Volunteer gardeners from the Wildernesstowonderland group have planted most of a haul of 4,000 Tulip bulbs at Station Approach in Margate.
The bulbs will bloom next Spring and be a welcoming site for the thousands of visitors who exit Margate Railway Station.
The bulbs were donated by suppliers Humphrey’s Garden.
Wildernesstowwonderland organiser Rory Waitt and his team were joined by volunteers including Margate mayor Katie Pope and local children for the planting yesterday (October 17).
The Wildernesstowonderland volunteers invest their time every Wednesday and Friday to tend the fabulous community gardens at Westbrook beach, Westbrook high street, Nayland Shelter, Margate railway station surrounds and purple planters along the promenade.
The Wilderness to Wonderland project has grown over the last four years from humble beginnings, when Rory Waitt noticed that his area of Westbrook needed a bit of a tidy up.
Rory and wife Joanne then decided the promenade needed some TLC and a number of volunteers came onboard to transform dank areas into blooming beautiful areas of flowers.
Since then the group has bloomed, extending its gardening work and growing its volunteer base. The project needs to raise £20,000 per year to maintain eight community garden areas and fund around 32 events annually.
It also works with Thanet schoolchildren so they can learn about growing and nurturing nature.
Would you like to be a community gardener for just two hours on Friday?
Contact [email protected]
Or find them on Facebook and Instagram Wildernesstowonderland
Good on the volunteers!
I remember a time when the local council provided this service as part our Council Tax, yet it still keeps rising year on year for what seems like less and less value.
100% agree with you John. As a young boy I remember Marine Gardens (still have a few black and white photos!) lovely flower beds arranged in the grass, full of plants in the late 1960s and early 1970s. When myself and my cousins played there on our holidays. At that time the gardens were looked after by the parks department of Margate council. Lost times, now full of antisocial behaviour. I note graffiti (tag) even on the wooden fence between the planted area and Premier Inn, so sad.
I wholeheartedly endorse the previous two comments.
”Back in the day” we had splendid horticultural displays throughout the district from the local authority Parks and Gardens Department. That is what we saw for our Rates, Community Charge and Council Tax.
We have suffered no end of ”efficiencies”. In practical terms, less results for more monies.
Now we are reliant on volunteers. Thank you for your efforts. Nice to see you are getting children involve. Hopefully they too will be similarly inspired – especially when they see their planting efforts bloom next year.