People and Planters: community planting day in Wednesbury!

Despite the rain Multistory, Bostin' Arts, and a group of wonderful volunteers braved the weather to do some planting in Wednesbury town centre on Thursday 16th May 2024.

As part of our Green Roots Wednesbury programme, People and Planters is a collaborative project between Multistory and Bostin' Arts. As well as delivering workshops with three local community groups, Karl Lewis from Bostin' Arts (with the help of members from an Ideal For All group) created bespoke planters for some of the shops and businesses in Wednesbury town centre. On the 16th May, it was time to plant-up the planters with help from Wednesbury community members: Neil, Deb, Amanda and Alistair.

With the commitment to keep the project hyperlocal, we purchased the plants from Bridget who owns O'Connells (a florist/grocer located in Wednesbury) and worked with Bridget's sister, Vicky, who is a horticulturalist. Vicky was able to provide us with invaluable knowledge and designed the interiors of each planter to reflect what people mentioned they would like to see during the Unloved Spaces consultation: colour, texture and greenery in the town centre.

A range of plants can now be found in the planters including: tumbling tomatoes, lavender, rosemary, fuchsias, strawberry plants, and much more! We also plan to refresh the planters for the Autumn and Winter seasons, with new plants to ensure there is always something thriving.

The planters are now in the care of the local shops and businesses we worked with on this project; we have provided them with watering cans, plant food and instructions/information to ensure the longevity of this project.

It has been a joy to work with the Ukrainian Sunflower Bistro, The Orchard Coffee Lounge, South Staffs Water Community Hub, Sue's Traditional Sweets, O'Connells, Allsorts and Blue Sheep Books.

We can't wait to see the evolution of the plants across the upcoming months, and we would like to thank all of those who were involved with the project!