Gardeners in Bury St Edmunds can be inspired by a cascade of geraniums down the Tollgate Triangle – inspired by Bressingham Garden’s Adrian Bloom.

The gardener of 50 years was in Bury on Thursday to help volunteers who were working on recreating the eye-catching floral display for the third year running on the traffic island close to the Tollgate pub.

Geranium rozanne is a hardy plant that flowers for much of the year.

Bury in Bloom’s Melanie Lesser invited Mr Bloom in 2015 to recreate his river of flowers from the iconic Bressingham Gardens in Norfolk.

“I think this island certainly has attracted a lot of attention, which was one of the reasons we did it of course,” said Mr Bloom.

East Anglian Daily Times: The river of flowers as it will appear this summer on the Tollgate Triangle. Picture: BURY IN BLOOMThe river of flowers as it will appear this summer on the Tollgate Triangle. Picture: BURY IN BLOOM (Image: Archant)

“It’s called the river of flowers but in fact it’s a river of a particular plant. The plant is the geranium rozanne.”

Volunteers from Bury were on hand to help with pruning and weeding after the autumn and winter seasons.

“To get everybody together and get this done in one fell swoop is the best way to get this done really otherwise it’s quite a big job,” he said.

He described the plant as a “very famous and hardy geranium”.

East Anglian Daily Times: Volunteers clearing and pruning on the Tollgate Triangle ready for the river of flowers in the summer. Picture: CHRIS SHIMWELLVolunteers clearing and pruning on the Tollgate Triangle ready for the river of flowers in the summer. Picture: CHRIS SHIMWELL (Image: Archant)

The finished product is quite startling, with the Tollgate Triangle looking as though there is a river of flowers flowing down its slight slope.

Mr Bloom said anyone visiting the island in the summer would “always find something of interest”.

He said many of Thursday’s volunteers were experienced gardeners themselves.

“I’m able to just tell them what’s the right thing to do at this time of year,” he said. “Pruning is quite important. It’s one of the reasons they’re here.”

Speaking of Bury in Bloom, he added: “They’ve done a great job, I think, with the whole of that and what I was anxious to do was to show what a garden would look like – a year round garden... Obviously this is something that has relatively low maintenance for the council as well as individuals in their gardens but provides that year-round effect.”

Bury in Bloom’s Melanie Lesser added she invited Mr Bloom to the town to find a suitable spot for the geranium rozanne after hearing him speak about the plant at Anglia in Bloom.