Spring Garden Competition

Jump to: About the Competition - Categories - Judging and Criteria - Key Dates - Past Entries

The City of Ryde Spring Garden Competition is back, bigger and better than ever!

After successfully launching new categories in 2024, the City of Ryde is pleased to announce 11 Main Categories and 4 Mini Categories open to entries in 2025. Residents throughout the City of Ryde now have more ways to showcase their green thumbs and love of nature than ever before.

The Spring Garden Competition has a long-standing tradition of being a very popular community event which has a unique ‘hands-on’ quality and an ‘active’ nature to it. It provides the community with a chance to better our gardens and use it as a time to keep active, keep creative, and establish a space of relaxation. This competition aims to showcase these amazing spaces that have brought encouragement and joy to many.

About the Competition

The City of Ryde has a long and proudly history of conducting the Spring Garden Competition. This established community event has been held annually for more than thirty years. The City of Ryde is one of the few local councils still organising and providing a garden competition for its local residents and local community.

The City of Ryde’s Spring Garden Competition is back again! This very popular community event has a unique ‘hands on’ quality and an ‘active’ nature to it. It provides the community with a chance to better our gardens and use it as a time to keep active, keep creative and establish a space of relaxation. This competition aims to showcase these amazing spaces that have brought encouragement and joy to many.

Main Categories

Front Gardens a garden area adjacent to the street which may include an entry gate or pathway leading to the front of the residence.
Back Gardens: a garden area, away from the front of the residence, which may include a swimming pool, children's play area and a deck or terrace for relaxation or entertaining.
Courtyard, Balcony, or Indoor Gardens: private residential gardens using pots, planter boxes, ornaments, walled gardens etc.
Edible Gardens: vegetable gardens, fruit gardens, permaculture gardens. etc.
Australian native Gardens: private gardens which feature Australian native plants, and are designed to highlight Australian design.
Habitat-friendly Gardens: gardens that include habitat elements to encourage native fauna such as birds, lizards, possums and insects.
Succulent Gardens: collections of succulents or cactus both big and small.
Local School Gardens: gardens within local primary schools, high schools, and pre-schools where students and teachers have worked together.
Community Gardens: garden projects where the local community, groups, or community organisations have worked together.
Commercial and Professional Gardens: gardens professionally designed and/or maintained. They can be inside both local businesses and commercial organisations. For example, hotels, retirement villages, commercial premises, small and large businesses, universities, or private residences that have utilised a professional landscaper.
Bushcare Sites: for an outstanding contribution made by a group of volunteers at a recognised Bushcare site.

Mini Categories

Sensational Succulent: Showcase of cactus and succulents judged by The Cactus and Succulent Society of NSW.
Sustainable Waste 2 Art: Garden sculptures, artworks, and design objects made from upcycled waste materials.
Jr Gardeners: Gardens created and tended to only by young gardeners under the age of 16.
Children’s seed growing competition: Children can enter in the following age brackets: 3 to 7 years and 8 to 12 years. The seeds to be grown are Dwarf Sunflowers. Free seeds, pot and growing instructions will be available for collection from the City of Ryde Customer Service Centre, 1 Pope Street, Ryde.

Judging of Entries and Judging Criteria

All entries will be personally judged by a panel of appointed garden judges and horticulture professionals. The City of Ryde will contact entrants to confirm their allocated judging time slot for the judging panel to view each entry.

Judging will take place between the 22nd and the 26th of September. Please make sure you are available during this time before entering.

It is preferable that Spring Garden Competition entrants are present at their allocated judging timeslot and during the judging of their entry. Judging generally takes between 20 to 45 minutes depending on the size and nature of the entry.

Judging will be based on three main factors, with extra focus on enthusiasm and how families and communities created/maintained the garden.

Maintenance: the lack of elements such as dead and diseased plants, well-presented lawns and clipped shrubs, considered water usage, and overall attention to detail.
Design: aspects such as layout, colour, use of line, form and texture, plant use and attention to detail within this context.
Intent: the active participation of the entrant, level of knowledge and enthusiasm, and extent of third-party assistance.

All entrants will be invited to attend a Gala Presentation Evening for the announcement of the 2025 Spring Garden Competition winners.

Key Dates

1 July 2025: Entries open.
31 August 2025: Entries close.
22-26 September 2025: Judging Week: Garden judges accompanied by a City of Ryde Council Officer will visit and judge all Spring Garden Competition entries on the allocated date at the allocated time slot.
24 October 2025: Spring Garden Gala Evening. Announcement of the 2025 Spring Garden Competition winners. All entrants will be given a formal invitation to the Gala Evening.

Visit the Children’s Seed Growing Competition page for more information about this competition and key dates.

Past Entries

Click here to get some inspiration and view photos from some entries from previous Spring Garden Competition events.

More Information

For further enquiries call City of Ryde’s Customer Service Centre on 9952 8222.