Everything's coming up blue

GREENFINGERED gardeners in Portishead are feeling a bit blue - over the colours in the town's floral hanging baskets.The Portishead in Bloom committee was horrified to discover the 64 hanging baskets on the carousels through the High Street were planted with lots of blue flowers - despite the agreed colour scheme being orange, red and lime green.The committee has spent hours over the past few weeks planting tubs and planters using red, yellow and orange plants.But when they saw the hanging baskets through the High Street they noticed they were being overtaken by blue blooms.One of the main criteria for the South West in Bloom competition is that the floral displays are colour co-ordinated.Portishead in Bloom chairman Gordon Randall said despite the hiccup, the committee was still aiming to secure a gold at this year's awards.Mr Randall said: "The baskets are not quite the colours that we anticipated."We had asked for hot colours such as red, yellow and orange, but when we looked at the baskets there is a lot of blue in them."We were aiming for hot, bright colours rather than cool ones."Unfortunately at this stage there is nothing we can do and if we ask them to change the baskets they are unlikely to be ready in time for the judging visit on July 21."Hopefully the other coloured plants will become more prominent."Admittedly, this mistake could affect our chances in the competition as the displays are supposed to be colour co-ordinated."But the rest of the town looks so fantastic, that we are still confident of securing a gold."North Somerset Council supplies and funds the town's hanging baskets.A council spokesman said: "A scheme was agreed last year which would have orange, blue and lime green colours in it."The blue flowers are the more rigorous growing of the plants, but as the season progresses, the other plants will get larger and become more prominent and it will be a gorgeous display.