Manchester grows for gold as Plantscape fills its streets with colour for the Olympics
Dozens of street planters bursting with the vibrant colours of London 2012 will be installed in Manchester as the city gets set to enjoy the Olympic Games.
Manchester City Council has arranged for 40 one metre square planters to be sited around the city centre, including Exchange Square, which has been designated as a London 2012 Live Site and will show all of the action on a big screen.
The planters, which are being supplied by floral features suppliers Plantscape, based in Hulland, near Ashbourne in Derbyshire, have also been ordered to help mark Manchester’s Dig The City event, a six-day horticulture festival which has been launched this year to promote community-based gardening.
Billed as the UK’s first urban garden festival and taking place from July 24, Dig The City has been organised by a number of organisations, including Manchester Cathedral, Manchester Arndale and the city council.
Exchange Square has already been turned into an urban garden, complete with pavilion bar, trees, picnic tables and a white picket fence. The addition of the street planters, which have been planted up in the London 2012 colours of blue, gold, green, pink and orange, will add the finishing touch before the Games begin.
The planters, which contain a range of varieties including verbena, geraniums and fuchsias, will be in place for a month before they are removed.
Mark Stone, managing director of Plantscape, said: “We have a long association with Manchester City Council and are confident that our Olympic-themed display will provide a stunning finishing touch to the streets.
“We are also delighted that they will form part of the display for the Dig the City festival. Anything that gets communities interested in horticulture is to be welcomed in our book.
“Floral displays have a tremendous power to increase people’s sense of well-bring and pride in their communities and we are sure that the festival will be a huge success.”
www.plantscapeuk.com