86th flower show celebrated

The Jeppe Girls’ Flower Show is held each year towards the end of February and attracts many visitors.

The show was held on February 22 this year. An established tradition of the school, the show is a visual and sensory feast that celebrated its 86th running this year.

A florist who attended the flower show for the first time was overwhelmed by the standard and number of entries. Miss Dianne Heller, a former teacher at the school, said the show was as inspiring as ever.

Each girl in the school takes part in the flower show and is encouraged to unleash her creative and imaginative skills. The girls are not given any formal instruction in the art of flower arranging but many find they have a natural talent and enjoy expressing themselves in this creative medium.

Girls are encouraged to enter as many of the categories of the show as possible. There were over 1 700 arrangements and 455 individual blooms submitted this year.

The categories differ for juniors (grade 8 and 9) and seniors (grade 10,11 and 12). The junior categories included home-grown blooms as well as Legoland, Sunnyside Up, High and Low, Arrangement in a Tea Cup, Shade of Green, Petals and Lace and Magnificent Monsters, which are made out of fruit and vegetables.

The categories for the senior girls ranged from Shaking up Shakespeare, Local is Lekker, and Classic is Chic, to Celestial Splendour – Galileo, Great Heights, Clock Orange and Come Dine with Me – Containers from the kitchen.

Props and accessories are permitted in individual arrangements, but the emphasis needs to be the flowers. House Table arrangements were also submitted by the girls. The theme for the junior house table arrangements was Celebrating the life and times of Madiba and for the seniors the theme was Madiba magic. Each and every arrangement was judged and the girls were awarded points for their houses. Judges are drawn from people who have been connected to the school and particularly to the flower show, or people in the flower and garden business.

Girls are permitted to take their arrangements home at the end of the flower show, but many choose to donate their flowers. This year flowers were donated to St Giles, Arbor Village, Avalon, Edenvale Hospital, Kensington Clinic, Millennium Sentrum, the Anglican Children’s Home, St Georges Retirement Village, Bedford Gardens Hospital and the Linksfield Clinic. Fruit and vegetables used in the Magnificent Monsters category were donated to Strathyre Girls Home.