Leeds In Bloom Garden Awards.

Two of our members attended the Leeds In Bloom private garden awards ceremony where they were both presented with a gold medal.

It`s another SILVER!

Some of our members attended the Yorkshire In Bloom Award ceremony today at the Pavillions in Harrogate. We are pleased to announce that we have held onto our SILVER award, and have a fourth certificate to add to our growing collection. We were in fact awarded Silver Gilt for the summer judging round, but a silver for spring , this gave us an overall Silver.

Let`s all congratulate ourselves that once more all the hard work has paid off!

Official Unveiling

On Tuesday 1st September the Civic Society arranged a short ceremony to officially unveil the plaque commemorating the history of the tripe baths. There was quite a gathering of people at the garden, and the plaque was unveiled by the daughter and granddaughter of Mr Job Ross. Afterwards we celebrated with a drink and nibbles at the Crossed Shuttle!

A close up of the plaque for you to read.

Tripe Baths have their history unveiled

Thanks to the Civic Society, our now famous tripe baths, re-homed in the Lowtown garden now have a heritage plaque in place to explain their history. We are hoping to have an official `unveiling` in the near future!

The garden is looking especially good at the moment with a lovely colourful border of blue lavender, pink geranium and orange calendulas. And at long last we now have a rubbish bin in place, after first requesting this from the council almost 2 years ago! Its not in the ideal place as we wanted it next to the seats, but due to lack of space one has been positioned just outside the garden on the pavement, please be sure to use it if you visit the garden to eat your sandwich!

Update on our Coffee Morning

This took place at Pudsey House on Saturday 11th June and was a great success, a big thank you to everyone who gave us their support. It was hard work and most of the hard work fell to Maureen who did much of the organising! We arrived by 8 am to set up the stalls..Tombola, Plants, Bric-a-brac, and refreshments, thanks Julie for the wonderful cup cakes, they went down a treat!

Business was slow at first so we moved a table outside to sell the plants and entice people inside and it worked. We raised £250 for funds, and will definately give this another go!

Here are a few action shots:

Spring Comments now available.

Following our Spring judging in April, the following comments have now been posted on the Yorkshire In Bloom website- I am sure you will agree they are very encouraging!

Introduction
This small group of dedicated “In Bloomers” are working hard to sustain their efforts across the townand are encouraging young people to get involved in horticultural projects where possible to improve their environment.
SECTION A – Horticultural AchievementAreas of Achievement:The well maintained gardens at the Baptist Church, season colour at St Andrews Methodist Churchand the groomed lawns at the Parish Church. Floral contributions from Mahony & Ward FuneralDirectors, Crossed Shuttle and Stroom add colour around the route. General standard of residential gardens across the town and colourful display at the Fire Station House. The standards of maintenance and the many facilities at Pudsey Park. The refurbishment of Sparrow park.Permanent planting at the Low Town Gardens and the library beds, and the colourful planters at theWar Memorial. The barrier baskets, and tubs maintained by the group, along side the car park beds and small seasonal bed and lawned area outside the Jet station.
Areas for Improvement:We look forward to seeing Sparrow Park evolve over the coming months and maybe considerationbe given to interpretation within the area.Consider a knee rail around the turf area out side the Fire Station house to stop people walking overthis grass; it will help to enhance the planting display in this area.Consider improving the range of colour at the Claremont sheltered housing development by planting areas of early-flowering bulbs i.e. crocuses, to complement the fine daffs.
SECTION B – Environmental ResponsibilityAreas of Achievement:Areas within Pudsey Park, the wildlife areas set aside and the education centre are interesting features within the park. The Tripe Baths at Low Town Garden are a quirky addition to the route.The use of recycled plastic seats at Low Town. The fact that both the Civic Society & the Allotments
ociety are involved with PiB. The town was exceptionally clean and tidy, both litter & graffiti free.
Areas for Improvement:The inclusion of the interpretation boards will help to tell the story for visitors to Low Town Gardens.It would be nice to see some sort of wildlife project within the route that PiB are involved withdirectly. Attention to the detritus at the footpath along side Claremont Grove complex, and the entrance into Lloyds Pharmacy could do with a little attention, possible site for future improvements/clean up. Possible additions that would add interest to the already excellent PudseyPark would be to utilise the empty tanks in the aquarium by introducing a few more species of nativefreshwater fish (if these can’t be sought from captive stock then perhaps consider a few fancygoldfish); and introducing a few more native British captive-bred finches to the aviary.
SECTION C – Community ParticipationAreas of Achievement:The involvement with Crawshaw high school in the development of Sparrow Park is a credit to the Group and the young people involved. The sponsorship from local business’s and the bus company are to be encouraged, good in roads being made. The bulb planting scheme at Claremont Grove Complex and the involvement with the residents and school children. The PiB blog is an interesting concept and it gets the message out to the internet society. Funding contributions from both the Civic Society & Allotment Society towards the refurbishment of SparrowPark.
Areas for Improvement:Continue to work with the high school and other local primary schools within the area. Try to encourage the primary school near Sparrow Park to be involved in its development. To further increase community awareness, consider advertising PiB in the local library.

Sparrow Park Complete

Planting took part recently in Sparrow Park, with helpers from Crawshaw High school. We all helped to plant up the central bed which has a sensory theme. LCC Parkd division have also planted up four other beds and supplied some new seating. It is looking good and of course will improve as the plants become established.

A Bit of Spring tidying

Today some members have been busy tidying the garden at Lowtown. The theme of the beds is prairie planting with a mixture of ornamental grasses and colourful perennials. The grasses however had become a bit out of hand and were in need of a good haircut! Afterwards the beds looked much better. We also planted some alchemilla mollis as an edging to the border which should add another splash of summer colour.

Sparrow Park Update

Things are now moving forward on the Sparrow Park project, and the council have started to map out the new design. The central bed will be raised up, and this is the area that is sponsored jointly by grant money we received fron the YEP Cash in the community award, the Pudsey Civic Society and Pudsey Allotment society. It will be a sensory bed with scented plants and every one has had the opportunity to decide which plants they would like to go in this area. The main planting will take place toward the end of this month just prior to our spring judging so we will be able to show the Yorkshire In Bloom judges what we have achieved.

Members from the Civic Society and students from Crawshaw School will be helping out.

On the Move!

Time to move the 7 barrier troughs back into place on the railings. They are the ones that are planted up with alpine plants and had to be taken down due to work on the new bus station. No mean task as they are incredibly heavy and had been in storage for quite some time behind the greenhouse in the park.

They needed tidying up and had become quite water-logged which is not good for alpines, but the spring bulbs had started to flower so they looked quite colourful.With the aid of a trolley and some helping hands they were trundled through the park one at a time to be put back on the railings where they had come from.