August Bulletin

Total Eclipse of the Park

Several thousand people lined the slopes of the Park on Wednesday 12 August to watch the deepest partial solar eclipse visible in London since 1999. As the light dimmed over London, spontaneous applause echoed across the Park. Many watchers were armed with proper eclipse glasses but there was also an astonishing variety of homemade pinhole cameras and even the odd colander.

Equally impressive is that by 8am on Thursday Park staff had put in a super early stint to make sure there was not a trace of litter left. We truly appreciate their efforts!

Picture: Linda Boscic, volunteer ranger

Bloomin' drought

With Dust Devils storming through the parkland and even our most robust and rooted lime trees showing extreme stress, it seems like this is the drought of this generation, writes Head Gardener Tom Brown.

It gives us an insight into what the future could look like and also which plants seem to be managing the heat well. It’s very interesting to see broad leaf trees like Morus nigra (mulberry) and Tillia tomentosa 'Brabant' (silver leaf lime) coping very well with the conditions. Shrubs like Daphne x transatlantica and Camellia japonica showing stress but faring better than most. The head gardeners across The Royal Parks are working on lists of plants showing signs of resilience to the ongoing drought.

Where water is available, the ornamental beds are joyously flowering. The Flower Garden bedding displays are bigger and better than ever - the Tithonia rotundifolia ‘Torch’ (Mexican sunflower) is having its moment, growing to never-before-seen heights and bringing all kinds of pollinators to that corner of the Park. We have spotted several species of Tiger moths capitalising on this flush of blooms.

Super size: Mexican sunflowers reach new heights in the Flower Garden and the huge ‘Kelvin Floodlight’ dahlias have been given extra support.

The ‘Kelvin Floodlight’ dahlias are also becoming too big for their own good and are requiring several additional supports just to hold up their outrageously large dinner plate size flowers.

Finally, we have just installed a full set of botanical labels for the Queen’s Orchard. Sheen Botanical Labels, Emma Paley and I have been working on this for some time and it's a pleasure to see them delivered and installed. You can now go to the Orchard and learn about all the different cultivars, their origin and date of introduction. Huge congratulations to Emma on this piece of work which has elevated the Orchard to new heights.

Please stay as cool as you can and trust the landscape to recover eventually. What might bring change also brings new opportunities to create a more resilient and robust Park for everyone to continue enjoying.

What about the watering?

Staff are working hard to keep targeted areas of the Park green, thanks to an advanced borehole watering system.

The borehole provides ground water from a chalk aquifer that lies 60m under London. This is used to feed the Flower Garden Lake, the boating lake, the toilets in the cafes and horticultural bowsers, which you may see staff using throughout the Park. The system was installed as part of the Greenwich Park Revealed project, and is carefully monitored by The Royal Parks and the Environment Agency to ensure water is conserved and not used excessively.

Park Manager Clare Lanes told Friends that the borehole is used to water more than 200 young trees in the Park and to keep the cricket pitch green. As the water feature in the children’s playground needs a clean supply from Thames Water, it has had to be turned off for the duration of the hosepipe ban.

Clare added that the only Thames Water supply being used is in the Queen’s Orchard, and Emma Paley is hard at work there with the watering cans.

Want to learn more about horticulture in a changing climate? Tickets on sale now for our annual lecture

Tackling the challenges of a changing climate is something Matthew Pottage, Head of Horticulture and Landscaping Strategy at The Royal Parks, knows all about.

Climate concern: Matthew Pottage will give our annual lecture on 6 October

The Friends are in for a real treat when Matthew gives our annual lecture on Tuesday 6 October. A familiar voice from Gardeners’ Question Time, Matthew will talk to us about ‘The Royal Parks: Gardening for People and Planet’. He says: "The changing climate isn’t kind to gardeners. As soon as you’ve mastered one weather extreme, along comes another, so how do we keep our parks, horticultural areas and green spaces flourishing in this changing world? And how do we do our part by doing it sustainably?"

Tickets will go quickly so get yours early by clicking here.

The talk takes place on Tuesday 6 October at Mycenae House. Doors open at 7.30pm with the talk starting at 8pm. Tickets are £12, which includes a glass of wine.

Bandstand concerts in full swing!

Our bandstand concerts continue to entertain the crowds with something for everyone. Over the past four weeks, The Andy Smythe Band, Tequila Brass, Gordon Webber’s Atlantic Songbook and The Jolly Good Timers drew in up to 800 people a show.

Come along every Sunday throughout August. Bring a picnic, friends, dancing shoes and maybe even your jazz hands!

Next Sunday, 23 August, will feature Deptford Rascals, playing Elvis, Oasis, Dr. Feelgood, Squeeze and many more.

For full details of the programme, see here.

