Keeping Nairnshire Colourful (KNC) has brough a new floral look to Nairn. The old roses in the flower bed along King Street and Claymore Gardens, opposite the new CAB building, have long been past their best and Highland Council’s grounds team have struggled to keep it free of weeds in recent years. So last year Annie Stewart, Chair of KNC, approached Mick Haymer, The Highland Council’s Amenities Officer in Nairn, to suggest working together on a complete replant of the bed.

In early 2022 KNC had received a very generous donation from the Trustees of a fund that was being wound up, and the members felt this should be used on a new floral project in the town. That bed seems the perfect place. In the autumn Annie and Mick had a meeting and agreed that the Council’s grounds team would clear the roses from the bed and prepare it for planting, while KNC would make a planting plan, order the plants and do the planting. To improve the sandy soil Annie sourced a good quantity of muck, generously donated by the Campbell family at Penick Farm, . This was spread over the bed at the end of the year and dug in before planting.

Over the winter Annie worked on a planting plan. She said “It had to be a low maintenance design with a mix of shrubs and perennials providing all year interest to make it easy for the Council’s grounds team to look after in the future. I have never done any design on such a large scale, so this was quite a daunting task. We wanted to source everything locally where possible, so almost all the plants have been provided by Greens Nurseries and we owe them a debt of gratitude for all their help .”

In the last few weeks KNC members and volunteers have been at work planting up the bed in phases.

With everything in KNC has provided Mick and his team with bark as a mulch to cover the gaps between the plants and suppress the worst of the weeds. This was supplied by Inverness Bark at Gollanfield, who will be sponsoring the bed. It has been handed back to Mick and his grounds team to keep it watered during the rest of the year so that the new shrubs and perennials can get established. KNC will continue to work with Mick to improve the planting where necessary and ensure it is well maintained.

Annie concluded “KNC hopes this joint project will brighten up the main route through the town for many years to come. It will take a while for everything to fill out and cover the ground. We will have a look in the autumn to see if we need to add any more plants, but there should be something of interest through all the seasons.”

If anyone would like to be involved with KNC and help with the town beds they have adopted, they can get in touch at: knc@gmx.com or go to the KNC website: