December 2023
It’s at this time of year that we like to take the opportunity to thank everyone who has supported us over the past twelve months: Our grateful thanks go to Tetbury Town Council, not only for their financial support but for their much-needed practical assistance, without which we would find it extremely difficult to carry out our work. Our appreciation and thanks also go to the Feoffees of Tetbury, St Marys’ Parochial Church Council, Tetbury Upton Parish Council, and individual residents for their generous donations. Our main funding-raising initiative is the supply of hanging baskets in the summer and the Christmas trees that adorn the shop premises in the town centre during the festive period. We are therefore very grateful to all those residents and traders who supported us by buying one or more of them; and to those people who gave up their time to help us keep the displays and beds watered throughout the town during the summer months. A special thank you goes to Sian and Kate who again in June, which is our busiest time of the year, helped us to plant the beds and displays with summer bedding; and lastly, we give a big thank you to Kevin and Bill who help us each year to dress (and undress!) the Christmas trees that adorn the shop premises.
All the support we receive is very much appreciated, and without it we wouldn’t be able to do half as much as we do, to make Tetbury look as attractive as it does, for the benefit of us all. We are still looking for new volunteers to regularly help us on a Tuesday and or Thursday morning on a weekly basis, so if you think that you might like to join the team, please email me at sue@tetburyinbloom.org.uk
The next Tetbury Advertiser will be delivered at the beginning of February and by then the spring flowering season will have just started with the appearance of hellebores, snowdrops, cyclamen, and early flowering crocuses. For me, this is always the best time of the year when the days are noticeably getting longer, and the gardening year ahead is full of promise.
Until then, from everyone on the Tetbury in Bloom team, we wish you all a merry Christmas and a very happy New Year.
The Christmas lights on the tree at Priory Way
November 2023
Over the past month we have been busy stripping out the summer bedding plants, cutting down the perennials and generally tidying all the beds ready for the winter months ahead and the arrival of the early spring bulbs in January and February. In some places we have divided existing plants to use elsewhere, added several hundred new tulip bulbs and more permanent planting. If all goes to plan, this should ensure that the spring and summer displays next year look their best.
Christmas is now looming very fast and with November arriving there is only three weeks to go before Monday 20th when we will once again be dressing the Christmas trees that adorn the shop premises, and arranging for the contractors to install the lights on the lamp columns and in the five large trees located at the outer edges of the town centre.
The Christmas lights on the lamp columns in New Church Street looking toward The Knapp
October 2023
Looking back over the summer, we are really pleased with how our ‘new look’ beds have turned out – especially those in London Road, opposite Combers End. Last autumn, we added sedum, euonymus and ‘Flower Carpet’ roses, and having then planted a new colour-scheme of vibrant pink, red and violet bedding geraniums for that extra splash of summer colour, we think they have looked the best they have ever done!
Although most people I’m sure were disappointed with all the cool wet weather we experienced during July and August, it was actually a bonus for us, as one of the most time-consuming and challenging tasks we normally face each summer, is watering. That task was obviously much reduced and our grateful thanks, as always, go to those residents (you know who you are!), who took on the regular responsibility of watering some of the locations we tend i.e., the bed at Braybrooke Close, the planter on Millennium Green, the tubs on the Chipping Steps, and the troughs at St Saviour’s church. We also wish to thank Sian and Kate very much indeed for helping us to plant the summer bedding during June.
With October now arriving, we’ll be turning our efforts to planting additional bulbs in the beds, especially tulips as they have a tendency to ‘disappear’ over time! By augmenting their numbers each year, it ensures that the beds in spring always remain full of colour.
This month, it is likely that the hanging baskets we supplied to residents and traders in June, will be getting past their best. I’ll soon be contacting everyone who supported us by buying them, to arrange collection of the empty containers as and when you have finished with them, so we can wash and disinfect them ready for use again next year. If yours have already finished, and are ready for collection now, please email me on sue@teturyinbloom.org.uk so we can arrange a suitable time to pick them up (or for you to deliver back to me, if you live outside Tetbury.) Very many thanks.
London Road bed following the new planting style introduced in autumn 2022
September 2023
We are STILL looking for new volunteers!...
