Charlton and Blackheath Amateur Horticultural Society

Members’ gardens, June 2021

Here is Carolyn’s lovely peony before it was battered by the recent rain storms! And a picture of her lovely clematis Hagley’s Hybrid.

This is our Treasurer Ron’s lovely rose “Tender Loving Care”. Must ask him for some cuttings!

Wonderful Echium towers in Mike’s garden in Eltham, which he opened to raise funds for the Hospice Open Gardens scheme.

Member Sharon has sent these two pictures in. She says: “My favourite flower in the garden at present is a cream, fragrant Primula Alpicola. The scent is divine! It grows next to Aquilegias and Nemesia Wisley Vanilla. The best part about this little primula is that I bought it at the CABAHS plant sale in the Old Pond Garden held last summer 2020. Does anyone recognise this as a plant they brought in for sale? Thank you, I am very grateful.”

Here is Jillian’s favourite rose “Rhapsody in Blue” looking wonderful this June.

Libertia is doing its thing in Kathy’s front garden. Idea copied from a lovely dry garden at Winchelsea’s NGS open gardens a few years ago. This year the spiky leaves took a real hit from the cold Spring winds, and look sadly brown, but lots of nice new green ones are coming up from the base.

June 2021: Graham Dear on managing Greenwich Park and the impact of Covid-19

Graham Dear was welcomed to our meeting. He said he was pleased to talk to some fellow gardeners, though he hadn’t gardened himself for many years, as he had moved from being Manager of Greenwich Park to heading up the Greenwich Park Revealed Project (GPRP). This is a 4-year project aimed at revealing, restoring, protecting and sharing the park’s unique heritage now and for future generations.

Graham said the pandemic had had a profound impact on Greenwich Park and the way it is managed. From March 2020 all recreational activities and events in all the Royal Parks ground to a halt, which resulted in an overall revenue loss of £20million, some 50 percent of annual spend. In Greenwich, the Pavilion Café, boating lake, tennis courts and even the rose garden had to be closed as its gates needed pushing and touching. There was no income from bandstand concerts, filming or car park fees or catering. The park was also unable to get insurance to cover events in 2021.

It had a particularly devastating impact on the GPRP which originally had had a £10m budget allocated to it. £4.5m was funded by the Heritage Fund which had already begun to be implemented. Graham said he was faced with the challenge of making economies due to the loss of park revenue. He aimed to save £2m, so the GPRP budget has been cut to £8m. The cuts included the Nursery Yard reorganisation and the Sustainable Learning Centre.

Not all was bad though. Closing the through road and avenues was beneficial to pedestrians. Although the park no longer had tourists, there was a massive increase in local visitors to the park – who often arrived by bike or on foot – and used it for exercise and recreation.

Rubbish was an issue but the staff coped well with the challenge and more bins are now a feature of the park!

Visitors were naturally more spaced out because of social distancing needs. An informal poll showed they were much younger as well. Ethnic diversity also increased by 5 percent.

Graham then went on to discuss the revised plans they had for the park and showed a range of slides to illustrate the programme. He said the GPRP had now begun again.

They plan to preserve, renovate and manage the avenues of trees which have been decimated by diseases, pests and squirrel damage. The horse chestnuts are riddled with bleeding canker and the sweet chestnuts by ink stain disease.
The area around the grand ascent giant steps and parterre banks is to be renovated. Recreating a series of grass steps on the hill leading to the Royal Observatory following the original 17th century design.
The viewing space in front of the area around the statue of General Wolfe is to be increased and opened up. A café will open in the space behind.
The Old Wilderness and deer park community facilities will be enhanced including a new classroom. The deer herd is to be sent on holiday to Richmond Park for 2 years.
Vanbrugh Yard: The area in the SE corner of the park is to be reorganised. There will be a cafe aimed at taking pressure off the Pavilion Café. The boundaries of nursery yard, will be shifted and opened up to the public. It will feature a new glass house, kitchen garden, wildlife orchard, volunteer room and public toilet facilities.
The seating in One Tree Hill will be improved.
Car parking at the pedestrian entrance at Blackheath Gate will be removed and the pedestrian entrance will be improved.
The Victorian bandstand is to be improved and a power supply for community events installed.
The wildlife habitat is to be increased and mowing will use a meadow cut rather than an amenities regime.
The Victorian drinking fountains to be reinstated.
Two self-seeded mature trees are to be removed from Flamstead House to improve the view.

