More residential front garden certificates awarded this year in Bury St Edmunds following another successful Bury in Bloom Certificates of Merit season

Judges who have been out and about in Bury St Edmunds awarding certificates for blooming marvellous front gardens have been thanked at a special event.

Bury in Bloom held its Certificates of Merit front garden judges reception in the garden at the Guildhall, in Bury, on Tuesday.

The Certificates of Merit scheme has about 100 judges – all volunteers – who between them cover more than 20,000 gardens.

As well as thanking the judges for their efforts, Lynne Wright, who is Certificates of Merit co-ordinator, revealed how many certificates had been awarded this year.

She said it was ‘significantly’ more than 2023: residential certificates had increased from 1584 to 1875 (18 per cent) and residential highly commended rose from 68 to 86 (26 per cent). She believes the number of commercial certificates awarded was very similar to 2023 at around 50 or so.

Speaking of how pleased she was with the 2024 scheme, Miss Wright said it was about ‘encouraging people to appreciate their gardens, plant them up nicely and make Bury an even nicer place to live in’.

She added: “The judges do their very best. None of us are professionally-trained horticulturalists. We all go by the criteria and make judgements on that particular road which houses should have a certificate and which should have highly commended.”

In 2022, following RHS (Royal Horticultural Society) briefing, Bury In Bloom front garden judging changed its scoring system. Gardeners can be awarded more points by having more sustainable elements in their front garden. Additionally houses with no front garden or one used for parking can also be awarded points by introducing floral displays.

Miss Wright said a lot of people put a lot of effort into their front gardens and, even if the front garden is taken over for parking, they still make an effort.

Miss Wright said they hope their enthusiasm and the residents’ enthusiasm will rub off, adding: “We find if we have one certificate awarded in an area that’s potentially less loved we find the next year or year after we have a cluster of certificates there as it encourages people to make an effort.”

She said they wanted to award as many residents as they could with the certificates, which was reflected in this year’s numbers.

This year had also been challenging in terms of gardening, she added, in terms of it being cold and wet earlier in the year.