Floral butterfly centrepiece for Britain in Bloom

The butterfly sculptures took 20 hours to plant

Residents in a West town have been busily cultivating their entry for this year's South West in Bloom, ready for the judges' visit.

The displays in Melksham, Wiltshire, include two floral butterflies on Market Roundabout, created by local horticulturalist, Richard Collett.

The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) competition is celebrating its 60th anniversary and Melksham is hoping to take a top prize.

"The butterflies are quite a feature in the centre of the roundabout," said Mr Collett.

"The planting took about 20 hours a few weeks ago."

Richard Collett, horticultural expert, Melksham Town Council, created the display for Market Roundabout

"The framework and the flowers are all from Bath and the pots are about two and a half metres wide, by a metre and a half in depth," Mr Collett told BBC Wiltshire.

"We've had a few features on the roundabout in recent years; we've had a bee, an owl, and then in 2020 we did three Olympians to celebrate the Games.

"We try to create figures that are interesting to children; something like the Wombles, the Muppets or Mr Men, that sort of thing."

South West in Bloom is one of 18 regional or national competitions that make up the RHS' Britain in Bloom, the biggest horticultural campaign in Europe.

The aim of the event is to encourage people to improve their communities by planting trees, shrubs and flowers while considering conservation and recycling, and clearing litter, graffiti and vandalism.

The main flowers used in the display were different coloured species of Alternanthera

The Melksham Bloomers have held monthly "Town Tidy" days with volunteers cleaning, fixing and re-arranging street furniture, such as planters and troughs, as well as pruning, tidying and planting all around the town.

Judging for the 2024 regional competitions will take place throughout July, with RHS representatives visiting Melksham on 8 July.