HEREFORD city centre will soon be a riot of colour as more than 200 hanging baskets and window boxes are installed.

Businesses will start getting flowers after the May Fair, with a race against time between their arrival and getting them up to ensure they stay in pristine condition.

And then comes the job of maintaining them for 20 weeks to keep the city looking beautiful during the summer.

The scheme is run by Hereford BID, a group made up of all the city centre businesses.

They sell the flowers at heavily discounted prices to the businesses and then maintain them.

BID's lead handyman Chris Wood said: ID said: "They instantaneously add class and demonstrate that businesses care about their appearance as well as enhance the city’s overall attractiveness and welcome.

"Installation is actually the easy part, watering and maintaining the products to look their best requires 5 or even 7 days each week,depending on the sunshine.

"I have always been passionate about flowers and visual displays and absolutely love seeing the impact they make on our visitors”.

BID work closely with the charity Hereford in Bloom, who also provide flower beds, hanging baskets in St Peter’s Streets, Broad Street and King Street in addition to tiered planters around the city centre.

Mike Truelove, Operations Manager said: “We and the volunteers of Hereford in Bloom, Hereford Clean-up Group and Vennture’s daytime mentoring scheme all pull together to create something that truly makes Hereford a place you want to visit.”

More information about HBID is available on www.herefordbid.co.uk.