There is no end to the lengths that Ronda and Bill Jenkins will go to grow huge, immaculate, perfectly shaped chrysanthemum flowers. They draw out burnished copper blooms as big as soccer balls, magenta-pink ones that explode like fireworks and striking daisy lookalikes all yellow and red.

It’s impossible to talk exhibition chrysanthemums in Australia without coming across the Jenkins. Their blooms have been winning prizes for years, including six of the main ones (best bloom, best vase and the open championship, for starters) at last year’s Chrysanthemum Society of Victoria show.

Ronda, President of the Chrysanthemum Society of Victoria, and husband Bill Jenkins with their current crop. Credit:Simon Schluter

Bill was president of the society for a decade in the early 2000s, Ronda is the current president and together they are completely committed to the 140 chrysanthemums – comprising 60 cultivars – growing in pots in their Mt Eliza back garden.

With peak flowering time hitting now, it's high season for chrysanthemum showing and, the day we visit the Jenkins, the pair have their homemade chrysie carry-cases (polystyrene boxes, plastic tubing and pegs) lined up and filled with water as a test run. They were in Bendigo last weekend for the town’s Australian Chrysanthemum Championships and will be in Burwood East this weekend for the Victorian Society’s annual exhibition.