THERE was a cartoon featuring a garden centre, I’m told, that appeared in the Spectator and read: “Do you have anything that will kill Alan Titchmarsh?”

I know, I know. He’s a lovely man and a national treasure but the cartoon, I hope, was not really about Alan but about the subject of gardening.

It may be a pastime beloved by millions but gardening to me is about crouching on your creaky knees and delving your hands into mud. Not fun.

But, like the old comedians used to say, I bow to no-one when it comes to enjoying the sight of fine bloomers. My own garden may be full of a type of self-raising flower (known as a ‘weed’) but on many a sunny-day stroll through Poole Park I have revelled in the wonderful displays put on by the council. Not any more, it seems.

Cash-pressed Poole council has got out its pruning shears and will end the tradition of planting the magnificent carpet bedding displays in the park as part of its cuttings programme.

And the pretty displays in the containers on park lamp posts will also be given the snip.

It’s a shame and the saving of a few thousand quid may not seem a giant redwood of a sum in the great scheme of things but, let’s be honest, if you had to choose between trimming, for example, the budget for care of the elderly or to provide support with children with disabilities or the flower displays, well, it’s a no-brainer, isn’t it?

It is sad that the Poole Park delightful displays will be grassed over for the time being but you know that, when the financial climate is brighter, the displays are so popular they are bound to pop up again in the future.

Rather like that nice Alan Titchmarsh on the telly.