December 2020
With ‘Lockdown 2.0’ preventing all non-essential shops from opening again until at least December 2nd, it was uncertain whether many town centre businesses would choose to have Christmas trees on their premises. Happily, quite a few went ahead and with The Feoffees of Tetbury decorating the Market House and the contractors coming as planned to install the lights in the large trees and the lamp columns in and around the town centre, it means Tetbury WILL sparkle this Christmas and hopefully that will raise everyone’s spirits!
In our December article we always take the opportunity of thanking everyone who has supported us over the past year. We thank Tetbury Town Council not only for their financial support but for their much-needed practical assistance, without which we’d be totally lost! Many thanks also go to the Feoffees of Tetbury, St Marys’ Parochial Church Council, The Rotary Club of the South Cotswolds, Tetbury Upton Parish Council and The Dolphins Hall Committee for their generous donations. Also, to the many residents and traders who have supported us by buying one or more of our hanging baskets and Christmas trees. Lastly, we’d like to thank again the volunteers who helped us keep the displays and beds watered throughout the summer months.
Without the support and appreciation we receive, we wouldn’t be able to continue the work we do in making the town look attractive for the benefit of everyone and we even managed to continue our work during the lockdown. Having carefully studied the new restrictions, we came to the decision that working in socially distanced pairs at different public spaces, raking leaves and tidying beds, qualified as permitted exercise. If anyone doesn’t think gardening is exercise, I can only suggest they try it!
There isn’t a January edition of the Tetbury Advertiser so by the time the February edition is delivered, the spring flowering season will have just begun with the appearance of hellebores, snowdrops, cyclamen and early flowering crocuses - something we can all look forward to! And with a bit of luck, getting back to a ‘normal life’ again might just be on the horizon!
Until then, from everyone on the Tetbury in Bloom team, we wish you all a merry Christmas and a safe and happy New Year.
The tree on The Knapp
November 2020
Storm Alex at the beginning of October, certainly put an end to most of the summer displays that we tend. At least it was made easier to decide when to start preparing them all, ready for the winter months ahead and to start planting over 2000 bulbs in various locations around the town, to enhance the spring displays next year.
One of the locations to receive extra bulbs this year is the Diana, Princess of Wales memorial bed on The Green. For several years, the bed always looked beautiful during the month of May, when many of the tulips flowered at the same time as the alliums. Unfortunately, this has not been the case in more recent years, so this autumn we have set out to resolve the situation by planting 200 later flowering tulip bulbs throughout the bed.
We also made time to do more work on the hospital bed which we started to change before the lockdown in March. Having now repositioned some of the perennial plants within the bed, and planted more spring bulbs here too, we hope it will look more balanced throughout the seasons ahead.
With November now arriving, it is only three weeks to Monday 23rd when we will be dressing the Christmas trees that adorn the shop premises and arranging for the contactors to install the lights on the lamp columns and the ones in the five large trees located at the outer edges of the town centre.
On Tuesday 1st December we will be judging the Christmas Shop Window Display competition for traders and businesses within the town centre. The theme is once again ‘Best Dressed Christmas Window’, giving participants maximum scope for creativity. Each entry will be judged on ‘Impact’ (including overall attraction and design flair) and ‘Use of Products’ i.e. displaying wares, not just making the window look Christmassy.
We are really looking forward to seeing all the festive lights and displays and hope they will lift everyone’s spirits at the end of what has been a most challenging year for us all.
The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial bed in late April 2011 showing the alliums with later flowering tulips
October 2020
This time last year we had just finished giving the London Road roundabout a major overhaul by removing all the large shrubs and replanting the centre section with long flowering perennials. Having added in seasonal bedding to bolster the colour throughout the spring and summer months, the results were just what we hoped for and we have been really pleased with our efforts. The visibility for pedestrians crossing the road is now much improved and the look of the roundabout itself is much more attractive than it has been for some years.
With October arriving, if we haven’t started already, we’ll soon be working our way around the town removing all the summer bedding plants from the beds and displays that we tend, in readiness for bulb planting and the winter months ahead. Seems such a shame when you think of how much effort has gone into planting and tending them all over the summer months to get them to look their best! One of the most time consuming and challenging tasks we always face during the summer months is watering, especially if we have a heatwave or a long period with no rain. This summer we were immensely grateful to those residents and traders (you know who you are!), who helped with this enormous task by taking on the regular responsibility of watering the beds at Braybrooke Close, Tesco filling station, the planter on Millennium Green, the tubs on the Chipping Steps and the troughs in Market Place. Your help with keeping these beds and planters watered made a huge difference to how much else WE could do, and we thank you all very much indeed.
As mentioned in my article last month, it won’t be long before the hanging baskets we supplied to residents and traders start coming to their end. I’ll therefore soon be contacting everyone who supported us by buying them, to arrange a time to collect the empty containers so we can wash and disinfect them ready for use again next year. If yours have already finished and are now awaiting collection, you can email me on sue@teturyinbloom.org.uk to arrange an earlier collection.
The London Road roundabout September 2020 showing improved visibility of on coming traffic.
September 2020
For me, the summer has gone by at break-neck speed and during the past few weeks, the massive effort put in by the team to complete the planting and keep it all watered and fed has really paid off. The colours have been amazing this year and we have received many appreciative comments thanking us for continuing with the planting despite the difficulties caused by the lockdown and social distancing. We were determined to do it so we could give everyone in Tetbury just that little bit of ‘normality’ and to lift everyone’s spirits during what has been a particularly challenging time for us all. At least the weather, declared by the RHS as being ‘perfect growing conditions’, helped us to achieve that aim by neither being too hot, too cold, too dry or too wet!
