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Ashcroft Communities in Bloom has a busy month of May

Group now preparing for arrival of national CiB judges in July.
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Communities in Bloom members help students at Desert Sands Community School plant tomatoes. Photo: David Gory.

By Andrea Walker

Spring is a very busy time for the Ashcroft Communities in Bloom group. We started the year with our annual plant swap on Earth Day, April 22. Even with our cool, late spring, the donations—both plant-wise and monetary—were very good.

May saw the group attending Desert Sands Community School for our annual planting of potatoes and sunflowers, with both Ms Charlee Marlow’s and Megan Marlow’s Kindergarten and Grade 1 classes. We returned the following week to plant tomatoes with Ms Johnson’s Grade 4/5 students. We were very impressed with all the students; they were polite and eager to learn about planting and caring for the plants.

We then turned our attention to the downtown area of Ashcroft where our CiB group, together with a number of community volunteers, planted red and white geraniums in more than 60 barrels and several planters throughout the downtown area. The businesses are now entrusted to water and care for them for the rest of the season.

This year, several businesses came on board and contributed to the ongoing downtown beautification plan by purchasing the desert-type planters. The planters have a large reservoir in the bottom which is filled with water through a tube at the soil level. They are terrific for both home and commercial use, as they save time and water and are aesthetically pleasing, and the plants thrive with bottom watering.

The CiB group is looking ahead to July, when our judges will arrive. In the next few weeks our CiB group will be on tour throughout the village as we admire businesses, residential yards, and streets. This is always a very pleasant but difficult task, as we will be choosing a Best Blooming Business, six Best Residential yards, and a Best Street. These awards will be presented at the community celebration with our judges in July.



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11979288_web1_180529-ACC-M-Barrel-planting-Dave-Gory
For the third year, members of the Ashcroft Communities in Bloom committee and Village council and staff are taking part in the Barrel Challenge, with each CiB/Village partner team planting one of the seven barrels outside the Village office on Bancroft Street. Teams were limited to a maximum $25 in spending, with a theme this year of “red and white”. The barrels were planted on May 17, with much good-natured joking about whose barrel looked best at this early stage of the season. (from left) Cllr. Helen Kormendy, Ina Gory, Lorna Delling, Cllr. Barbara Roden, Cllr. Alf Trill, Deb Tuohey, Fire Chief Josh White, Jordi Flaherty, Marijke Stott, Mayor Jack Jeyes, and Shirlee Johnson.