<p>Working with communities across Plymouth to create 100 new habitats for pollinators, <a href="https://www.buglife.org.uk/urban-buzz">Urban Buzz</a> is a project run by Buglife in partnership with Plymouth City Council and funded by Biffa Award and Garfield Weston Foundation.</p> <p>They’re working in publicly accessible spaces to enhance amenity grassland and other unused green spaces and transform them into fantastic flowering meadows and bee-friendly flower beds.<br /></p>

<p>The planting took place on the 15 March at our Tavistock Place campus, with some of the beds designed with vegetable plants which can be used to create natural dyes for use in textile dyeing processes.</p> <p>“Collaborating with Bug Life for our planting day has encouraged an understanding of how our students can use nature within their work,” says Steph Martin, Student Union President.</p> <p>“Planting natural dyes is also in line with our sustainability agenda and as part of the Students Union we like to get our students directly involved in the progression of the college and how they can benefit from projects like this one.”<br /></p>

<p>Buglife volunteers, including our students, researched a list of pollinator-friendly dye plants, from herbaceous and evergreen perennials to deciduous shrubs, which can be used to create a functional bed for the textiles department.</p> <p>The plants and flowers should bloom from September through to June, with students briefed on the best time to cultivate them for use in their textiles work.</p>