July Bulletin
HOW about this heat?! Whether you like the weather at the moment or not, it’s safe to say the Park is struggling, writes Head Gardener Tom Brown.
As you walk around, you may see some early leaf fall, limb drop, and wilting plants. All signs of heat and drought stress, which are becoming so much more common. There is no doubt that climate change has seriously affected our summers, and we are fast having toa dapt. If you peer into the Flower Garden, you will see Albizia julibrissin (Persian silk tree), a tree that not too long ago would have been considered unsuited to our climate, yet it is thriving and flowering well. Even in its first year whilst establishing.
Heat and haze: The Wolfe statue on a hot and humid evening
Will Lowe: FoGP Photography Group
Across the Park the new Neriums are also flowering well, our citrus are starting to settle and the Lagerstroemias are putting out buds. Plantings like these will be an exciting journey of experimentation yet crucial to discover successful long-term replacements to some of our struggling flora.
Stay cool out there.
An urgent message from Matthew
WE have a real treat in store for Friends. Our annual lecture will be given by Matthew Pottage, Head of Horticulture and Landscaping Strategy for The Royal Parks who regularly appears on Gardeners’ Question Time.
The title for Matthew’s talk is: 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 will we keep our parks, horticultural areas and greens paces flourishing in this changing world. And how do we do our part by doing it sustainably?”
The lecture takes place on October 6 at Mycenae House. Doors open at 7.30pm with the talk starting at 8pm. Tickets are £12 which includes a glass of wine and will go on sale on our website at 10am on July 31.
Bandstand concerts in full swing!
OUR bandstand concerts kicked off with a stunning set from The Blistered Mirrors on July 5 and continued with the Great Cross Country Band last weekend.
Sounds good… Top, The Blistered Mirrors and, below, The Great Cross Country Band
Pictures: Roger Stevens
Come along every Sunday throughout July and August, bring a picnic, bring friends, have a dance. Next Sunday the entertainment will be the Andy Smythe Band, a five-piece band, playing a selection of classic foot-tapping Americana/bluegrass/folk. For full details of the programme, see here.
A big (jazz) hand for Clive
CLIVE CORLETT, who has organised our bandstand concerts and Midsummer Jazz events with flair and aplomb for many years, has been honoured by The Royal Parks Guild with an Outstanding Contribution award.
Never misses a beat… Clive Corlett receives his award from Sue Medway, Director of the Chelsea Physic Garden which hosted the awards ceremony
Picture: The Royal Parks Guild
Clive has been a committee member of the Friends of Greenwich Park for more than 20 years. Now in his late eighties, he has organised and managed the summer bandstand programme since its inception in 2013 and the annual jazz concerts in the Royal Observatory Gardens since 2007.
His musical knowledge and his attention to detail are second to none. He deals with risk management, liaison with Park staff, recruitment of volunteers to manage the events, persuading local companies to provide raffle prizes and much more.
In addition, for many years he has managed the delivery of the Friends’ newsletters.
Also receiving an honour at the Chelsea Physic Garden, which hosted the event, was Greenwich Park Head Gardener Tom Brown, who was given a very well-deserved award for his Outstanding Contribution to the Park. The Friends would like to add their congratulations and heartfelt thanks to both these winners.
Well-deserved: Greenwich Park Head Gardener Tom Brown with Sue Medway
Picture: Clare Hatcher
The Guild is a voluntary partner organisation supporting London's Royal Parks. You can learn more about its work here.
Forked carrots and pesky pigeons …
WITH the ongoing heatwave and the start of building work on the welfare space, it has been a busy time for us here in The Queen’s Orchard, writes Emma Paley, Kitchen Engagement Gardener.
Amongst watering and weeding we have found time to harvest the fruits of our labour. Apricots dangle from the sky like orange jewels, figs begin to swelter and soften and the last of the mulberries hang on for interested souls. We have been enjoying harvesting; pulling mandrake-like carrots from the earth. We sowed three different varieties this year; ‘Topweight’, ‘Deep Purple’ and ‘Autumn King’.
We sowed them deliberately beside the onions to reduce the chance of carrot-root fly. In spring we added a well-rotted manure to this bed to encourage the onions to get nice and big but the high nitrogen content from the manure encouraged lots of leafy growth on the carrots and contributed to them forking. They were still delicious and organic and we had a lot of fun pulling them up, but next time we will dedicate a sandy soil bed for them to grow in to get those nice straight carrots.
Pigeon proof? The grapes all tied up, and right, the first ‘Little Darling’ watermelon beginning to form on the hügelbed
Get it straight! Volunteers with the mandrake-like forked carrots
Pictures: Emma Paley
Last year we were devastated when we looked up at the vine to find that the grapes had all been gobbled up. A pigeon lurked in the nearby tree watching us with hungry eyes. This year we are wiser and determined to have a good crop of unspoiled grapes.
I became inspired after watching a documentary on persimmon production in the 1980s by the Japanese gardeners who protect their fruit with little mesh bags to deter birds from eating them. I am interested to see if this will transfer to grapes and provide the protection we need.
POP in for an action packed day at the Learning Centre where families and young children can find out about bumblebees - where they nest and and the garden flowers they love. Visitors to the Welcome Day, on July 25, will explore the insects lurking in the Learning Centre grounds by catching them in a net and then watching them fly or scuttle away. We will also be looking at pond life in a display aquarium, making dragonflies and dissecting barn owl pellets. This event is run jointly by the Friend's Wildlife Group and the Park's Community Engagement team. It will run from 11am to 3pm and is free.
Come and join the Bird Walk
THE next Bird Walk - led by Julia Holland - will take place on Sunday, July 26.
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.