The current Tetbury in Bloom organisation has been in existence since March 2005. In the early years we competed in the regional ‘Heart of England in Bloom’ competition for which we achieved 5 successive Gold Awards, Overall Regional Winner in 2010 and were award-winning finalists in the national 2009 and 2011 ‘Britain in Bloom’ competitions.
Since 2012, although we don’t choose to compete anymore, we still enjoy tending the beds and floral displays that we created in the early years, not just for our own enjoyment and satisfaction, but mainly for the benefit of Tetbury residents, traders, and visitors to the town.
In recent years though, our numbers have reduced to a point where we are now struggling to manage to do all that is needed to keep the beds and flower displays looking their best. For us to continue in the way the town has become accustomed to over the past 18 years, we need to find some new volunteers to join us on a regular weekly basis.
Ideally, we need people who can say ‘yes’ to the following questions...
* Want to make a difference to the town and be part of a much-appreciated small hardworking successful team?
* Enjoy gardening and exercise?
* Prepared to give a couple of hours each Tuesday and / or Thursday morning: deadheading, weeding, planting and general gardening?
You don’t need to have a lot of gardening experience or knowledge as you would always be working with at least one other person to guide you.
The Knapp bed
August 2023
There is no August edition of the Tetbury Advertiser
July 2023
As I write this article at the start of the second week in June, we have just had some much-needed rain! At least now the water-butts may get refilled, and we won’t have to do too much additional watering for a while.
We have already supplied and delivered 137 hanging baskets to Tetbury residents and traders and completed the first week of our four-week planting schedule by adding summer bedding to the beds in London Road and the entrance to the Priory Industrial Estate. This will be followed by planting the troughs in the Market Place and those by the steps of the Market Hall; those also in the Chipping car park area and on the Chipping Steps; most of the beds and troughs in St Marys’ Church Yard; the bed and small trough on The Knapp; the troughs at the entrance to St Saviour’s church, the beds at West Street toilets and the tubs adjacent to the Old Brewery Lane carpark, and by the Visitor Information Centre. Lastly a small amount of summer planting will be added to Anniversary Garden.
Once we are into July, which by the time you read this, we will be, we’ll be starting on our two to three-weekly maintenance rota to keep the beds and flower displays looking the best we possibly can, and we will probably be having to water everything on a regular basis! That is of course unless we get some very welcome on-off rain over the summer period which will allow all the plants and flower displays to thrive.
There is no Tetbury Advertiser in August so by the time I write again in the September edition, the summer season will have sadly started to come to an end, and we’ll be casting our minds again to planting spring bulbs!
Tetbury in Bloom hanging baskets supplied to traders and residents each year
June 2023
The rain at the beginning of May brought a very quick end to the tulip displays and left it looking as though someone had gone round the beds and turned off all the lights! However, despite it all looking dull and messy while we waited for the bulb leaves to die back, we’re now into June and over the next four weeks we will be tidying all the beds and planting most of them in preparation for the summer months ahead. We’ll be using vibrant colourful bedding geraniums again which, once established, will tolerate drought conditions far more than many of the other bedding plants available. We will be keeping our fingers crossed though, that the heat and drought conditions this year won’t be quite as severe as they were last summer!
June is always our busiest month: As well as preparing and planting the beds, we will also be delivering over 130 hanging baskets to residents and traders who have kindly supported us by buying them as part of our main fund-raising initiative. The profit raised from them goes directly into the ‘Tetbury in Bloom’ funds, which allows us to continue making the town look as attractive as possible, not just for the summer, but for the entire year.
Once again, our grateful thanks go to Paul Grimes of Wotton Farm Shop who has been supplying our summer bedding plants and hanging baskets for over ten years. His input has become an integral part to our planting operation. He not only produces all the plants for us but delivers each evening, all those that we need for each of the specific planting locations we are working at. Without his help and assistance, we would find this mammoth annual task almost impossible to achieve and as such we truly appreciate his support.
Tulips at the fire station in New Church Street
May 2023
With May arriving, the different spring displays which we have been enjoying since early February, will now be coming to an end. Once they have finished flowering, we’ll be letting them die down naturally so that the nutrients in the leaves can be reabsorbed into the bulbs to give them the best chance of successfully regrowing again next year. Unfortunately, in the meantime, the beds and troughs will not look their best, but on a positive note, it won’t be long before Tuesday 6th June arrives which is the date we’ll be starting to prepare and plant the beds and troughs throughout the town, ready for the summer months to come.