Now with September arriving, the summer bedding plants will be going past their best and although the long-flowering perennials such as penstemons and fuchsias will continue to give colour right through to the first frosts, we have already started to turn our minds to the spring displays next year. Back in March and April, we took stock of all the areas we considered could be improved upon for 2021 and we’ll very soon be planting the flower beds at various locations with additional bulbs, ready to enhance next year’s display.
It won’t be long either before the hanging baskets we supplied to traders and residents will be coming to their end and next month I’ll be contacting everyone who supported us by buying them, with the view of collecting the empty containers so we can wash and disinfect them ready for use again next year. The order list for 2021 is already underway, so if you wish to place an order now, please just email sue@tetburyinbloom.org.uk and I’ll add your requirements to the list.
The Knapp bed summer 2020
August 2020
There is no Tetbury Advertiser in August
July 2020
It’s hopeful that at least some of you, whilst out on your ‘permitted exercise’, or getting ‘essential supplies’, during the ‘lock down’, were able to enjoy the daffodil and tulip displays throughout the town. During this time, team members managed to take those opportunities to do a bit of deadheading whilst passing the flower displays, which kept the beds from looking totally neglected. In May, when the restrictions were eased and two members could work together, albeit at least two metres apart, we were then able to carry out more substantial maintenance. Then, at the beginning of June, when the restrictions were eased even further, and with ‘socially distancing’ remaining uppermost in our minds, it enabled us to plant the town ready for summer.
Before the ‘lock down’, we carried out some work to the flower bed adjacent to the road in front of the hospital. Having originally planted it in 2006, we felt that fourteen years on, it needed an overhaul. The three large choisyas had far outgrown their location and were totally dominating the bed. Once removed, there remained a good structure of smaller sustainable shrubs and perennials which should do much better now that they have a lot more room and light. The spaces that were created by removing the choisyas have now been planted with a colourful floral theme using long flowering perennials and seasonal bedding.
We also carried out a lot of work in Anniversary Gardens. The roses over the pergola and along the right-hand wall were all cut back to allow them to regenerate with fresh new vigorous growth and they are now doing very well. The oversized choisyas here were also removed and now that the garden centres and nurseries have re-opened, these will be replaced in time with smaller more colourful shrubs and perennials.
To find out more about how these locations have developed over the years, together with all the other locations that we tend throughout the town, please visit www.tetburyinbloom.org.uk and click on ‘what we do’.
The bed at the Fire Station
April, May & June 2020
The Tetbury Advertiser was not published due to the Covid-19 lockdown
March 2020
With March arriving spring is now definitely on the door step and by the end of the month we’ll be in to British Summer Time with warmer and longer days to look forward to.
Something else to look forward to is the town’s spring displays which should increasingly fill the beds with colour from now til May. Each year we make a note of which beds we think could be improved upon and last autumn we added over two and half thousand bulbs to the existing displays at London Road, Priory Industrial Estate, the London Road roundabout, The Knapp, the fire station, hospital, Braybrooke Close, Tesco, Anniversary Gardens and the commemoration bed for Diana, Princess of Wales.
The display I am most eager to see this spring is the one at the roundabout. Having given the star shaped bed a total overhaul at the end of last autumn, over eight hundred bulbs were then added and if they flower as I hope they will, it will look an absolute picture.
During February, weather permitting, the team has continued to be out each Tuesday and Thursday morning tending the beds by raking the last of the leaves which seem to reappear however often we remove them! Also keeping on top of the weeds which have been doing very well in the mild weather we’ve been experiencing, or just generally tidying and keeping everything looking its best.
I am still taking orders for hanging baskets so look out for our adjacent advert and let me know as soon as possible should you wish to place an order. They will comprise easy-care, trailing begonias in pink, red and apricot shades OR you can choose a colourful mix of vibrant trailing geraniums. For those living in Tetbury, they will be delivered to your door by arrangement during the first week in June. All profits raised go towards ‘In Bloom’ projects which allows us to continue the work that we do throughout the town. Just email me on sue@tetburyinbloom.org.uk to place your order.
London Road Gardens
February 2020
Winter holds two of my most favourite days - 21st December when the nights start to draw out and 1st January when Christmas is over with and I can see the entire new year stretching out beyond. Although the weather normally gets worse before it gets better, I know it's only going to be a short time before the lighter evenings and the first signs of spring become apparent!
With that said, here we are in February already, with the early crocuses and daffodils, hellebores, snowdrops and cyclamen now starting to come into flower. They herald the start of Tetbury's nine month long flowering season which will continue right through to the first frosts again in November.
Plans have already been put in place for the summer planting and dare I say it... hanging baskets! They were all ordered back in October/November time! A bit like the fashion industry, everything has to be thought out and ordered well in advance of the next season!
Please see our adjacent advert for the hanging baskets and let me know as soon as possible should you wish to place an order. They will comprise easy-care, trailing begonias in pink, red and apricot shades OR you can choose a colourful mix of vibrant trailing geraniums. For those living in Tetbury, they will be delivered to your door by arrangement during the first week in June. All profits raised go towards 'In Bloom' projects. If you purchased our hanging baskets last summer and still have the empty containers, we'd really appreciate their return as soon as possible please, so we can re-use them for this year. Please email me on sue@tetburyinbloom.org.uk to arrange collection.
In the mean time, weather permitting during these early months, the Tetbury in Bloom team will be out every Tuesday and Thursday morning to keep the flower displays looking their very best. We really do enjoy what we do and gain much satisfaction from knowing that the displays we create and the difference we make, bring such a lot of enjoyment to so many people.
Cyclamen and snowdrops in St Marys’ Churchyard
January 2020
There is no Tetbury Advertiser in January