West Lancashire Council brighten up town roadside with Euroflor

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West Lancashire Council brighten up town roadside with Euroflor: West Lancashire Council wanted to brighten up the area for their residents with some instant colour and provide pollinators with natural habitat, they decided to trial Euroflor flower seed from Origin Amenity Solutions (OAS) on one of their major routes into the town of Skelmersdale.

Heading up this project was Stephen Bissette, Clean and Green Operations Manager at West Lancashire Borough Council. He explains, “Windmill Island in Skelmersdale is a roundabout on a major route into Skelmersdale. It is just off J5 of the M58. The council wanted to trial a wildflower area and following a meeting on flower seed in general with Gary Brindle from OAS, we sought Gary’s advice on the best way to do this and what seeds to use”.

West Lancashire Council brighten up town roadside with Euroflor

West Lancashire Council brighten up town roadside with Euroflor

West Lancashire Borough Council commissioned OAS to complete the trial project on their behalf which they did working alongside one of their trusted contractor partners.

For speed, ease and fast results Flora Fleece was used – a weed suppressant made from recycled fabric composed of 50% jute, 25% cotton, 25% brown wool, with a hessian scrim. The matting is made of natural fibres, which will break down through the growing season in 5-8 months.

On 10th May 2023 the team laid the fleece on both sides of the roundabout. Stephen comments, “A 100m2 of the Flora Fleece was used. It was quicker than weedkilling and rotavating the soil and gave the best chance of inhibiting weed ingression; it also supports seed establishment. It was easy to use. It is delivered in a roll which you unroll where you want your wildflower patch to be. And that’s it, ready for the soil. Could not be easier”.

Four tonnes of Green-tree topsoil were delivered by OAS and spread evenly on top of the Flora Fleece, in preparation for seeding. This is a an environmentally friendly sustainable soil that is manufactured using organic compost and overburdened sand from quarries; products that would otherwise end up in landfill.

400gram of Euroflor Rainbow Annuals were sown onto the topsoil and then raked over. A firm favourite because of its rapid establishment and long flowering period starting 50-60 days after sowing right through to the first frosts. Euroflor Rainbow displays a wide range of colours from early season – Eschscholtzias and Iberis, to mid-season Poppies, Cornflowers and Flax, giving way to Marigolds and Cosmos at the end of the season. The striking mix of bright colours red, orange, yellow, blue, and white successfully combines native flora with garden favourites.

Stephen concludes, “We had flowers in bloom on the 3rd of August, a beautiful showing which really did brighten up the approach to the roundabout. It was incredibly simple to install, required no maintenance and looked nice. I am delighted with the results and will look at other areas for 2024”

Sow Euroflor flower seed until the end of October for a Spring showing. Contact OAS on 0800 138 7222 for more information or to place an order.

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ICL welcomes Lewis Blois as Business Development Manager

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ICL welcomes Lewis Blois as Business Development Manager: ICL is delighted to announce the appointment of Lewis Blois to the role of Business Development Manager – Landscape & Industrial for the UK & Ireland.

With over 15 years of experience in UK and Ireland amenity sector, Lewis’ journey started with Agrovista Amenity. He subsequently joined ICL in 2010 as a Technical Area Sales Manager within the T&L business. Lewis eventually ascended to the Key Account Manager role.

ICL welcomes Lewis Blois as Business Development Manager

ICL welcomes Lewis Blois as Business Development Manager

Lewis then joined Bayer Environmental Science as the Key Account Manager for Industrial Vegetation Management (IVM) and Rail, where he played a crucial part in launching and managing iconic brands including Roundup, Ecoplug Max, and Valdor Flex/Lockstar. His responsibilities also extended to managing key amenity distributors in IVM and Turf.

Before rejoining ICL, Lewis built on his expertise at Barenbrug as the Technical and Product Manager for their Amenity business.

On his appointment, Lewis expressed, “I am delighted to re-join the ICL team. My vision is to bolster the success of the Industrial and Landscape business, ensuring ICL remains the top choice for customers in these areas.”

For more information, please visit www.icl-growingsolutions.uk

For more news and insightful views, you can follow ICL on Twitter @ICL_Turf

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GroundsFest arrives in style

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GroundsFest arrives in style: After months of anticipation, GroundsFest 2023 lived up to the hype and celebrated a very memorable debut event with the groundscare community.

The atmosphere was electric as GroundsFest united every corner of the industry and brought together 6,511 unique visitors (excluding exhibitors) across the two days.

GroundsFest arrives in style

GroundsFest arrives in style

It was apparent among exhibitors and visitors that this new event was exactly what the industry needed.

The mix of indoor halls and outdoor areas certainly seemed to strike a chord with visitors. Inside, the vibrant show floor provided attendees with a great mix of exhibitors showcasing a wide range of products and services, while five seminar theatres offered a feast of free education. The Landscape Zone, an entire hall dedicated to those involved in the planning, design, and construction of outdoor environments in the landscaping sector, also proved to be a welcome addition.

The practical demonstrations from Grounds Training were a big hit with attendees. During the two days large groups gathered round experienced instructors to learn more about pedestrian mowers, ride-on mowers, handheld machinery, and the calibration and use of knapsack sprayers and boom sprayers. Furthermore, the instructors were on hand in a large outdoor area to show visitors how to mark out a running track and speak about the essential elements of line marking sport pitches.

In the outdoor areas hundreds of exhibitors were proudly showing off their products with many new innovations being unveiled for the first ever time ahead of the 2024 season. Not only was there plenty to see on the stands but the outdoor areas provided visitors with the perfect opportunity to see a wide range of machinery and to participate in live demonstrations.

On the evening of the first day, exhibitors and visitors came together to enjoy the festival aspect of the event. With a range of food stalls, and live entertainment headlined by a very popular Queen tribute band, it was the perfect way to conclude a very special first day at GroundsFest.

Commenting on the first ever GroundsFest, Event Director Christopher Bassett, said: “On behalf of all of us at GroundsFest we really want to extend our gratitude to all our exhibitors, partners and visitors that have showed their support for the first event. From the very start we wanted GroundsFest to be an event for everyone and to be able to establish a real sense of community. Over the two days we’ve had sunshine, we’ve had rain showers, but more importantly we’ve had collaboration, built relationships, witnessed innovation at its finest and ultimately come together to celebrate the industry and have a great time with one another.

“The positive feedback has been overwhelming but we’re certainly not resting on our laurels.

We’re already planning how we can improve the event for 2024 by listening to every single piece of feedback and by analysing both the exhibitor and visitor surveys. We’ll certainly be back with GroundsFest chapter two in September 2024 and we cannot wait to welcome you all again.”

To watch the show highlights please click here

For more information, please visit www.groundsfest.com

You can also follow GroundsFest on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @GroundsFest for much more news, reviews and insightful views.

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