This year, many of the beds will have a new look to them. Following the unprecedented hot dry weather last year which, as we all know, went on for weeks, we found we couldn’t keep up with all the watering that was required to keep the newly planted bedding plants alive, never mind allow them to thrive. So, last autumn we took the decision to change several of the beds by adding a lot more long-flowering perennials, small shrubs and ground-cover roses, to allow us to reduce the overall amount of bedding plants required. Hopefully, it will all look just as colourful as it has always done but without the need for so much watering! Fingers crossed!
Tulips in the beds at West Street Toilets
April 2023
The colder weather at the end of February and the early part of March had at least one advantage which was to maximise the length of time the earlier flowering spring bulbs were in bloom. During last month, all the daffodils came to the fore and now that we are into April, we can enjoy the spring finale of hundreds of tulips coming into flower throughout the beds, all chosen for their height, colour and time of blooming.
Weather permitting, we have spent the past few weeks working on each of the beds, tidying and clearing the never-ending piles of leaves that continue to gather. Weeds never seem to stop growing either, so we’ve had plenty to do.
At last, the perennials and shrubs within the beds have started to show signs of regrowth, although unfortunately it does appear that several plants may have succumbed to the extended sub-zero temperatures in December and recent weeks. Penstemons have been the main victims – they’re not the hardiest of plants but we’re keeping our fingers crossed that once the milder weather arrives, they will quickly show signs of life again!
The Tetbury in Bloom hanging baskets that we supply to residents and traders have now gone to the nursery to be planted up. Providing we don’t experience unseasonably cold weather during April and May, they should be on target to be ready for delivery in June.
Anniversary Gardens in April
March 2023
This month we celebrate our 18th Anniversary! The current Tetbury in Bloom organisation formed in March 2005 and over the years we have continually strived to make a significant difference to the look of the town by creating and looking after the many beds, displays and areas that we tend. Amongst them are:
* The large roundabout and all the beds along London Road
* The beds at the fire station and The Knapp in New Church Street
* The library in Close Gardens and the Twizzle bed which runs alongside
* The tubs in Old Brewery Lane and the beds outside the toilets in West Street
* All the beds within St Marys’ churchyard
* The Diana memorial bed on The Green, and the bed outside the hospital
* The Anniversary Garden in Eccles Court
* The flower tubs and troughs in the centre of town and in the Chipping car park… and of course those down the Chipping Steps as well!
Despite our dwindling numbers we continue to go out weekly each Tuesday and Thursday morning with the sole aim of making Tetbury look attractive and well cared for - benefitting everyone: residents, traders, and visitors alike.
If you’d like to support us, there are two ways of doing so at the moment: Either come and join the team and help us achieve our aim, and or – support our main fundraising initiative by purchasing one or more of our hanging baskets. All profits go directly towards the work that we do.
Tete a Tetes in London Road beds
February 2023
The snow and sub-zero temperatures that we experienced at the beginning of December certainly put an abrupt end to the penstemons continuing to flower, together with the fuchsias, erigeron and roses! Up to that point these plants had continued to produce lots of late-autumn colour in many of the beds. Thank goodness though we are now into February when the nights are noticeably drawing out and we can look forward to seeing the start of the spring displays throughout the town. First to appear will be the snowdrops, cyclamen, hellebores and crocus, followed by daffodils in March and then hundreds of colourful tulips in April and May.
Having spent last autumn adding a lot more long-flowering perennial plants to the beds we tend, we’re really looking forward to seeing the results of our hard work. If it all works to plan, come June, when we’d normally spend the month planting up the town with hundreds of bedding plants, this year that task will be greatly reduced. Our usual hanging baskets which we supply every year will also be ready for delivery in June. They once again comprise easy-care trailing begonias in pink, red and apricot shades OR a colourful mix of vibrant trailing geraniums. If you would like to support us by purchasing one or more of the baskets, please look for our adjacent advert and let me know your requirement as soon as possible. All profits raised go towards funding the work that we do.
In the meantime, weather permitting during these early months, the Tetbury in Bloom team will continue to be out every Tuesday and Thursday morning to keep the flower displays looking their very best.
Crocus and Tete a Tetes in London Road beds during the early spring months
January 2023
There is no January edition of the Tetbury Advertiser