It’s been a year since we first started to talk about what could be done about the Preston Circus Planters. During this year, we’ve actually accomplished quite a lot. Thus far, our efforts have been temporary and experimental, planting mainly with annuals, but people did notice the colourful displays, and we were able to keep the plants going throughout the very unpredictable summer.

We now have a small grant from Community First to support the replanting of the Preston Circus Planters, so in this dark and dreary end of seaon, it’s a good time to reflect on the year.

First, back in March, we cleared the planters of weeds and sickly plants. Lavenders, red hot pokers and vincas were potted up to wait until we could replant them again.

At the end of May, we finally managed to get Brighton & Hove City Council to replace the growing medium in the planters, but just as the weather turned very hot and dry.

We planted up the two planters nearest the Duke of York’s cinema with plants we’d seeded ourselves – pink cosmos, orange and yellow nasturtium and marigolds – as well as the lavenders and vincas. We put generous amounts of water crystals in the soil, and covered the top with a permeable membrane to reduce the amount of evaporation.

At the end of June, wearing our yellow hi-viz jackets and masks to filter just a little of the pollution, we planted up the two other planters with a range of annuals and some of the remaining perennials we had rescued.

At that stage, Brighton was still officially in drought! A group of neighbours formed a watering rota, and could be seen in the summer evenings lugging full watering cans down to Preston Circus. Luckily, the Preston Circus Fire Station agreed readily to allow us access to water, so keeping the planters from drying out became a little easier.

Of course, from drought in the spring, we moved into the wettest summer on record. The cosmos, nasturtium and marigolds benefitted and grew lush, tomato plants appeared from nowhere in the planter by Circus Circus, and the straggly verbena bonariensis grew tall and architectural in the ‘purple’ planter on the south side of the Circus.

Sadly, the two planters nearest the Duke of York’s were badly damaged during Pride at the end of August, but the ‘purple’ planter (now with marigolds that had strayed in from somewhere) was still going strong even at the beginning of November.

Yes, people throw bottles, cans, cigarette ends and plastic bags into the planters. People have fallen against them, leant into them and squashed the plants. The sun and the wind are also unforgiving. But they did survive …

We now need to set up a good source of water before planting. The floral display needs to have height and colour in order to have impact. The planters themselves need painting. And we need a team of volunteers to care for the planters.

We’re planning now to clear the planters of the remains of the annual planting and mulch to improve the fertility of the soil, ready for planting in early spring. Unfortunately, the wind and heavy rain put paid to our good intentions this last weekend, and it looks like frost is promised for next weekend. The unpredictability of the weather this year continues …

Building on our experience this year, we now need to plant for a rather more long-term strategy – and think about how we can use shrubs, perennials and annuals to create an all-season display. Do get in touch if you’d like to be involved: pcplanters@hotmail.co.uk or through this blog.