Grow and Tell
For the past couple of weeks you have been helping us to create a rainbow across social media.

Last week you shared the most beautiful orange blooms (like these beautiful tulips sent in via Facebook) and the week before we saw your radiant reds. 

From Tuesday, keep sharing any yellow blooms you're growing or have spotted in your local area and maybe tell us why you love them! Join in on Facebook or Twitter or you can email us too!

A colourful tribute
Durham County Council's Clean and Green Team paid a wonderful floral tribute to NHS workers. Using surplus bedding plants and spare stones, the team (safely) created this rainbow display on a busy roundabout for all to see.

Durham has a fantastic heritage and a long-standing floral tradition making it a consistently outstanding Bloom entry. You can find out more about what Bloom means to the city here.

Do you have a story to share? Email us to let us know.

Through the Garden Gates
With many gardens being closed and restrictions in place, we would love to be able to share your video tours with others.

This week we showcased The Spode Rose Garden in Stoke-on-Trent, an It's Your Neighbourhood entry, which is just coming to life again.

Contact us here if you have a garden you could share with others.

Beating the boredom!
The amazing volunteers that make up East Midlands in Bloom have been finding brilliant ways to keep people connected and engaged.

Bloom groups were invited to share the history of their group, which the EMiB team will be sharing over time. Young Bloomers have also been invited to submit drawings, paintings or models of their favourite flowers, which have been showcased on Facebook (like this beautiful watercolour). And there is a lot more fun to come too so do check in to see what they're doing!

Supporting through videos
One of our brilliant Bloom UK Finals judges, Alan Hulme, has been creating weekly videos to help the Gardening Club at N-Vision, a Blind Home in Blackpool.

"The sound of laughter each week in the polytunnel is a joy to behold so you can imagine my horror at the news of a lockdown. My answer has been to produce weekly videos. Every Wednesday they hear my familiar voice and come out to the polytunnel with an amazing carer called Jenny. They do the activity then leave the results in the polytunnel for me."

Alan's videos are all on YouTube and may be a valuable resource for care homes, groups in isolation or even families who don't know where to start. Check out episode 1 here and do share them on.

3 minutes with...
Last week we chatted to Cath, a community gardener in Birmingham who is working hard to support local people by growing plants for others, doing deliveries of the plants along with pots and compost, and growing food in community sites to share.

You can read the full interview here.