Finally, he discussed the park’s engagement with the wider community, including training schemes that were being introduced such as three year apprentices and cultural events such as the Tramshed and dance. Graham then answered members questions, and was thanked for such an interesting talk.

Angela

Graham Dear is Manager for Greenwich Park. His management has overseen Greenwich Park Revealed, ‘an exciting multi million pound project to conserve and to enhance Greenwich Park’s historic and natural heritage, putting the community at its very heart’.

Thank you from the hospice

We received a lovely letter of appreciation from Greenwich & Bexley Community Hospice, when we sent them £950 raised at our recent Charlton House plant sale. They looked back over the last 17 years and sent us this certificate showing how much we have raised in total for them. Well done everyone!

A visit to Beth Chatto’s Plants and Gardens

Afternoon tea at the Garrison Church, Woolwich

Members who came to this event on 5 June 2021 were treated to an interesting talk from Tim Barnes about the history of the Church, and the plans for the future, including a Commonwealth Garden designed by Chelsea gold medal winner Juliet Sargeant. We also saw the crypt and the beautiful mosaics. The award-winning gates feature three flowers of remembrance, the poppy, the forget-me-not (Germany) and the cornflower (France).

Members’ gardens, May 2021

Hosta heaven and lots of spring colour in Vija’s garden. For slug control, she recommends the Gardeners World recipe for garlic spray (see Here we go gathering slugs in May).

Here is Annie’s colourful Spring garden view.

This is a little frog in Annie’s garden – she raised frogs from tadpoles in a bucket in 2019, so this might be a returning one!

May 2021 – Joe Beale on the Changing management of Blackheath, Greenwich & Charlton

Our May talk on Zoom was presented by local naturalist Joe Beale. He discussed the changing management of the local area, including Charlton Park, Greenwich and Blackheath and the impact this is having on local plants as well as lichens and animals.

He discussed the approach to take to habitat management – that there were lots of things worth fighting for. He discussed the need to carry out research and ecological surveys, the need for a conservation action plan and to take conservation action appropriate to the conservation site. Also the necessity to work in collaboration with local residents, communities, landowners, specialists and the local council. He commended the support given by Greenwich Parks and Open Spaces and its willingness to assist.

Joe began by showing a photograph of the Vanbrugh Pits in 1983 when vegetation there was scarce, but rich in bio-diversity, and now, when it is dense with brambles and Holm Oak which are killing off the flora and fauna. He pointed to the need for pursuing in management a middle path there, including getting rid of the Holm Oak, Cherry and Turkey Oak (as well as the dogs mess!).

Key diverse wild life plants in this area he suggested were species that needed low nutrient soil e.g. blackthorn plantain and lichens such as Cetraria aculeata and Chaldonia furcata. He said 29 types of butterfly had been found on the Greenwich Park side of Blackheath in 2010 which was about half of the UK total and 173 species of bees and wasps.

Also found in acid grassland and sandy soil are sheeps sorrel (Rumex acetosella), birds foot (Ornithopus perpusillus), spurry (Spergularia rubra ) and lichen (Cetraria aculeata).

Blackheath and the Greenwich Park side of it is well known for plants and clovers which thrive on soil of of low nutrient value. Such as hare’s foot clover (Trifolium arvense), knotted clover (Trifolium striatum), woolly clover (Trifolium tomentosum,) and clustered clover ( Trifolium glomeratum).

Wildlife included gorse( Ulex europaeus) for the whinchat birds, ragwort visited by 43 bees and wasps, the burnet and cinnabar moths and small copper butterflies.

Joe said sympathetic mowing was crucial in particular the need to remove the hay to promote biodiversity as it was nutrient rich. Always have wildness at heart. Leave the edges of sites, leave verges and banks and mow in rotation. Expose earth and deadwood. Consider the food, plants, shelter, nesting and breeding needs of key wildlife.

He described the increase in biodiversity in verges in Blackheath since it has had relaxed mowing as well as Charlton’s Maryon Park. He also referred to the Wildlife Meadow which is being constructed in Charlton Park. The policy there of not sowing wild flowers, just digging the area over and seeing what grows. He pointed out the value of cemeteries in promoting biodiversity. He mentioned that cemeteries such as Charlton cemetery are expected to be neat and tidy, but, in fact are bustling with wild life and like Charlton they should have an area left to encourage biodiversity.

