2026 Spring Garden Competition Registration

Next date: Monday, 21 September 2026 | 09:00 AM to Friday, 25 September 2026 | 05:00 PM

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 2026. 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.

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 garden’s 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, can be inside both local businesses, commercial organisations eg. hotels, retirement villages, commercial premises, small and large businesses, universities etc. or private residences that 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 tendered to only by young gardeners under the age of 16.
• Children’s seed growing competition*: Children can enter in the following age brackets: 3 – 7 years and 8 - 12 years. The seeds to be grown are Dwarf Sunflowers. Free seeds, pot and growing instructions will be available for collection from City of Ryde Customer Service Centre, 1 Pope Street, Ryde. For more information or to register see here:

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 21st and the 25th 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 – 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 once again 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 2026 Spring Garden Competition winners.

Key Dates

• 1 July 2026: Entries open.
• 31 August 2026: Entries close.
• 21-25 September 2026: 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.
• Friday 30 October 2026: Spring Garden Gala Evening: Announcement of the 2026 Spring Garden Competition winners. All entrants will be given a formal invitation to the Gala Evening.

NOTE: please visit the Children’s Seed Growing Competition page for more information about this competition and key dates.

When

Location

This is an online event