Scunthorpe is officially blooming brilliant after taking home four gongs from the annual East Midlands in Bloom awards.
Most prestigious was the Silver place for Best Small City in the East Midlands – an area which covers Leicestershire up to the Humber.
The award, which followed a four-hour tour of the town by Royal Horticultural Society judges, is even more of an achievement considering it is the first time North Lincolnshire Council has entered the prestigious competition.
Awards were also given for Kingsway Gardens, which not only received the Judges Award for Excellence in Horticulture but also came second in the Best Open Space category.
A Judges Award also went to the Woodlands Memorial Gardens, which was singled out by the judge for its horticultural diversity and site presentation.
Judges were widespread in their praise of the area, with the treescapes in Kingsway Gardens, Central Park and Woodlands Memorial Gardens described as “outstanding”.
The judges also said: “We saw bedding displays which used a mixture of seasonal and permanent planting, done effectively. We also saw the small nursery area in a separate corner of the Woodlands Crematorium grounds where many of the plants are grown, an unusual and very positive approach these days.”
Other areas of achievement included the mass planting of English bluebells, use of in-house mulching and peat free growing mediums, wildflower planting on verges, bird and bat boxes, environmentally sensible mowing, the number of bees and butterflies and the winter tree-planting programme.
Cllr David Rose, cabinet member for environment, congratulated the teams involved in the award.
“This is an amazing but well-deserved achievement, which recognises the hard work, imagination and commitment our parks, maintenance and cleansing staff have all shown.
“I don’t think our parks and gardens have ever looked better, and with an army of volunteers helping keep them that way I am proud of how the council and community have come together to create such important, and beautiful, spaces.”
