Every year since 1964, towns across the UK have bloomed with hanging baskets and brightly coloured flowerbeds planted by residents.
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towns → bloom → residents
They wield their trowels in aid of the Royal Horticultural Society’s Britain in Bloom competition, a coveted accolade for the 1,600 communities that enter each year.
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that → wield → communities
Now, the charity is launching a new award for railway stations to honour the volunteers who keep platforms planted with cheerful flowers and pretty shrubs.
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who → launch → flowers
Five of the best have been shortlisted for the RHS Railway Stations in Bloom competition, marked for their beauty but also for how well they welcome wildlife and withstand changing climate conditions.
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they → shortlist → conditions
The winner, announced this week, was the Cardross Community Organic Garden in Scotland.
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winner → announce → Scotland
The RHS said: “The judges were especially impressed by how active the group was in including different members of the community in the station’s activities, from school children, Brownies to other volunteering and gardening groups”.
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group → say → groups
It has been an extremely hot and dry summer in Alresford, Essex, but the gardeners were prepared.
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gardeners → prepare → Alresford
Working hard to cut through asphalt to create flowerbeds, they have planted a “dry garden” inspired by the horticultural pioneer Beth Chatto, who died in 2018.
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who → work → 2018
Also from Essex, she managed to grow plants in dry ground that had never been cultivated.
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that → manage → ground
“It’s transformed the centre of the village,” said the lead volunteer, Frank Belgrave.
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volunteer → transform → village
Ten years ago the station was described in the local paper as “rundown”.
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station → describe → rundown
Now, the planting beds rival any at Chelsea flower show.
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beds → rival → show
Belgrave said residents were very pleased their station had received the spruce-up: “It’s wonderful.
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It → say → up
People sometimes stop by with plants and compost to help us, and we are very lucky to have some lovely volunteers as the garden requires constant maintenance.
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garden → stop → maintenance
“We used to spend all our time watering.
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We → use → time
So we decided to seek advice and build a dry garden with drought-resistant plants.”
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we → decide → plants
At a windswept station on the west coast of Scotland, commuters may be surprised to find trees heaving with fruit and a thriving vegetable patch.
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commuters → find → fruit
But Jane Connolly, who heads the Cardross station volunteer group, has found a way to create such bounty.
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who → head → bounty
“Since March 2022, every bit of the station that can be changed, has been changed,” she said.
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she → change → station
“We do have harsh winters – we don’t take summer bedding plants as we don’t get enough out of them – we choose hardy shrubs.
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we → have → shrubs
We put up windproofing on the shore side to protect the plants but in general we have had very few failures.”
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we → put → failures
Connolly and her fellow volunteers filled the station with plants from their own gardens and visit most days to tend to them.
Having a pretty, flower-filled rail station rather than a neglected one makes a huge difference to the village, she said: “Every time we are down there, somebody will come along and peruse it and say how grateful they are with what we have done.
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we → fill → what
I notice stations now wherever I go, even if it’s a window box.
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it → notice → stations
People come to our station just to see our gardens.”
Other shortlisted stations include Maghull in Merseyside, where the ticket office’s window boxes are full of pretty flowers and volunteers have planted a woodland.
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volunteers → come → woodland
At Wylde Green in Birmingham, overgrown areas were cleared and replaced with pollinator-friendly plants, creating a “bee corridor”.
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areas → clear → corridor
The volunteers carry out an annual butterfly count and have seen numbers increasing.
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numbers → carry → count
Keynsham station in Somerset on a hot day looks especially exotic because volunteers have filled it with a remarkable array of succulents, of all shapes and sizes.
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volunteers → look → shapes
Like the Essex gardeners, they have selected plants that will withstand hot summers.
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that → select → summers
The volunteers at the stations have spoken of how social the job is and many have made friends.
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many → speak → friends
It also gives commuters a chance to chat.
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It → give → chance
Belgrave said: “It’s very rewarding.
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It → say → ?
Lots of people come and chat, they talk about plants, it gives them a social thing.”
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it → come → thing
He hopes to get funding for a community hub and coffee shop.
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He → hop → hub
“On the platform there is a very ancient station house, to the back of that there was an area which was neglected and used as a community rubbish dump.
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which → be → dump
We have turned that into a garden.
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We → turn → garden
Now, we hope we can open a coffee shop on the site.”
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we → hope → site
In Cardross, the gardeners have become fast friends.
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gardeners → become → Cardross
Connolly said: “We garden together and there is always laughing and joking and there is often more joking than working!
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We → say → ?
We go out socialising together now as well.
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We → go → ?
Wildlife has returned to Alresford station, according to Belgrave.
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Wildlife → return → Belgrave
…and 5 more, not listed.
The Aporia
