Plant – Page 10 – Otley in Bloom

Daffodil planting on the bypass

On a cold November day members of Otley in Bloom along with members of the Rotary Club planted many more daffodils along the bypass, now named Rotary Way.

Otley has its own Phlox

We’ve been putting in some research on the Otley Phlox and Fred M Simpson. This is the potted history.

Fred M Simpson had a poultry business in the 1930s on the site of Stephen Smiths Garden Centre, Pool Road. In the 1950s he moved towards plant breeding. His successes were:

Otley Korean Cushion Chrysanthemums called “Lucy Simpson”, “Margaret Simpson” and “Grace Simpson” – no longer available.
A lupin “Otley Yellow” – no longer available.

His best work however was with perennial phlox which Otley in Bloom would like to bring back to the town. He came up with the Otley Regal series: “Windsor”, “Balmoral” & “Sandringham” are still available at a few nurseries through the country; “Glamis”, “Harewood” and “Holyrood” are no longer available; also “Otley Choice” and “Otley Purple” which are available at a few nurseries.

If you know anything about the man, or have any of his plants in your garden we would love to hear from you.

Overflowing with blooms

What a pretty place Otley is, overflowing with blooms. Here are a few photos of the red, white and blue flowers in Otley centre.

Spring flowers in the Nectar Bed

There are plenty of plants already flowering in the nectar bed in Wharfemeadows Park, just above the childrens playground – here is a lovely dark red hellebore ready to attract the bees when they come along.

Getting ready for Spring

Spring is nearly here, so Otley in Bloom have been doing some spring cleaning – we’ve picked up litter from Bremner Street corner, around Myers Croft Beck, and at the garden outside HSBC, opposite the Post Office. Edie and Jacquie also did some weeding and planted some more primulas in the HSBC garden, where the bulbs are already beginning to show their leaves.