Council and democracy

Croydon says it with flowers

Although the borough is blessed with huge amounts of green open space and woodland, the town and district centres often have a rather grey reputation. So bringing in the bright and colourful baskets, planters, troughs and towers is a great way of lifting spirits and, hopefully, also bringing about a bit of business confidence at a time when every little helps.

These seasonal blooms are in addition to the fresh planting that took place last winter, which saw 1,600 new shrubs, 860 extra herbaceous plants, 1,500 delphiniums and 230 rose bushes added to borders and beds around the borough.

Steve Hollands, cabinet member for culture and sport said: "I don't think that anybody can have missed the impact that this annual display has on Croydon. With 564 hanging baskets, 60 planters, 250 barrier troughs and 100 flower towers full of impatiens, geraniums, marigolds, dahlias and many other plants we're really going all out to brighten the borough. Hopefully this will also help us to show well in the London and Britain in Bloom competitions, especially after our excellent performance last year."

As every keen gardener knows, maintaining flower baskets through the summer months can take a lot of watering - but Croydon has planned ahead to minimise the cost of maintenance by ensuring that all of the containers utilise water retaining gels or have water reservoirs built in. At the end of the season all of the old plants will be mulched and returned to the growing cycle by being put back into the shrub beds to help feed the next season's blooms.