IT certainly was enchanting stepping into the floral art tent at Launceston Agricultural Show on Thursday, as beautiful blooms of intricate flower exhibits greeted show-goers.

Secretary and chairman of the flower tent, Pat Penno and Janet Crossman, were delighted with the number of entries this year. Pat said: “We’re up on entries this year — we’ve got 26 extra than we had last year. The quality of entries has been very high.”

The theme of this year’s competition was ‘Enchantment’ — and this was certainly achieved with an array of colour, elegance and intricacy shown in each exhibit. Overall, competitors could enter the 12 classes for floral art, and nine for amateur gardening.

Speaking of the show, Janet added: “It’s been hot — very hot! But it’s been going well so far.”

Judith Taylor was one of the deserving winners of many classes, achieving a special prize for ‘best use of garden material’ overall and gaining a first and three thirds.

She said: “You want to win because it’s always a good show. Most of us have been competing for a long time, and many of us belong to the Launceston Floral Art Group and compete at lots of different levels, including national and international.

“We are part of an organisation called NAFAS — the National Association of Flower Arrangement Societies — which is celebrating 60 years this year, so many of us will be going to a big diamond anniversary in London. Next year I will also be going to compete in India, which is very exciting and a good excuse for a holiday!

“I’ve been coming to Launceston Show for 30 odd years, and exhibiting for that time as well. The nice thing is we’re all friends as well as competing against each other.”

The winner for the ‘Best Exhibit’ was won by Launceston’s Alison Penno, whose unusual piece was too good to ignore.

Alison said: “The title was ‘Watery Kingdom’, and once I heard that title, I thought about under the sea. I thought of coral, reef and pinky colouring, whereas everyone else thought of water in blues and greens. Mine was the only one which was pink. I know a lot of people questioned that but that was my interpretation. I was thrilled to win.”

When asked how she did it, Alison, who runs Flower Scene in Launceston, said: “The prep beforehand takes a fair bit of time, especially the container and the stand and then it takes a couple of days during show week. But it certainly takes a fair bit of time to get to the finished product.”

Alison was delighted with the flower tent and the show overall.

She said: “The show was very successful and a lot of people attended, which was helped by the hot weather.

“The flower tent this year saw record entries, over a third more than we normally have. It was extremely difficult for the judge to judge as the standard was so high.

“We also had sponsorship from Fernbank Advertising, they sponsored the Pedestal Class. Not many people normally enter that one, but we ended up with 11 or 12, which was a whole wall and it looked beautiful.”