The first February gardening session was devoted to preparing the beds and pruning. The second session followed up the work of the council removing laurels in the memorial garden in preparation for a new bed which one of our committee members has designed.  The council have also been getting on well with the pruning of the roses on the pergola. Elsewhere  the volunteers cut back more of the herbaceous perennials and pruned the roses in the Sunderland street entrance as well as the Memorial Garden, and worked on the middle entrance in Henrietta road.  12 people were out

We will be having a meeting with the Council  in early March to discuss a forward plan for the year.

Glorious weather has  brought out the first spring flowers. The little  petticoat Narcissus, Narcissus bulbocodium and the native  Daffodil, Narcissus pseodonarcissus, are out, along with the first of the spring narcissi. The Winter Aconites, that Simon the gardener planted some years ago are now doing well, and the snowdrops and crocus are doing well at the moment.  Two trees are flowering : the winter cherry  at the north entrance, and the delightful wintersweet, Chimonanthus praecox in the memorial garden. Catch the scent while it is out.

Happy New Year, Everyone.

Now, while some of you were recovering from yesterday evening’s celebrations ( you know who you are, and so do we…) the rest  of us  were out sweeping the paths, clearing the pond and filters, pruning the Hydrangeas,  and getting on with the removal of laurels. More forget-me-nots were transplanted, and some of last year’s bulbs  put in so as not to waste them.  A bright, dry,  sunny morning was enjoyed by all 11 of us and lots of visitors in the park. See if you can catch the scent of the Chimonanthes praecox: it will be fully out soon.

Enjoy the rest of the holiday

In spite of the dreary morning ( I did want to stay in bed) we had an enthusiastic turnout of 10 and completed  some serious work. The  bed of the front garden has almost been completely weeded now and forget-me-nots have been distributed. A few bulbs are still to go in. The pond was cleared of leaves and the filters cleaned out. This is a regular task this time of year as the leaves are still falling.  The hard standing round the pond remains a problem with the grass continually growing in it. We hoe and collect the  weeds, but we will get a sieve to improve our gravel retention.  We planted more martagon lilies in the back of the entrance bed and finally we had a nice chat  involving Welsh poetry, translation and English classical music.

A glorious  sunny morning ended  with rain just as we had finished.  13 of us spent a couple of hours weeding and tidying the beds round the entrance and sides of the memorial garden, clearing the hard standing, and  clearing the pond and filters  of leaves. We also removed a number of Ailanthus seedlings and saplings in the Park. Thes trees , the Tree of Heaven,  has number of  medicinal uses in the far east, but is a  foetid, quick growing  and unstable tree as was found in Hedgemead when one came down, taking out the railings and  the roof of a neighbouring house.

Clearing the Hard Standing and the Pond

Tidying and weeding the Entrance to the Memorial Garden

The gardening volunteers spend a good few hours a month in the park and have done for the last 7 years. So we decided to have a little gathering upstairs at the Pulteney Arms  just to say thank you for all the hard work, and to have a gossip about everything other than the park and plants.

Volunteers gathering at the Pulteney Arms

Volunteers gathering at the Pulteney Arms

The Chair, Secretary, and Park Keeper

The threat of a miserable morning held off for an hour’s good gardening with 10 people turning out : Clearing the pond and filters, sweeping the paths and entrances at Sunderland Street and Henrietta Street,  tidying up some of the  perennial bedding plants and starting work on one of the hedges.

Last week the Council had grubbed out some of the laurels  where a new low maintenance insect friendly bed is planned.  More work for the future…

New Bed in the Memorial Garden

Gardening Team in conversational mode.

In spite of a gloomy start to the morning of the 23rd, it turned out sunny and we had a splendid turnout and achieved  quite a bit towards our new forward plan which is on the website under gardening.

The Box moth has devastated British Box over the last few years, and all our plants except one have been removed, including two ‘domes’ in the memorial garden. We will replace these with Yew  taken from elsewhere in the park and which we will clip into shape.   We also had to remove a Viburnum carlcephalum in the Memorial garden which  died over the summer. Elsewhere weeding, pruning of laurels sweeping of the paths was completed.

The council have been busy as well and have grubbed out a number of laurels in the Memorial garden where we plan a new low maintenance bed for insects.

We trimmed the Holly by the Sunderland Street entrance which caused such amused adverse comment from the Visiting Austrian Gardeners and SW in Bloom and  we had a very welcome visit by volunteers from Bath University brought by our councillor, Dr Kumar. Many thanks and a good job was done by all.

Trimmed

Golden Lime Leaves

Dr Kumar brings student volunteers from the University of Bath

Sweeping the paths and clearing the yew berries

Autumn colours

We had two  excellent gardening sessions in August in spite  of the heat. We have  concentrated on the Sunderland Street entrance   and the Memorial Garden.  Watering has been an issue  but most plants have survived. A number of trees have been taken down: ash has suffered from die-back and several have been removed; part of an Acer negundo fell near the Henrietta Street Entrance, and the rest has been removed; a fine old Birch in the Memorial Gardens has been taken out as the bark  round the base had rotted away. This still leaves the holly at the Sunderland Street entrance, and  a major branch of the Bhutan pine has died.

The pond pumps have been a problem for years  but we now seem to have got  a solution with two new pumps that are designed for permanent running. So far they have  worked 🙂

Clearing the weeds

Pump renewal

Pump Renewal

You will have noticed the flag put up a week ago. Maria, one of our regular gardening volunteers  was up in London and volunteered to collect  the documentation. Many Thanks Maria.

Green Flag, Lambeth Assembly Hall.

Green Flag, Lambeth Assembly Hall. Maria collects the awards and the calories for Bath.

Green Flag, Lambeth Assembly Hall.

Green Flag, Lambeth Assembly Hall.