Project makes sun shine in Wargrave
WARGRAVE residents have come closer together this summer, a villager has said, thanks to a community-wide gardening project.
Sunflowers of Wargrave, a programme which launched in May to generate community spirit after lockdown, has seen the village awash with sunflowers this year.
As the project comes to a close, its creator, Michele Bryan, said the scheme has been a big success.
“I’m really pleased with [the project] — it’s been lovely,” she said. “It’s been surprising because we all had the same seeds, but some of the sunflowers are quite big.
“I think quite a few people are pleased at how theirs have grown.”
The Purfield Drive resident launched the initiative to spruce up the village in time for summer and to help residents reconnect following the pandemic.
She shared sunflower seeds and planting guidance throughout the community with help from schools, garden centres and pubs.
She has grown more than 20 sunflowers in her front yard and has found even more walking around Wargrave.
“We can’t lay claim to all of them,” Ms Bryan explained. “But there are some really good sunflowers out there.”
Flowers aside, the project’s creator said the real success was seeing the programme start conversations among the community.
“Those who have taken part have definitely had conversations about how each person is getting along,” Ms Bryan said.
“A lot of people have also mentioned to me on my walks that they’ve been watching our sunflowers.”
And she said she is now looking forward to making Sunflowers of Wargrave an annual event — with lessons learned for next year.
“We want to start it earlier in 2022,” Ms Bryan added. “There was a frost later than usual and quite a few people had their seeds eaten by squirrels and slugs.
“Some people have even said that if we do this again they’d like to join next time, so that’s quite heartwarming.”
To learn more, search ‘Sunflowers of Wargrave’ on Facebook.