Graduation flowers

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Sweet smell of success: Floral arrangements bring a bit of Bath Spa to Graduation ceremonies

Friday, 21 July, 2023

Guests attending Bath Spa’s Graduation ceremonies from 24-26 July in The Forum will no doubt notice the beautiful flowers decorating the stage - but did you know? The flowers are home-grown on our own Newton Park campus.

Grounds Manager Penny Snowden and her team have supplied the flowers for our Graduation ceremonies since last year. Penny said the University was looking for a more sustainable approach to decorating and decided that our grounds team were perfect for meeting that challenge.

“Last summer was the first time we did the display, and we bought herbaceous plants which we kept and re-used to revamp the plantings in the university car parks,” Penny said. For winter 2023 graduation the team bought ferns and ivy, grew spider plants and added in scented polyanthus, which they also re-planted on campus after the ceremonies.

Most of this year’s flowers are scented pelargoniums, which have a wide range of scents; the essential oil from Pelargonium graveolens is often used in toiletries and aromatherapy products. 

“There’s one with velvety soft leaves that smells of peppermint and one called Orange Fizz that smells just like Fanta!” Penny said.  

The team began growing the flowers for this year’s ceremonies back in October, and kicked things off with a plant potting session with students and staff. The pelargoniums are kept and cared for in a glasshouse on campus along with the ivy and ferns from the previous winter ceremony, so most of the display will be completely home-grown.

Penny and her team intend to keep re-using the flowers for future ceremonies, adding in new ones where necessary and bringing them back home to Newton Park to continue the cycle. Not only is this a more sustainable way to decorate our Graduation stage, but it also adds that extra bit of ‘Bath Spa’ to the occasion. This year, 130 flowers grown on campus will be used in the decorations.

Talking about what’s in store for next year’s graduation flowers, Penny said:

“We like the blend of foliage and flowers that we have with this display and hope to be able to keep it going from one year to the next. They’ll return to the glasshouse after the ceremonies for a good watering. Before next year's ceremony the compost will need refreshing, the pelargoniums will need cutting back to keep their shape and the trailing plants will need trimming too. The flowers will need plenty of TLC to keep them going!”

In addition to our home-grown flowers, for the first time this year Bath Spa graduates can attend post-ceremony celebrations in Bath’s beautiful Parade Gardens.