Summer Showers bring Fringe Flowers

With grey skies, chilly winds and almost daily rain you wouldn't believe that it's June!

But a bit of bad weather doesn't stop the Fringe and June is the time when we start to turn the town orange by planting our orange floral Hot Spots. Originally the brainchild of much-missed vice chair Viv Marriott, the colourful flowers are designed to help brighten up Buxton over the summer and are now a fixed event on our calendar.

I and a team of green-fingered volunteers met up in front of the Opera House this week to plant up one of the big four tier planters supplied by HPBC.

As we filled the space with watering cans, trowels, plants and other gear, we started to attract the attention of passers by. "This looks good but why are they all orange?" , some asked, while others remarked: "The ones last year looked lovely; it's great you're doing them again" or "I'm taking photos of flowers in the town; can I have one of you all looking busy?"

So with public approval secured, it was time to get planting. There was just one problem - we only had enough compost for one level. We were just working out who should rush off to the shops when the day was saved by the guys from the parks department.

Oliver and his pal turned up in a truck filled with fresh, reclaimed soil from Waterswallows. And boy was it fresh! It was still steaming and truth be told, it hummed a bit too! But it's good stuff, fine and filled with nutrients - just right for young plants.

So planting commenced with lots of discussion on the arrangement of the various orange flowers. We are really pleased with the result, and we hope you enjoy seeing them too.

Over the next couple of weeks the team will be decorating the Fringe Information Desk and surrounding area in Pavilion Gardens. We were also delighted to be invited to help residents at Haddon Hall Care Home sow and pot on orange seeds recently.

A number of local businesses and community groups are continuing to support the scheme again this year by planting their own pots and hanging baskets; we are really grateful to them.

This year we wanted to include more residents in growing their own mini Hot Spots, so we came up with the idea of giving away packs of seeds.

People who came to our Springboard party earlier in the year were offered free seed packs and the response was overwhelmingly positive. We had to make up loads more packs to give out at the May Day Spring Fair!

If you received some of our seeds, we hope you enjoy planting your own mini Hot Spot and seeing them grow. If you missed out, it's not to late to plant some orange flowers of your own and do post them on social media and tag us in #Buxtonfringehotspot. After all, what could be more cheerful than bright orange flowers even on a grey summer's day?

To find out more about Hot Spots contact secretary@buxtonfringe.org.uk

Buxton Fringe

Website: www.buxtonfringe.org.uk
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Twitter: @buxtonfringe
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