Gardening gaff as bulbs pulled up days after planting (From Salisbury Journal)

Gardening gaff as bulbs pulled up days after planting

1:30pm Tuesday 20th November 2012 in News By Jill Harding

A GARDENING gaff means that hundreds of bulbs planted just last week have been pulled up again.

Salisbury City Council staff planted the hyacinths in a raised bed near the toilets in Queen Elizabeth Gardens only days ago.

But, on Tuesday, contractors who are working on the park started demolishing the flowerbed.

“It’s crazy,” one Salisbury dog walker told the Journal. “They only planted them last week. I thought how lovely they would look when they bloom and just days later the whole flowerbed was being removed.

“What a waste of time.”

The council’s senior parks officer Chris Stringer admitted there had been a “communication breakdown”.

“We thought that removing that flowerbed would be one of the last things the contractor did and the flowers would have time to come into bloom,” he said.

“That didn’t happen, it was removed earlier than we expected – we have lost of few hours of our workmen’s time but all the bulbs will be salvaged and planted in Churchill Gardens instead.”

The four-month improvement project in Queen Elizabeth Garden is now underway and will include new paths and entrances, better access, a rose garden, woodland trail and a new floral feature.