On competitive gardening

One of the gardens I look after has been entered again into the local In-bloom competition. It won the gold and best overall garden last year, but at that point I had only been working on it for a few months and I didn't feel I'd made my mark on it. This year I have much more invested, I've redesigned two thirds of the borders and created a whole new border from what was lawn, I've laid new paths, installed new seating areas and removed a rockery. So daunting as it was last year to have my work judged, it's much worse this year.
For me planting a new border is much like preparing a meal, it's all about the quality of the ingredients and making sure everything happens in the right order. In this case I marked out the line of the new border, removed the turf and dug over the whole plot adding plenty of soil improving compost and a generous helping of blood, fish and bone. The ground was heavily compacted as you would expect, with a fair bit of clay in the profile, but once dug quite workable. I used gravel board to edge both the front and back of the border, the back board serving hopefully to deter the roots of the lilac hedge that runs the entire length. I agonised over the planting probably more than I needed to and in the end filled the car at Spetchley Park and again at the Arbuthnott's Stone House Cottage Nursery. My client had already purchased several large Acer palmatum and a Cornus controversa 'Variegata' which I worked into the scheme.
Planted in March of this year everything got away well with pleasing results. I'm particularly fond of Astrantia major 'Ruby Star' against Aquilegia vulgaris var. stellata in a shade of deep wine red, and delighted with Salvia nemerosa 'Caradonna' poking through Euphorbia martinii and Euphorbia characias subsp. characias 'Humpty Dumpty'. This sits alongside Astrantia major 'Roma' and a pale pink Penstemon which make very comfortable bed fellows. The new framework planting is interspersed with Nicotianas for this year, and at the front purple allysum amongst the Heucheras and hardy geraniums to fill gaps.
I wouldn't describe myself as a particularly competitive person but it's hard not to care what the outcome of this process is, especially since the future of my relationship with my client is potentially at stake. I've done everything I can to manage her expectations, reminding her that the plants are all new, that next year the new border will be more established, that there is no way of knowing who else has entered this year. So now it's up to the judges, the objective view. I'll keep you posted on how we get on.