June Bulletin
It seems we postponed April showers right until June, and it really did come down hard, writes Head Gardener Tom Brown.
Storm coming in: The Rangers House and cricket pitch under a thunderous sky Will Lowe: FoGP Photography Group
It was great to see the trees and landscape get a bit of respite from what looked to become a relentless hot and dry summer. We managed to find breaks in the weather for the fantastic gardening team to finish the summer bedding display in the Flower Garden. We have this year a number of fun new tropicals we haven't had before which are planted asymmetrically as we move away from the more traditional concentrically laid out schemes. Ficus elastica, Iresine herbstii, alocasias, brugmansia and so much more. Further into the gardens the more natural interplanted meadow style bedding will make a return with plenty of show stopping dahlias, hot rudbeckias and a wide range of salvias.
Outside the gardens the cricket pitch has been hosting up to five games a week and when the weather has held has played out very well, the Queen’s House border is about to reach its peak display and the Rose Garden will shortly be starting its second flush of roses. Our flowering meadows are bursting with leucanthemums, salsify, linum, and centaurea. Finally, the new herb garden plants have settled well and are starting to show their unique flowering habits, so if you are passing make sure you go and check out how versatile a plant like lavender can be.
Now the Park has had a good drink and the sunshine is returning, I hope you all have a great start to the summer.
Just peachy… wonderful close-ups in the Rose Garden from Paula Wilks,
FoGP Photography Group
Midsummer Jazz - what a wonderful day
The Phoenix Dixieland Jazz Band treated several hundred of us to an afternoon of picnics, dancing, ice-cream and great music on Sunday. The sun shone as the crowd enjoyed old favourites like When the Saints and What a Wonderful World. Even the band said it was their favourite gig.
Midsummer Jazz is the precursor to the Friends’ series of bandstand concerts which start on July 5 and run every Sunday through the summer. Do come along to those, bring a picnic, bring your friends, enjoy some great bands. For full details of the programme, see here
Dixie picks: The band in full swing on Sunday
Picture: Anna Fina
Friends in need…
The Friends are growing, and the range of benefits we offer our members is also growing. Consequently, we need your help. If you have some time, expertise and commitment to offer we would love to hear from you.
We need:
- An editor to take over the monthly e-bulletin and biannual newsletter - this one is stepping down from duties;
- Someone with social media experience to run our Facebook and Instagram pages;
- A willing website organiser to take that on from our overworked treasurer;
- Help with wildlife events - and with organisation;
- Help with running our hugely popular bandstand concerts, which take place every Sunday through July and August.
We’re a small, friendly committee dedicated to the protection and enhancement of the Park - you’ll find it’s a rewarding organisation to be part of. If you’re able to help, please email us at info@friendsofgreenwichpark.org.uk, citing ‘Volunteer’.
Orchard work about to start
Work is about to start on a new welfare space in the Queen’s Orchard. This will take approximately three months but will not affect access to the Orchard. For details of the proposal see here.
We would also like to let Friends know that the Vanbrugh Park gate will be closed for a couple of days - possibly July 16 and 17 - for structural work.
Blowing in the wind: A stunning studies of seedheads from Ian Welsby, FoGP Photography Group
Flutter by for butterfly day
Spot some of the many butterflies in the Park with a special Friends’ walk on 9th July.
Stroll through the grasslands, Flower Garden and Rose Garden to identify some of the species. Learn to tell the difference between the blues, browns and whites and, if we are lucky, we might spot some day-flying moths too. The walk is for adults and children aged eight and over and will take around an hour and a half. Book here
Mango Lassi and other heirlooms …
You know it’s June in the Queen’s Orchard when the tomatoes have been firmly planted out.
Sunfired Flare, Mango Lassi, and Tigerella are a few of my favourites. These are all heirloom varieties, some of which were cultivated in the 1900s. If you are blessed with a comfrey plant, you can make your own home-grown comfrey tea to help them on their fruiting journey. Remember to pinch out those lateral side shoots to focus energy on fruiting and continue to tie the main stems to canes or string.
Oh, the joys of reaping what you sow. We are certainly reaping the benefits from last year’s work. Self-sown sunflowers fill the sweet potato bed; the odd fennel sits proudly amongst his comrades, whilst last year’s cosmos has flown in to grow amongst the Brussels sprouts. This is the wonders of letting vegetables go to seed. A beautiful enchantment of self-sown vegetables grown just where suits them best.
The Queen’s Orchard volunteers and I are learning more about selective weeding; leaving certain wildflowers amongst the vegetables and along the paths to welcome bees, butterflies, ladybirds and beetles and to fill the space with flowers no matter how small. I saw my first Rose Chafer Beetle (Cetonia aurata) in the Orchard, its iridescent, jewel-like green wings shining in the June lit sky.
Our first set of peas have come through, alongside the beetroot, Aztec broccoli and crimson flowered broad beans. We are harvesting chamomile and chocolate mint daily, drinking many herbal teas and learning about the herb-drying process. To me, June feels like abundance and I can’t get enough of the fragrance of sweet peas.
Thank you as always to the wonderful Orchard volunteers, for all your hard work and dedication to making the space look and feel so beautiful.
Welcome Day at the Learning Centre
Look out 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 also explore the insects lurking in the Learning Centre grounds by catching them in a net and then watching them fly or scuttle away. 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, June 21.
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
