Thanks to the Falkland in Bloom committee, 28 communities stretching from Crail to Coupar Angus took advantage of a 6000 plant giveaway.

The communities will use them to brighten up their own areas and complement the work in which they are already involved in.

Bert Allan, secretary of Falkland in Bloom, explained the aim of the free giveaway was to encourage and assist other communities to improve their local environment through activities such as displaying planted containers and baskets and also to promote other aspects of 'Bloom' activity such as biodiversity and sustainability.

He said: "In May of this year we ran a free seminar for local communities to learn about and discuss these issues.

SIGNIFICANT

"We have now been able to follow this up by giving away a significant amount of bedding plants to other communities.

"The plants were sourced from various locations and we added what little we had left ourselves."

He said that during the event, all the plants disappeared with the first half hour.

"Many of the groups that benefited from the giveaway do not have a vast amount of resources and all were very appreciative that Falkland in Bloom was able to facilitate this event," he said.

Alan Armstrong, secretary of 'Clear' in Buckhaven which was one of the groups to benefit, said: "Buckhaven is being assessed by judges from the Neighbourhood Awards wing of Beautiful Scotland next month and this will make a great difference to our local efforts.

"It's like Christmas all over again!"

Falkland is representing Scotland in the Large Village category of the Britain in Bloom campaign for 2008.