A garden packed with plants of every kind has won top prize in this year's Elgar Housing Association Garden Competition.

The judges were bowled over by the sheer number and variety of plants in Anthony and Mary Blake's Bromyard garden.

The annual competition is open to the association's 5,000 plus tenants in the Bromyard, Malvern and Ledbury areas.

The Blakes created their garden from scratch eight years ago, when they moved into their new home at St Peter's Gardens.

"It was full of huge nettles and docks as tall as me when we first came," said Mr Blake.

The little plot now boasts winding paths, flower-covered archways, pond, patio dressed with colourful pots and tubs, even its own miniature Eden Project.

Mr Blake, who admits to a passion for sun-loving tropical and Mediterranean plants, grows tree ferns, passion flowers, kiwi fruits, peaches, carnivorous venus fly traps and striking bird of paradise flowers.

"We get plenty of sun and I'll have a go at growing anything," said Mr Blake, who has grown many of the plants from seed.

Both he and his wife spend time in the garden almost everyday planting, pruning and deciding what to plant next.

"There isn't a lot of room but we always manage to find a space somehow," said Mr Blake, who adds new features and plants to his garden each summer.

This year it was a new pond and last year a small dome shaped structure.

"We couldn't get to the Eden Project so we built our own mini one," explained Mr Blake.

The couple received a £50 garden gift voucher, shield and certificate and are already planning what new plants they would like to buy.