Town is blooming lovely for judges

They stopped off in Ludlow and Shrewsbury to inspect the blooms on display and cast their critical eye over all that was on offer.

Shrewsbury Town Council is leading Shrewsbury’s floral charge, with the support of members of the Shrewsbury in Bloom committee.

This year the town has entered the Small City category, as well as the Parks and Open Spaces category for both the Castle grounds and Copthorne Park.

The town centre has been transformed into a riot of colour, with staff having worked hard to complete the summer planting schedule and judges were able to see their hard work first hand when they took part in a walking tour of the town..

Hundreds of thousands of colourful blooms have been planted out around town in the many hanging baskets, planters and floral beds, with more than 30,000 plants alone designated for Shrewsbury’s award winning garden in the Dingle.

All of the blooms are grown from seed or plugs at the town council’s own greenhouse, which covers the size of a football pitch, at Weeping Cross Centre.

Town clerk, Helen Ball said: “With the floral schemes planted around the town, we’re ready to welcome the Heart of England in Bloom judges to Shrewsbury. It has been a challenging summer to get everything ready in time but our staff and communities have been marvellous with the work they have undertaken.

"The town is looking lovely. The planting schemes have been exceptional and even though we still have another three weeks until the blooms peak, they are impressive.

"Our route is long and reflects everything about Bloom from what we do as a town council to what businesses do in their premises, residents do in their own gardens and what local groups do in their communities. It reflects our heritage, our cultures, our values and most strikingly our pride in this town.

"We showed them a different growth, that of the town, new developments, the many roadworks that are needed for that future expansion, sites that are facing change.

"We've worked hard on the 2017 bloom campaign and collectively we can prove to the judges that we are worthy of a GOLD award, winning the category and even representing Heart of England in Britain in Bloom next year."

In recent weeks vandals have targeted the town's planters and the police are no adopting a zero tolerance to any person who damages the planters and tubs.

In 2014, the RHS Britain in Bloom Champion of Champions.