Volunteers Transform Britain’s Railway Stations with RHS “In Bloom” Competition

The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) has expanded its long-standing Britain in Bloom programme to railway stations, creating the RHS Railway Stations in Bloom award. The competition, open to the 1,600 communities that enter the main Britain in Bloom contest each year, shortlisted five stations for their horticultural quality, wildlife friendliness and climate resilience. The winner announced this week was the Cardross Community Organic Garden in Scotland.

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Volunteer groups at the shortlisted sites have turned platforms into thriving green spaces. At Alresford station in Essex, lead volunteer Frank Belgrave describes a “dry garden” inspired by horticultural pioneer Beth Chatto, using drought-resistant plants to cope with hot, dry summers. He notes a surge in wildlife, including honeybees, solitary bees, butterflies, hedgehogs and slowworms.

The Guardian

In Cardross, volunteer coordinator Jane Connolly reports that every changeable part of the station has been altered since March 2022, adding fruit-bearing trees and a vegetable patch that attract commuters and locals alike. Volunteers at Wylde Green in Birmingham cleared overgrown areas and installed pollinator-friendly “bee corridors,” while Maghull in Merseyside added woodland planting to its ticket-office window boxes.

The Guardian

These projects foster social interaction; volunteers say the gardens provide a meeting point where people chat about plants and share gardening tips.

The Guardian

The RHS judges highlighted the stations’ community engagement, noting that the Cardross group involved school children, Brownies and other local gardening clubs in its activities. The judges also praised the use of hardy, wind-proofed shrubs and drought-tolerant species that have resulted in few plant failures despite harsh winters and hot summers.

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• “The judges were especially impressed by how active the group was in including different members of the community in the station’s activities, from school children, Brownies to other volunteering and gardening groups” — Scotland. The RHS

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• “It’s very rewarding. Lots of people come and chat, they talk about plants, it gives them a social thing.” — Frank Belgrave

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• “We garden together and there is always laughing and joking and there is often more joking than working! We go out socialising together now as well. It is a very social thing.” — Connolly

The Guardian