Blooming Marvellous?

Judging by this planting on the way to the station, it seems Chippenham won't be winning any prizes in this year's Britain in Bloom competition. What do you think?

Comments

  1. Esther Montgomery22 May 2008 at 10:46

    I think it should be named after Ming - of course!

    Esther

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous22 May 2008 at 16:38

    They needn't have bothered! xx

    ReplyDelete
  3. dND23 May 2008 at 09:58

    It looks like the accountants have won again!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Esther Montgomery23 May 2008 at 10:52

    I keep thinking about this roundabout. It causes me some merriment.

    But I'm also worried this is the 'Look' Ming's going for in our garden.

    Congratulations to you, VP, on your 'Fork'nMonkey'. (Do you feel embarrassed when you have to say it out loud? In the family, I try to avoid it - or say each word separately and primly and distinctly.)

    Perhaps you should set up a Chippenhan Rounabout Award!?

    Esther

    ReplyDelete
  5. John the Dramaticist23 May 2008 at 16:28

    That's just outside "Let's Face It", opposite Tesco and at the bottom of my road (you can see my house in the picture!). And, for the benefit of some of your readers, is not a roundabout.
    That particular flowerbed is quite often a target for litter and vandalism, so if anything more delicate got planted in it, it would be trashed; so the council have probably done the right thing and put bark in it.
    If you want to see blooms, try John Coles Park

    ReplyDelete
  6. VP23 May 2008 at 16:43

    It's out of sequence I know, but I felt I needed to put out an immediate reply to John's comment:

    John - welcome to the blogging world and I hope you enjoy it around here!

    I thought I'd come over and answer the good points you made over at my place. Thanks for opening up the debate on the subject.

    Firstly, lots of towns have problems with vandalism, but they still manage to put public planting together that makes things look better, rather than the dreary mess I chose to publish. It's not the only example - the 1 by the cinema's just as bad.

    Secondly, by all means use bark. It's a good weed suppresant, but dyed red? Noooooo! The result looks like it might encourage vandalism, in my opinion. Natural bark would have blended in well, instead of screaming at me.

    Thirdly, the hanging baskets etc. are usually much better, so I know Chippenham can really do it in vulnerable spaces as well as John Coles Park.

    That's why I chose to post the picture.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Mr. McGregor's Daughter23 May 2008 at 20:55

    It's the phony red mulch that makes the planting so...dreary? dismal? weird? Maybe it'll look better when (if) the plants fill in. Does anyone really think fake red mulch is attractive?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Mr. McGregor's Daughter23 May 2008 at 20:57

    Oops! I forgot to congratulate you on your Fork' Monkey award. (Kind of reminds me of an Illinois legal requirement called a "4q notice." I'm not making this up.)

    ReplyDelete
  9. this is my patch24 May 2008 at 08:18

    Who have they got on their team? Someone with no imagination. Where's the colour? I just hope someone keeps this feeble attempt watered! x

    ReplyDelete
  10. VP25 May 2008 at 14:27

    Hi everyone - I think I answered most of your comments in the answer I gave John, but here's a couple of extras:

    Esther - John's right the picture I've shown isn't of a roundabout. However, I've found an actual roundabout in Chippenham that's just as bad.

    MMD - thank you :) I must go and look up 4q...

    ReplyDelete

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