Broad Street Cygnets

Very colourful area decorated with a range of innovative containers including handbags, a pedal bin, wellies and an ice cream churn.  Topically there are several old footballs housing a range of plants in both the front and back gardens. 

At the entrance to the site there is a small area of formal planting including a good size rose.  In the back area, amongst the many play areas with large equipment, are a bug hotel and more novel planted up containers with onions, carrots and tomatoes. 

There are some fruit trees and under a mature tree is a herb garden sitting in brightly planted tyres.

Alveston Primary School

At the door a welcome collection of containers with bee friendly plants.

Demonstrating a theme of a Kaleidoscope of Colour each school year had a different theme.  Each class had a raised bed planted with fruit, flowers and vegetables in the appropriate colours:

Reception – Red  - Tomatoes and flowers, “bee” pictures

Year 1 – Orange - Carrots, red sunflowers, carrot drawings

Year 2 – Yellow - Poppies, very bee friendly, lots grown from seed.

Year 3 – Green  - Herbs, tomatoes, bug hotel made of plates.

Year 4 – Blue  - “Dove” theme pictures.  Watering can (broken) holding tomatoes.

Year 5 – Purple – Onions, petunias, lovely onion drawings inside and out.

Year 6 – Pink - Lavender, lovely African Violet drawings.  Large stand with a range of bug hotels in it to be used for future years.)

Each planted area had an insect / bug house.  Lots of art around each table.

Welcombe Hills School

The gate opened into the garden area to a riot of colour.  A magnificent display of poppies in pinks and dark crimsons, next to the tall heads of corn and artichokes jostled by potatoes, cucumbers and tomatoes, green beans, runner beans and sunflowers.  At the other end of the garden on the wall are several plaques – with original drawings by the children.  Below them is a blueberry shrub and mini-gardens using a large pot plate, filling it with shells, tiny pots, bits of wood and greenery and a garden flag. 

There is a set on a table, a “Forest School”, with snakes, hedgehogs and handmade worms (made out of old socks).  The pupils had so much fun with this creation, some of the worms have been played with over the past few weeks leaving them eyeless, legless and totally exhausted!  Some worms, caterpillars and snails made a small appearance in the Hollows garden where they were resting after working so hard over the past few weeks.

There is also a filing cabinet backfilled with nasturtiums.

Footsteps Nursery

A new small garden for very young children (1 to 2 years old).  A self-seeded buddleia stands 4ft high with metal butterflies spread about.  An old tyre is filled with herbs.  A large planter has been converted from a bookshelf and old wire supermarket shopping baskets help compartmentalise the sections.

There is fun to be had with a digging tyre and trowels watched over by a bright yellow mini sunflower.  There is a small log pile in the corner and a vegetable area with tomatoes, cucumbers, strawberries and green beans.

St Andrews Primary, Shottery

Welcomed by a flowerpot person made by reception with nasturtiums and pinks.  A wall mounted pallet of milk bottles planted with a range of flowers and an upcycled pallet with painted tins with French marigolds.  Lots of painted pebbles.  A musical chime made from old chair legs hanging from a tree.

Other attractions are spread across a fairly small area and include a mini beast hotel, planted tyres, a digging area near the mud kitchen and planted sink.  A peace pole stands tall in the middle of a planter.  Planted pots with vegetables include strawberries, tomatoes and runner beans.  A splendid apple tree is providing a home to apple ermine moths who will probably leave the tree this year and find a new home but you can still feast on the apples.

Freshfield Nurseries

We were greeted by 3 jeans-clad botanical “bottoms”!  French marigolds, sedum and euonymus filled.

A range of different planting vessels – boxes, bottles and tyres.  A special area just for butterfly planting, where we saw 5 butterflies being released onto the cosmos.  A range of mature trees encompassing hazelnut and walnut as well as apple and pear.  In a greenhouse they had tomatoes grown from seed they had saved from their own lunches, cucumber, courgette and a t-pee of runner beans.  Separately there were herb areas hanging in bottles.

A delightful collection of animals including rabbits and guinea pigs in the surrounding gardens.

Mealtime food waste is recycled to feed the animals.

Stratford upon Avon Primary School

We arrived to walk through the pergola filled with bottle top wind chimes before reaching some wooden planters and a range of reused containers including a teapot and a hat.  Each planter had a collection of “fish” made by the children from plastic bottles, which were highly decorated. 

There was a herb box and a herb planter containing 2 varieties of mint and oregano.  A perennial sweet pea plant sprawling across the ground with bee / insect friendly flowers. 

A substantial plum tree set in an enormous tractor tyre and a few fruit trees spread across the area.

A wormery and bug hotel were nestled along the side of the building with more planters containing seed bombs made by the year 4 students, containing wild flower seeds, hoping for sufficient rain to enable them to explode.  The seed bombs were carefully watched over by Skelly, a scarecrow made from recycled and upcycled materials.

Bridgetown Primary School

Woven around the theme of the Wizard of Oz – skilful use of the characters of the scarecrow, lion and tinman all made from recycled / upcycled materials.  This helped to create a sanctuary space combining planting and crafts to make a peaceful environment.  Incorporating tyre planters, a herb garden in a sink, as well as strawberries and peppers.  The children had painted yellow pebbles to brighten up the area (as part of the yellow brick road) with wildflower seeds.  The overall impression is of a colourful area with geraniums, lobelia and herb robert.