Plant Selection & Quality
In order to be ready for the first cuttings of 2025, staff at the Town Council's Weeping Cross Nursery have been busy installing recycled, warm water pipes beneath one of the cuttings benches in the heated zone. This is part of an ongoing project looking at ways to improve growing conditions and lower fuel costs by reducing heat loss between the inside and outside of the greenhouse.
Shrewsbury Town Council staff deep clean the greenhouse once the twice-yearly bedding has been planted around the town. The greenhouse is disinfected and steam cleaned using environmentally friendly products. This helps to ensure that there are no lingering pests and diseases for the next batch of plants due in.
At the end of each summer, designs for all areas are agreed and a total plant order is established. Some are ordered as plug plants but more are grown on from seed. The Greenhouse is segregated into planting locations to ensure there are enough plants for each design.
Residents are encouraged to donate their unwanted self-set trees, that would otherwise be disposed of, to Shrewsbury Town Council’s Tree Nursery. A perfect way of helping to preserve and recycle unwanted trees. Staff at the Town Council’s Weeping Cross Centre look after the trees for a minimum of one growing season in order to ensure there are no biosecurity issues such as the presence of diseases. Once staff are comfortable that the tree is in good condition, we invite members of the public who would like a free tree to collect a tree on advertised days during the winter planting season. All of this has been possible by being part of the DEFRA Trees Outside Woodland Project.
The Town Council have supplied various parish councils including: Whitchurch, Minsterley, Pontesbury, Ellesmere, Church Stretton and Bayston Hill with their spring and summer bedding. This provides good value plants for the parish councils, whilst helping to contribute towards the costs of running the greenhouse.
A continued works programme of tree maintenance has been undertaken in Shrewsbury’s Grade I Listed Quarry to manage the lime tree stock within the park. The ongoing management of these iconic trees is essential in the well-utilised public park to ensure that they can be enjoyed for many years to come. With over 1.5 million visitors each year, the tree-lined avenues help to bring huge mental health and physical well-being benefits for visitors to the 29-acre park.
Margaret Thrower, daughter of the well-known gardener Percy Thrower, shares fond memories of The Dingle in Shrewsbury, a place she holds close to her heart. She especially enjoys watching the seasons change and always looks forward to the rich autumn colours and the beautifully maintained grass. Margaret recalls how roses once played a major role in the planting design, but her father later introduced fuchsias to bring a fresh, modern look. Today, fuchsias are a standout feature. She fondly calls them the "no problem, no trouble, no hard work" plants. Hardy and reliable, with smaller flowers and diverse foliage, they remain favourites. Her top choices include the traditional varieties such as Swaytime and Camponella which continue to impress. Fuschia choices used in The Dingle are still the same varieities that Percy Thrower introduced after the war.
Another plant closely linked to Percy Thrower’s legacy in The Dingle is Heliotrope, also affectionately known as “Cherry Pie” due to its sweet, cherry-like fragrance. Shrewsbury Town Council continues to honour this tradition by propagating Heliotrope from cuttings taken from the previous year’s plants. In 2024 alone, an impressive 10,000 plants were raised this way. The Council cultivates three cherished varieties: “Marine,” “Lord Roberts” and “W.H. Lowther.” These richly scented blooms are not only a delight for visitors but also a magnet for pollinators, helping to support local biodiversity. Their continued presence in The Dingle is a living tribute to Percy Thrower’s vision and a shining example of the town’s ongoing commitment to horticultural excellence.