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    08

    May 2021

    Last Updated: 07/05/2021
    Environment
    Environment

    Wildflowers to be planted on Stray

    by Suzannah Rogerson

    | 08 May, 2021
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    Harrogate Borough Council and Bilton Conservation Group are looking for volunteers to plant thousands of wildflowers on the Stray over the next two weekends.

    1-1
    A Green Party mock-up of how The Stray would look with wildflowers.

    Harrogate Borough Council will be planting 5,500 wildflowers on the Stray in the coming weeks. It is working with Bilton Conservation Group to create groups of six volunteers to work over two weekends.

    The young wildflowers called "plugs" are coming from Cumbria and will be around 5" tall.

    They are to be planted between the Empress Roundabout and the Prince of Wales Roundabout, where 60,000 crocuses were planted last year. More plugs are also planned to be planted in a small meadow by the railway line.

    Planting was due to have started in April, but was delayed due to poor weather conditions.

    Keith Wilkinson MBE of the Bilton Conservation Group says the wildflowers are "very welcome".

    "Harrogate Stray looks great in spring with its cherry blossom - but then there's a lull. These wild flowers will make it look spectacular through the summer and come back year after year.
    "Bilton Conservation Group is always happy to make the town green. We'll always help with green initiatives."



    The news will come as a delight to the over 600 people who signed a Green Party petition last October urging the council to plant wildflowers on the Stray.