Bloom News 6: Green fingers in the spotlight

Aiming for Gold!

Nottingham is aiming for its 22nd consecutive Gold award in the East Midlands in Bloom competition. Businesses, volunteers, children and the City's two universities will be in the spotlight during the judges' four-hour tour on Wednesday July 15th.

Lark Hill village and the Nottingham BID area of the City Centre have also hosted judging visits from East Midlands in Bloom. 

The results will be announced in September.

>>Find out more about the city's judging day.

Learning a traditional skill 

The three carpet beds at the Castle are always a highlight of the City's summer displays.  The circular beds feature pictures created with low-growing plants, planted with the guidance of grids similar to a 'painting by numbers' technique.  Nottingham is one of the few places still using this traditional specialist skill, and apprentice Gordon is the latest to learn.

The three beds this year celebrate 800 years of the Magna Carta; Nottingham's success in being declared the first-ever City of Football, and the summer exhibitions at the Castle Museum and Art Gallery.

 Articulture in the Creative Quarter

Have you seen the imaginative floral displays in the Creative Quarter of Hockley?  The area has been brightened up thanks to the Articulture initiative, which aims to 'turn flowers into footfall' by tempting shoppers to explore the independent shops in the area.  

>>Find out more

Prizewinning art and photos on display

Pop into The Place to Eat on the third floor of John Lewis Nottingham during July or August to see an exhibition of the prizewinning entries in the Nottingham in Bloom art and photography competitions.

The winners received their prizes from the Sheriff of Nottingham, Councillor Mohammed Saghir, at an event at the City Council's plant nursery at Woodthorpe Grange Park. Both competitions are sponsored by Capital One.

Fifty blooming neighbourhoods

Assessors are out and about across the City during July visiting about 50 community groups who have entered the Royal Horticultural Society's 'It's Your Neighbourhood' awards. The team of volunteer assessors includes five newly-qualified horticulturists from Nottingham Trent University's Brackenhurst campus.

The awards are non-competitive and encourage communities to work together to make their area a cleaner, greener and friendlier place to live. 

>>Find out more