Cheryl Ganzer crowned as The Chronicle Garden Competition Toowoomba City reserve grand champion
As Toowoomba’s most avid green thumbs open their gardens up to visitors, stories of love and commitment are in bloom along with the flora.
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While the complete composition of Cheryl Ganzer’s front garden creates an aura of fairytale romance, the smallest details tell the story of a much deeper kind of love.
After 36 years entering The Chronicle Garden Competition, Mrs Ganzer, of 21 Talinga St, Mount Lofty, has been named as the 2024 Toowoomba City reserve grand champion.
However, the win was bittersweet, as gardening was a passion she shared with her late husband, John Ganzer.
Mrs Ganzer said she and John’s garden had won awards in previous years, across multiple categories, but this was the biggest award yet.
“We won a lot of nice prizes over the years but never reserve grand champion,” she said.
Mr and Mrs Ganzer started entering the garden competition 36 years ago, because of their neighbours at the time.
“The neighbours had a nice garden,” she said.
The husbands were competitive over their lawns, but they always “shared the garden,” she said.
As Mrs Ganzer walked around the yard at the weekend, she greeted visitors with tenderness and familiarity – a lot of the visitors had come with their families year after year, she said.
It brings her fulfilment to watch people enjoy her garden, and it is truly where her heart lives.
She pointed to a small heart-shaped shrub towards the front of the garden.
“This little hedge had formed a heart, so I just trimmed the sides and that up,” Mrs Ganzer said.
“So I like to say ‘there’s my John in the garden’.”
And, along the edge of all the garden beds, hidden under the delicate leaves of low-lying plants, is a mosaic made of perfectly-lain pieces of bark.
“My hubby used to always put the bark around like a jigsaw puzzle, piece by piece, so I’ve got to keep up that tradition,” she said.
“It’s a big job, but I don’t want to let him down.”
Her garden is compact, but it drew crowds, some tourists, some locals.
Margaret and John Campbell said Mrs Ganzer was a customer of theirs from when they ran a newsagency in Toowoomba years ago, and now they enjoyed coming to see her garden every year.
The Carnival of Flowers is also a big part of their love story.
Against the backdrop of Mrs Ganzer’s fairytale garden, Mr and Mrs Campbell told the story of the day they met, during the grand parade through Toowoomba 57 years ago.
Mrs Campbell said she was visiting Toowoomba to represent her home town of Hastings during the carnival, as the Hastings Blossom Queen.
“The Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers queen came over to Hastings, and I came (to Toowoomba) to represent Hastings.”
Mrs Campbell was on a float with other visiting queens, regally waving to the crowds, when the float broke down.
“The police had to take us off the float,” Mrs Campbell laughed.
“We were right up high, so we had to jump down.
“And we were in ball gowns.”
The driver of that float was her now-husband of 53 years, John Campbell.
Reminiscing about his wife on that day, Mr Campbell said “she was just amazing”.
On Saturday, Mr and Mrs Campbell visited Mrs Ganzer’s garden with their grandchildren, Edwin and Lavinia.
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