don Brown were winners in 2021. Jenny says, “I thought our garden wasn’t good enough and definitely not worthy of entering a competition but a friend encouraged us to enter. It was an opportunity to push ourselves a little bit further into making the garden the way we wanted it to be.”

Jenny encourages those gardeners who are hesitant in entering the competition to “just do it and enjoy it”.

“Gardening is an expression of your own creativity so there’s no good or bad,” she says.

Judges use various criteria, including general impression, landscaping, colour, theme and overall transition and unity of the area, to determine the winning garden.

The judge of Jenny and Don’s garden said it was the creative and interesting elements in their garden that caught her attention.

“It’s also about expressing a feeling. The judge told me what she looks for in a garden is the way it makes you feel and when she walked into my garden, it made her feel good and wanted to explore,” Jenny says.

Categories include: Garden over 1000m², Garden under 1000m², Edible Garden, Predominantly Native Garden, Courtyard/Balcony or Indoor Garden, Senior Living Complex Garden and Children’s Garden. Gardeners can enter up to 2 categories.

To enter contact Ursula at kiamagcsecretary@gmail.com

Entries close 22 September with judging between 9-13 October and presentations on 27 October.

by Cassandra Zaucer