Volunteers at Wesbrook’s Sunken Gardens say over zealous mowing by Thanet council has flattened crocuses that had been donated by Rotary clubs for the End Polio Now project.
The crocuses were originally planted in 2019 and this year had just started to emerge when a council worker mowed right over them.
Sue Finch, from the Sunken Garden Society committee, said: “The Sunken Gardeners were hard at work and the gardens are looking beautiful at the moment with many spring flowers emerging-daffodils, snowdrops and crocus all in bloom.
“Sadly, there won’t be as many crocus to see this year due to some very enthusiastic mowing by the council which has completely flattened any brave enough to pop their heads up out of the grass and any early emerging pollinators looking for food will struggle to get sustenance from a squashed crocus.
“Given the lack of resources the council are continually having to deal with, it’s shocking that they have managed to start this year’s mowing schedule in the middle of February. Our message for the council is please follow the mowing request you received from Sunken Garden Society in 2021 and avoid the crocus.”
Thanet council declined to comment.
Peter Hasted, from the Sunken Garden committee, said: “I was really upset when I realised hundreds of donated bulbs from Rotary and BBCT had been mowed before they had the opportunity to flower.
“The council has started grass cutting even earlier than normal. I’m not quite sure why it was started so urgently this year.”
In October 2019 two local Rotary clubs in Thanet donated over 1000 purple crocus corms to the Sunken Garden in Westbrook as part of the Rotary ‘End Polio Now’ campaign.
Members of both clubs joined together one morning to plant the bulbs in the grass as a community project. Other Rotary clubs did the same thing on a national basis.
The sunken gardeners will be back in the gardens on Saturday February 25th from 10am. Everyone is welcome to go along and say hello and join in with the garden revival.
