SUMMER flowering plants from a Worcester park have been given away for free.

The Friends of Cripplegate Park invited local plant lovers to meet at the park in St John's between 10am and noon yesterday and grab themselves a geranium.

Usually, the plants are cleared from beds at this time of the year and thrown away.

In the past, residents have said this has seemed to be a wasteful operation, since they can continue to flower for a few more weeks and, in some instances, be overwintered.

In preparation for autumn planting, members of the park's horticultural team pulled up all the geranium plants and cleared the beds.

They then gave away the plants free of charge.

Lucky gardeners took them home to re-pot or to use them as cuttings which should flourish through the winter and provide a splash of colour next year.

The action was a new initiative from the Friends of Cripplegate Park who have joined with Worcester City Council's parks department with the aim of recycling bedding plants within the community.