Meet Our Locals – Stretford in Bloom..
Stretford in Bloom was set up in 2017 and now has 19 barrier planters and 26 large floor
planters spread across the town centre and 2 brick planters at the Quadrant roundabout.
Planting Schemes
Our aim is to compliment the beautiful planting the council have put on the new Kingsway.
We have used perennials as much as possible with additions of annuals to add splashes of
colour and act as a bridge as the different perennials come into flower. Our plan is sustainability and to have a good display across the seasons combined with ease of maintenance and robustness during these more regular very hot spells.
Awards
Stretford in Bloom was judged to be” Outstanding” in the 2025 RHS It’s Your
Neighbourhood Awards. This was particularly pleasing as during the recent major town
centre redevelopment our planters were in storage and this was the 1st year we were able
to reset our planters repositioning them back into the town.
Community Support
We have great support from the local community (883 fb followers)and work closely with
the commercial sector particularly the Mall management team, also the local businesses,
many of whom have signed up to help with watering and raising funds.
Connecting with other Green Space
We also work with the green space organisations across Stretford, including having a work
area in Victoria Park and a Poly Tunnel in the local allotment which enables us to grow on
our own plants from plugs and seeds, saving considerable money. We are also experimenting with seeding directly into the planters, particularly wildflowers and when we split our perennials we will offer them to our local parks and other green spaces in the community. We recently donated some bedding plants to a new start up pocket park in the area.
Spreading The Word, Encouraging More Urban Greenery
Having work spaces in the parks and allotments enables us to plan activities with
members of the community to share our gardening work and develop our skills. The local
Girl Guides often join us. We had a stall monthly at the local Mall introducing Stretford in Bloom, and encouraging people to get involved in Urban Greenery and plan to continue that with the new
development on King Street. We also run various workshops.
Impact
It’s great to know the people get pleasure from the plants.We get compliments on social
media such as “ They brighten my day” and members of the public just come and say
“ Thank You “ when we are working in the town and of course we are always looking for
more volunteers to join our team.
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/stretfordinbloom/
Twitter @BloominStretty
Email stretfordinbloom@hotmail.com
Regards Mags.
Eddie – Tuesday 10th March 2026. (Text and images supplied by Stretford in Bloom).