THE hard work of Kirklees Council’s gardeners is paying off – and you just can’t miss it!

Flowers are being planted out in town centres to bring a splash of summer colour.

And on Shorehead roundabout plants are now being put in to form the logo for the Huddersfield the Place to Make It campaign.

The campaign shows how individuals and businesses are doing great things to promote Huddersfield and its people.

The council’s Bradley Nurseries are providing the plants, having grown them over the past weeks and months.

But they are not resting on their laurels.

Plants are now being planned and planted for the autumn bedding schemes in parks including polyanthus and poinsettias for Christmas which are already underway.

The sheer scale of the operation is mind-boggling.

Some 45,000 plants have been provided for the baskets decorating the town centres.

But when the bedding plants and displays in the parks across Kirklees are taken into account, it brings the total grown in the nurseries to something like ¾m plants.

“It’s a non-stop operation all year round, “ said nurseries manager Paul Marshall.

“We took delivery last week of the polyanthus plant plugs for the autumn bedding displays and they are now being transplanted by machines into our beds.

“We are also working on the stunning poinsettia plants for Christmas but we do those by hand as we want larger quality plants”.

Hundreds of displays will be enabling towns such as Holmfirth to make a good impression during the Yorkshire In Bloom competition which is now underway.

Red, white and blue hanging baskets have been provided for Holmfirth and other displays have gone to Birstall town centre and Crow Nest Park in Dewsbury to help in the contest.

There are currently 90 three-tier planters and square bases; 600 hanging baskets; 935 lamp-post baskets; 40 two-tier lamp-post planters; 140 half planted barrels and 123 barrier plants such as those on Huddersfield Ring Road. Local businesses and groups are being invited to become sponsors for next year’s displays.

Varieties of plants used in the displays include upright and trailing geranium, fuchsias, petunia, and trailing plants such as golden lysimachya, variegated nepeta, trailing lobelia, begonia and bacoppa.

The hanging baskets displayed on shops and business premises are paid for by the occupants.

But the nurseries also provide half a million bedding plants every year for planting in public parks and gardens. Floral displays have been for special occasions such as town hall concerts, the Olympic torch events and school prize giving events as well as Royal visits to Huddersfield and Halifax.

Staff from Bradley Nurseries plant and maintain the three conservatories in Huddersfield’s Greenhead Park, Dewsbury’s Crow Nest Park, and Wilton Park in Batley.

Two teams of two water all the containers throughout Kirklees with a solution containing plant feed which is why the work continues even if it rains.

Clr Peter McBride, Kirklees cabinet member for streetscene, said: “Bradley Nurseries are responsible for most of the floral colour on view in our towns and villages at present and we are all able to enjoy the fruits of their hard work.”