Rose’s flowers win national award

Posted 3 months ago

Photo courtesy Strathmore Communites In Bloom - Rose Hamrlik and her husband, Dennis McNeill, won the Miracle-Gro Residential Garden Contest this year. This is despite the hail and drought that Strathmore survived this summer.

Robert Massey

Standard Reporter

A local bloomer has been rewarded for her long standing love of all things green and growing.

Rose Hamrlik of Strathmore has won the Canada-wide Miracle-Gro Residential Garden Contest.

Hamrlik won in the container garden medium category. Her victory was announced during the two days festivities, Oct. 2 and 3, at the National Awards Ceremonies in Vaughan, Ont.

"I put a lot of work into that garden," said Hamrlik.

A wonderful gardener who puts her heart and soul into the work that she does on her yard was overwhelmed to hear of her victory.

"I couldn't believe it. All I could think was 'oh my god.'"

Hamrlik's yard is a creation of love and finds it hard to pick the one thing that she enjoys the most.

"I'm proud of it all," she said. "If I had to choose... it would be the front. I love the front; the front of the house is beautiful."

Hamrlik credits a lot of the building work in the yard to her husband, Dennis McNeill. He constructed the wishing well, did the stone work and all wood work.

"The time he has spent working on that garden," Hamrlik paused to try and figure out a way to describe the lengthy time. "You can't put into words how much time."

Five years ago Hamrlik and her husband moved into their current home. Upon arrival they found a dirt yard and Hamrlik knew what she had to do.

It took two years and a lot of hard labour but her flower beds finally began to take shape.

And now, three years later, Hamrlik and her husband are getting the recognition they deserve. And they won despite mother nature's best attempts to ruin their chances.

The massive storm in August as well as subsequent smaller storms took a toll on the garden.

"I had giant pock marks all over my lawn," Hamrlik said.

Luckily she had taken photos of her yard the day before the storm, so what she had finished may not have been there physically anymore but she had proof that it had been there at one time, and that it did in fact look that good.

Looking into the future Hamrlik and McNeill are hoping to build up the backyard and add a few larger features in as well. And you can almost guarantee that they will get it done.

"It's very therapeutic. You leave your job and come home and spend two hours just working in the yard. You just become part of the earth."

To win her award Hamrlik beat out participants from all across Canada. She was entered by local Communities In Bloom head Robert Breitwieser.