EUROFLOR flower
displays in Newport, South Wales, have attracted hundreds of complimentary
letters from residents, says Phillip Evans, supervisor of the Street Scene city
grounds team.
Phillip
and his team of 60 full-time
ground
maintenance staff and gardeners
have been inundated with positive feedback from both residents and neighbouring
councils wanting to emulate the spectacular floral displays alongside all the
main roads into Newport.
"We have five areas
and half a dozen different sites where we have sown the Classic and Rainbow
mixes," says Phillip, who has worked for the city council for 25
years.
"Over the last three
years we have tried various Euroflor mixes from Rigby Taylor, including
perennial, but these two annual mixes have given us consistently good coverage
results with cosmos flowers going right into November last
year.
"We aim to create a
feelgood factor throughout the city and these mixes give us five phases of
colour throughout the season."
This year Phillip has
added Euroflor Souvenir poppy and cornflower mixes for the commemoration of the
start of the First World War.
"We have planted up
the Classic mix over 80 per cent of the verges about 10 metres in and the other
20 per cent, closest to the road, will be the Souvenir poppy and cornflower
mix."
Initially landscape
architects were reluctant to use the annual mixes instead of formal bedding
plants but Phillip has demonstrated that the sustainability of general flower
sowing gave them the "wow" factor.
"The results of
Euroflor mixes have been exceptional," says Phillip, who has lived in Newport
all his life.
"We are incredibly
proud of the city and it is amazing that the formal bedding areas in the two
main parks get about 10 letters of praise a year – while the amenity flower
displays get about a hundred."
He says many people
call them wildflower areas, but he is quick to point out that the annual flower
mixes are not all native and can be found in many
gardens.
Each year the
roadside areas are cleared and cultivated before sowing takes place in
spring.
"We are at the mercy
of the wet weather quite often," says Phillip, "but the displays eventually
develop to withstand the conditions – and the sustainability is really
rewarding."
This year, he says,
the wet weather followed by the heat has created ideal conditions for fast grass
and weed growth.
Mowing has been increased and the Street Scene team will go
round the roadside flower displays to hoe out any weeds before they
develop.
Rigby Taylor area
technical sales representative Peter Griffiths
said: "We are delighted that Phillip and his team have had such great results
from our Euroflor mixes.
"The public reaction
has been tremendous."
