Plants are Amazing!

Plants are truly amazing!

Back in July 2023 our town council put 3 concrete planters around a cash machine/telephone near our place. At the time the town mayor was judging our balcony & I asked him about the planters being put out as we were talking. He told me that together with the police they were putting some planters around the cash machine to try to stop it being ripped out & taken away by thieves. He also told that "in due course they will be planted up" . I took a picture that same day as I wanted to keep tabs on the progress of the plants during the coming years. Well, 4 months later & still no plants!

As nature they say can't can't stand a vacuum the little soil in the bottom of the planters sprouted plants all of their own! Not just weeds either but plants had grown from seeds fallen into the planters from previous plantings.

Amongst the self-sown plants there were mostly Petunias but also a few Violas. These have grown & flowered & I took pictures of them at various moments. As the town gardeners haven't planted them up (as of mid December 2023) I was interested to continue taking photos.

During November 2023 I took some photos of the Petunias flowering but I didn't expect them to last long as we were forecast frosts the coming week. We had lots of rain & then 3 nights of temps as low as minus 3C. Everyone knows that frosted Petunias will die - Don't they? Well perhaps the photos here will make you change your mind about the hardiness of Petunias!


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Have you thought of asking the council if you can plant them up next spring?

Maybe get them to provide some compost and you could do the rest.

 

We have something similar, the council got rid of the Pak and ride over a year ago, and the carpark had big planters around the waiting area and other parts of the car park.

They have now made it a no go area and the planters are just full of weeds.

I'm guessing houses will be the next step, but councils really are bad at looking after all the property they own.

 

This thread was supposed to be about the amazing powers of plants to overcome conditions where we wouldn't expect them to grow - not about the planters!

In general here in Huntingdon the councils, (Town & District), are both very good at looking after their plantings. A few have become somewhat neglected in regards to annual displays but they have been planted up with perennial plants. They don't look as nice as the flowerbeds that are changed twice a year but they aren't "hotbeds" for weeds & rubbish either. Most of the planters look pretty good all year round. I don't know why these haven't been planted up, especially when the mayor himself told me "they will be planted up in due course" . Perhaps "due course" will be when they put out the summer bedding!

I wanted to show how the Petunias, even though they were frozen, still "came back" to life after being frozen. We would normally expect them to have died, I certainly did! Which is the reason I took a before & after picture! If that isn't an "amazing ability" I don't know what is!

I would like this thread to be about "Plants amazing abilities" rather than anything else. Surely we all can find enough "stories" to fill it!
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