The Gardens
Spring Garden
Back in 2006, the Friends secured a small grant from the Waterloo Community Regeneration Fund to refresh a small piece of land near the entrance to Lambeth Palace Road. This time they worked with Putting Down Roots, the horticultural training scheme within St Mungo’s, the charity which supports the homeless. The garden now contains new planting species as well as hundreds of spring bulbs.Southern Area/Educational Garden
Back in 2000, the first Friends committee commissioned a piece of work which asked people what they wanted to see in their park. “More flowers” people said, “make the southern area more inviting.” At that time, the southern area of the Park was under used as it was particularly dark and uninviting. Many suggested that it would be beneficial to enhance the space so children could learn about nature and in 2005; Groundwork redesigned the area to open it up and give a fresh planting scheme with new signage providing information about various habitats, food chains and natural species. Since then the Friends have worked with the Lottery to update this area with new seats, thousands of Spring bulbs and individual plant signage so visitors can identify basic plants. Local schools such as Johanna Primary and Fairley House use the Park for both education and recreation purposes.St Mary's Gardens
In 2007 and with a small Lottery grant, the Friends began the regeneration of a small and neglected garden near the Garden Museum. Being a dark and uninviting space meant it had become just a thoroughfare, but working with Landscape Architect Stephen Crisp, the Garden Museum, Putting Down Roots, South Bank Mosaics and Lambeth Palace, the transformation began. A new planting scheme was created using the old field patterns by incorporating boundaries of box, yew and hawthorn to support wildlife. The beds were planted with colourful flowers and plants to support many habitats which are threatened in our City. The garden also incorporated 2 educational pods to support the work of the Garden Museum so children can learn about nature in a way that is practical and “hands on.” Art also features in the garden and the fountain was restored with funding from Biffa and now contains a new mosaic base of koi carp. Surrounding the fountain a 6 mosaic stepping stones reflecting scenes from nature.When the consultation about the garden began, the children were keen to see colour and their favourite creatures such as butterflies, hedgehogs and ladybirds. Creating mosaic pictures seemed an ideal way to reflect these ideas. Local volunteers from It’s Your Community and Shell played a critical role to make this a success by stripping and painting the railings and Ringway Jacobs installed the mosaics into the fountain base. Putting Down Roots helped plant out thousands of plants whatever the weather and kept them watered when we experienced hot dry spells in summer.
