
Tens of thousands of daffodil bulbs are set to sprout across East Suffolk next spring after being distributed to communities as part of an annual planting programme.
East Suffolk Council received 120 applications from voluntary and community groups to join the scheme and receive a free bunch of around 500 bulbs to plant this winter.
An East Suffolk Blooms selection panel met to decide where the available 82 sets of narcissus bulbs would eventually find a home.
Cllr Rachel Smith-Lyte, East Suffolk Council’s cabinet member for Environment, said: “We had such a promisingly high number of applications from all over the district – with some groups and organisations so keen that they requested up to five sets. In the end, we chose 82 groups to each receive a set and help boost biodiversity while spreading colour through their communities.
“I can’t wait to see these vibrant pollinators flowering across East Suffolk next spring and would encourage groups and individuals to continue to plant in their areas, even if they didn’t get the opportunity for free bulbs this year.”
Successful applicants will be invited to collect their bulbs from depots in Ufford or Lowestoft in October – ready for planting over the winter.
In previous years, East Suffolk Council gifted bulbs to a number of groups in the north of the district, via commercial partner East Suffolk Norse. But, for 2023, the East Suffolk Blooms scheme was opened up for any voluntary and community group across the entire district to plant bulbs on public land.
East Suffolk Blooms was initiated by Cllr Smith-Lyte’s predecessor as Cabinet member for Environment, Cllr James Mallinder, and is just one example of the council’s commitment to sustainability and combatting climate change.
Last year, 200 oak trees were distributed to communities across East Suffolk to plant in commemoration of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee. The ‘Treebilee’ scheme was launched by the then Prince of Wales, now King Charles III, to encourage the planting of trees during a year of celebrations to mark The Queen’s 70-year reign.
More recently, a total of 30 standard trees and 300 whips were planted beside the public car park in Golf Road, Felixstowe, as part of a Suffolk-wide programme following a successful joint bid to the Government’s Local Authority Treescapes Fund (LATF).
Meanwhile, East Suffolk Council’s annual ‘Pardon the weeds, we’re feeding the bees’ campaign has, since 2020, allowed grass and wildflowers to grow in more than 100 spaces in order to help wildlife thrive.
The council’s ambition to become a carbon neutral council, in terms of our assets and operations, and to reach carbon neutrality by 2030, also includes trialling alternatives to glyphosate sprays.
No sprays or pesticides are used in council-owned cemeteries and closed churchyards, unless as a final resort to remove invasive species, and glyphosate spraying on East Suffolk Council land has reduced by 45%.