Early next summer Cirencester Scene and I will be inviting readers to enter their front gardens into our new horticultural competition. With this event we are planning to increase the already rising sense of horticultural pride in and around Cirencester.
Over the past decade the Phoenix Gardeners (megblumsom@gmail.com ), Cirencester Town Council (www.cirencester.gov.uk), anonymous volunteers, Cirencester Gardening Club (www.cirencestersgardeningclub.co.uk ) and proud gardeners alike have slowly but surely been improving the quality of our local street scene. The days of Victorian and Edwardian horticultural civic pride are long gone down the drain of economic constraints but that does not mean we don’t value an engaging, welcoming and sometimes inspiring horticultural display in the public domain. Cirencester Town Council does a good job on our behalf, but the truth has begun to dawn that if we want more from our street scene and we want it to live up to our aspirations we are going to have to roll up our sleeves and do our bit to make it happen.
If you are lucky enough to have a garden that’s visible from the street you probably already work hard to make it as attractive as possible equally for you and passersby; and consider it your pride and joy when it bursts into life every year in late spring/early summer. We are offering you the opportunity and incentive to really go to town on it next year.
Watch this space in early 2016 for details of our front garden competition.