Keeping it moving: Clockwise from top-left: Gordon Webber’s Atlantic Songbook, Tequila Brass, The Jolly Good Timers, The Andy Smythe Band.
Pictures: Roger Stevens

Special chance to dedicate a Rose Garden bench

The Royal Parks charity is offering a special opportunity to dedicate fifteen plaques across three new multi-seated benches in the restored Rose Garden. The benches sit within the garden’s pergolas, surrounded by rambling roses and clematis.

The charity requests a contribution of £1,500 to dedicate each plaque for a period of 10 years. Each plaque can include up to two names, with the option to include the phrase ‘In celebration of’ before the names. The charity welcomes dedications made in tribute to loved ones, in celebration of special occasions or in honour of supporters’ connections with the Park.

Enquiries and applications can be made at royalparks.org.uk/dedicate or by contacting the charity’s Fundraising Officer, Will Wright, at dedications@royalparks.org.uk.

Ready for dedications: The new curved benches in the Rose Garden.
Picture: Will Lowe, Friends of Greenwich Park Photography Group

Never were there such devoted sisters

August in The Queens Orchard and the sun is shining, which has been a blessing for some of our crops and a challenge for others, writes Emma Paley, Kitchen Engagement Gardener. The tomatoes, aubergines and courgettes are striving, they sigh in relief as they are watered and pop out new fruits. Thanks to all the wonderful volunteers who have been endlessly watering our thirsty friends this month.

Left: The Three Sisters. Right: Vertical courgettes.
Pictures: Emma Paley

This summer we are experimenting with an array of exciting crops. Above you can see an indigenous planting scheme, which is referred to as The Three Sisters. Here lies squash, corn and climbing beans ... and sunflowers (the fourth sister). This technique is a type of companion planting. The corn serves as a natural trellis for the climbing beans, the beans fix nitrogen in their root nodules and stabilise the corn in high winds, and the wide leaves of the squash shade the ground, keeping the soil moist and preventing weeds from establishing.

We started growing our courgettes vertically this year to help with some of common courgette problems. Courgette fruits often develop blossom end rot - growing them vertically improves airflow and minimises this problem. The fruits can often hide beneath leaves and become huge, but by training them vertically, they’re easier to spot. Plus you won’t get scratched by the hairy leaves and stems.

We have purchased beautiful new labels for all our heritage trees in The Queens Orchard. You will now be able to clearly see which cultivar and variety of fruit tree you are connecting with and find out where it was cultivated and when. Come down and have a look!

Don't mess with Midori!
Picture: Emma Paley

Meet Midori, our new Scarecrow. She is here to scare away the pesky pigeons who seem to be gorging on most of our crops this month, including the leaves of the chillies! Midori has been holding up for the past few weeks and there have been no birds in sight. On the other beds we have resorted to netting, experimenting with butterfly netting and hoops to protect our beloved vegetables.

This August we have been trying our best to water in a heat wave … with a hosepipe ban. We set up a DIY irrigation system, connecting our hose to a soaker hose. It works by allowing water droplets to seep through its porous layers to deliver water directly through the soil to the plant roots, where it’s needed most.

Queen’s Orchard Open Day

Head to the Queen’s Orchard for an open day which will inspire your love of gardening, food growing and the outdoors. Explore this beautiful corner of Greenwich Park, stop and ‘smell the rosemary’, and take part in a range of activities.

For people of all ages. The open day runs from 11am to 3pm on Saturday 12 September. Feel free to drop in!

Learn about the Park trees

The Friends’ autumn tree walks will take place at 11am and 1pm on Sunday 27 September. The walks are for adults and children aged eight and over and will be led by our new guide, Andrea Griffiths.

They are free for members but you will need to book your place here. Meet at the Blackheath Gate.

Poetry, ponds and a bumblebee survey …

A poetry trail enchanted children in the Learning Centre during an open day in July held by the Park and the Friends.

Jonathan Sellars’ imaginative trail led children from the Learning Centre pond ‘where ducks cool their feet’ past a deadwood pile, ‘a palace for newts and toads and frogs’ to a ‘wild meadow sea of wildest green that ripples in the breeze … for butterflies and bees’. Children were invited to pretend they were a spy ‘and a deer might wander by’. Meanwhile the craft team created nature themed bunting and dragonflies.

The Friends’ wildlife group is also excited to have a bee transect (a fixed route on which volunteers monitor the abundance of bees over time) specially designed for the Park by the Bumblebee Conservation Trust.

Our first survey will take place on Wednesday 19 August. You can sign up here to come. There's also a survey in September and October.

This one’s for the birds

The next Bird Walk, led by Julia Holland, will take place on Sunday 30 August. Meet at the Blackheath Gate at 8:30 am. Binoculars and cameras are recommended if you have them. The bird walk lasts for approximately two hours.

You don’t have to be a Friend of Greenwich Park to attend the walk, but we always welcome new members and there are many benefits of being a Friend.