One of the priorities within the 2006 and the 2011 Roxburgh and the Teviot Valley Community Plan was to improve the appearance of Roxburgh’s main street.
Teviot Prospects (formerly known as the Roxburgh and Districts Community Trust) decided to get stuck in and beautify the main street with with a slight twist on what is commonly known as the 'hanging flower basket'.
The hanging flower baskets had been tried before and failed. The plants did not like the wind nor the high summer temperatures. The baskets were high in the air, difficult to care for and water.
The group put their thinking caps on and came up with the idea of designing flower boxes. The idea was to create larger containers to hold more soil, place tem at ground level in sheltered enclaves and locate them close to water taps.
In 2011, the community rallied and pulled together their resources to develop two prototype flower boxes. They decided that using orchard boxes for the base would not only be great design wise but would also reflect the culture of the Roxburgh community.
Base: The apple bins were donated by VanderVoort’s Orchard and modified with a false bottom by VanderVoort staff.
Steel frame: The steel was donated by Pinder Motors Ltd and frames were designed and built by staff.
The Roxburgh Community Board provided a grant of $400.
The plants, baskets and potting mix were provided at cost by The Warehouse in Alexandra.
The Flower Boxes were cared for by volunteers throughout the summer.
The prototypes turned out to be a huge success so the community decided to build 10 more boxes for the next summer. Money was raised via donations from businesses, community organisations and individual residents as well as from raffles. Machinery, volunteer labour, storage space and working space was also donated by the good people of Roxburgh. There are now 12 flourishing flower boxes lining the streets of the Teviot Valley during the summer months.
Three working bees were organised by Roxburgh & Districts Lions Club.