Sydney Living Colour
The Sydney Living Colour project was initiated
by the City of Sydney in 1999 with the aim of providing a street
colour display to be integrated with banners to allow the Cityscape
to be transformed for major events in the City, for example the
Olympic and Paralympic Games of 2000. The project is completed twice
annually in Spring and Summer and has become a major part of the
Sydney calendar.
Since its inception in 1999 the project has been
undertaken by landscape Architects, John Patrick Pty Ltd, in association
with the service provider Citywide and Floriana, the growers of
seedling display plants. The results have been truly spectacular
with flamboyant displays bringing a blaze of colour to the City
for up to eight weeks. Imagine this, nearly 1,000 one metre square
planter crates are placed through Sydney's major streets, and overnight
they are filled with close to 27,000 8" pots of foliage and
flower transported from the Floriana nursery in Keysborough. Much
of the success of the display lies in the use of a top quality potting
mix that is able to sustain the growth of the selected plants throughout
their period on the street. Of course, Floriana have consistently
chosen a Debco mix for the combination of its water-holding capacity
and aeration, its stability over time, its reliability and, of course,
its competitive price.
The photographs show the displays from Summer
2004. Entitled "Heat in the City", the display
is a tribute to the wonderful work completed by the members of the
emergency services during the previous summer's bushfires.
The displays are eye-catching and dramatic and
have brightened Sydney throughout January and February. Displays
included four different types of Marigold,-Safari Red, Safari Scarlet,
Safari Tangerine and Safari Yellow-in a total of 8,976 pots or 26,928
plants (three plants are planted in each pot). The result of these
plants alone is quite fabulous but when you add 2,682 pots of yellow
Celosia and 1,333 pots of red Celosia, the effect is even more dramatic.
Through the several years of the programme, the
range of plants that has been grown for the display in Debco mixes
is staggering. This summer alone Chrysanthemums, Cineraria, Mint,
Coleus, Ornamental Chillies, Salvia and Eucalypts as well as the
Marigolds and Coleus have all thrived. In shade areas the planting
mix was changed and here the trusty favourites Impatiens were a
huge hit.
The results, as the pictures show, were fabulous,
thanks in large part to the use of a quality Debco mix. |
