1 April 2011

Please note: this news article is in our archive. Articles were correct at time of publication, but should not be relied on for accuracy after the passage of time.

PENSIONER Roy Elliott’s stunning front garden earned him the prize for the “most colourful” in town last summer when he filled it with a riot of seasonal blooms from pavement to roof level.

With his wife suffering from ill-health, 79-year-old Roy says he probably won’t have the same time to devote to his garden this year, and will just have to “do his best”.

But with him out of the running, the man who has scooped the top garden prize for the past three years running hopes other gardeners will now take up the challenge.

“When I started I didn’t have much experience, but I had worked as a decorator all my life and I loved colour.

“So when we moved here from Forest Row seven years ago I bought myself a small greenhouse and looked forward to spending some time outdoors.”

But Roy’s ambitions, like his garden, just grew and before he knew it he had transformed his Tudor Close home into a showstopper which has strangers knocking on his door to congratulate him on the pleasure he gives to neighbours and passersby throughout the summer months.

He demolished the existing front garden, and replaced it will stone walls and troughs, pillars and planters – when he ran out of room at ground level he headed for the sky, covering his flat garage room in a glorious array of bizzie lizzies, petunias and begonias, and hanging flower-baskets by the bedroom windows.

“The only place I didn’t decorate was the roof,” he laughed.

Roy buys most of his plants as tiny plugs and grows them on, which is an economic way to raise the hundreds he needs each year.

And he has made his garden as maintenance free as possible, using slate and pebbles to provide texture and interest around his planters, rather than grass.

Even so, Roy spends around two hours a day caring for his glorious garden.

“I use a watering can, not a hose, because that can damage the flowers, and while I water I keep an eye on how everything is doing, and check to see whether the plants need deadheading.”

Working outside with the sun on his back is one of Roy’s greatest pleasures – and he advises anyone keen to emulate his success to get out and get growing.

“It’s a marvellous and fulfilling hobby, and my wife and I both enjoy the garden very much,” he said, “so if you are at all interested now is just the right time of year to get stuck in.”