To help promote and encourage more biodiversity Greenwich Park has also taken a more relaxed approach to mowing and is allowing grass to grow in some areas as well as setting up biodiversity friendly habitats. This policy has been incorporated into its multimillion pound Heritage funded renovation programme. Many CABAHS members are already keen promoters of biodiversity and wildlife. Hopefully Joe’s enthusiastic talk will encourage the rest to consider the needs of biodiversity and wildlife in their own gardens.

Angela

Joe Beale is a naturalist who, in addition to carrying out surveys of local wildlife, giving talks and writing, also offers guided walks. He is across social media platforms with an active Twitter account, updating people on what to see in our area.

OPG diary – May 2021

Early May
The rainiest May for years, wet volunteers still working away. (They come for the Lotus biscuits at half time…). The gravel garden looks rather good in the rain actually. But for heaven’s sake when is that Alianthus (Tree of Heaven) going to come into leaf? It’s almost as slow as the Mulberry.

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Bird bath being used, and our lovely Cotinus (Smoke Bush) is coming out.

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Sunday 30 May
Our Plant Sale and Community Day was a great success – all those pleas were answered and the sun did come out. Thank you so much to everyone who donated plants or gave their time on the day to help. This was the biggest plant sale CABAHS has ever held, and has raised over £950 for the Hospice, plus more funds to continue the garden revival.

Plant sale and community day in Charlton House gardens, May 2021 — The stalls all set up, selling about to start!

Bankers and biodiversity

The City of London might not be the first place that you would look to understand how nature conservancy developed in this country. The Wildlife Trusts, the umbrella organisation for local groups that care for their environment, makes it clear that they owe their existence to the Society for the Promotion of Nature Reserves, for which Charles Rothschild, a partner in the merchant bank of N M Rothschild & Sons, was the catalyst.

I thought about him during Joe Beale’s excellent talk on Zoom to the CABAHS meeting on 17 May. Members learned a lot about biodiversity in the area of Greenwich Park, Blackheath and Charlton. We also learned how important it is for people to work together. Joe didn’t just mean small groups of concerned individuals, although those are crucial. He meant engaging with local councils and other bodies to make sure everyone’s interests and concerns are understood.

"Worthy of Preservation" - responses to Charles Rothschild's questionaires

This is what Charles Rothschild did. He sent out questionnaires to local natural history societies, asking for nominations for sites that could be nature reserves: sites that were ‘worthy of preservation’. On the basis of these returns, the newly-created Society for the Protection of Nature Reserves published a list – Rothschild’s List – and sought government intervention to protect the sites. Here is the list, published in 1915.

https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/about-us/rothschilds-list

Joe also brought home the importance of keeping records over time so that measurements of improvement and, sadly, deterioration have value. In the link above The Wildlife Trusts also presents an analysis of the condition of Rothschild’s Reserves, 100 years on.

This document features a pie chart of habitats, 2% of which are pavements. I wonder if our very own Terry might well be responsible for some of that, based on what he told us he was up to at the end of his road!

Charles Rothschild was an extraordinary man by any measure of means. His collection of fleas, now the national collection of fleas in the Natural History Museum, was lovingly catalogued by his daughter, Miriam, who was herself a powerful advocate for nature, advising the Prince of Wales on the creation of his garden at Highgrove.

One of his fans is sports- and nature-writer Simon Barnes, whose book, Prophet and Loss: Time and the Rothschild List is available on Kindle for only £2.37. If members were to buy the book (profits to The Wildlife Trusts) they could buy a cake from the WI at the CABAHS community day at Charlton House on 30 May and still have change from a fiver!

Melanie

Here we go gathering slugs in May…

On Sunday I picked 22 slugs off my small hostas (just to reassure readers, I don’t do this regularly – I do have other things to do!). With the advent of damper weather they are really starting to show themselves. For those who love growing hostas, slugs and snails are probably the biggest pests and even the giants like Sum and Substance and Big Daddy are not always immune to their predations. Growing in a coarse medium, or using environmentally friendly slug pellets, doesn’t necessarily solve the problem because slugs are smarter than you think. If necessary they will abseil down a neighbouring plant to get at the leaves of your hosta, so anything at ground level will not always stop them.

Emerging Hosta 'Patriot', with Hosta 'Undulata'

Preparatory products have been, rightly, removed from the market as they have proved toxic. A garlic wash has long been recommended as an alternative and I have used this myself in the past.

When I recently bought some new hostas (those of you who know my garden might wonder why I need any more, but I justified the purchase on the basis that one was a replacement for Dancing Mouse and the other was a gift) the recipe for a garlic wash was included with the plants, which I thought I would share with you. Please see below.

Vija