An 87-year-old man has been crowned the winner of Norwich’s best lockdown garden competition.
When Tony Howes, from Woodlands Crescent, in Thorpe St Andrews, entered his garden into the Evening News contest, he said he was not expecting to win.
But now Mr Howes, who has been working hard to create his dream garden for the last 37 years, has told of his joy when he found out it had all paid off.
He said: “It is absolutely brilliant I wasn’t expecting to win at all.
“I was looking through the paper every day and I thought there were super gardens being entered so to come out on top is something special.
“I love my garden and I spend a lot of time on it, so I said to my wife I might as well send a photo in.
“When I got a phone call to say I won you could have knocked me over with a feather.”
Competition Judge, and head gardener at Enjoy Gardening More, Peter McDermott, said: ‘I was so very impressed by all the fantastic garden entries that we received in our recent competition.
“From incredible imaginations to planting prowess, fabulous formals to intricate cottage gardens, we really saw it all! It was very difficult for me to choose the winners.
“In fact, it took me all afternoon pondering and enjoying seeing so many beautiful readers gardens. Congratulations to the winners.”
Hr Howes, who enjoys working with conifers and a keen grower Bonsai trees, said he has not decided how he will spend his £200 prize.
And despite lockdown lifting, he can still be found working hard in his now prize-winning garden.
Mr Howes added: “It is my number one hobby alongside nature photography. I love it, just to get to out in the open air.
“Over the last few years, I have developed a great love for conifers. I think they are brilliant and they don’t take that much in the way of maintenance - I have different shapes and colour.
“And we get a lot of enjoyment from our pond which full of goldfish. We sit by that and have a cup of tea. The sound of the water is very therapeutic.”
Coming second in Norwich’s best lockdown garden competition was Carol Key, from Ringland, winning £100,
And third place went to Peter and Sue Johns from Cringleford, who won £50.
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