Open Garden Squares Weekend News

Gardens receive Green Corners awards

Open Garden Squares Weekend — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 17:53:00 +0000

London's Green Corners Awards celebrate the Londoners whose out-of-the-way gardens make the capital's a brighter and healthier place and also enrich its biodiversity. The awards are organised by The Conservation Foundation and are sponsored by Capco Covent Garden and supported by the Evening Standard's Homes & Property. (See feature)

The 2007 winners were announced at an awards ceremony in Covent Garden in November. They received a specially engraved trowel, garden centre vouchers and a copy of Elspeth Thompson's The London Gardener and were invited to become ‘Covent Gardeners’, whose ideas could help transform one of the world’s most famous places. The people who nominated them received a bottle of champagne.

Among the 2007 winners were a number of gardens taking part in this year's Open Garden Squares Weekend.

The Phoenix Garden received a Blooming Fantastic Award. "The last surviving Covent Garden community garden, run by volunteers, carefully planted to provide habitat for urban wildlife."

Wandsworth Prison Hospital Courtyard Garden received a Blooming Fantastic Award. "A bare space within the walls of HMP Wandsworth is now a tranquil area for all to enjoy."

Geffrye Museum received a Green Corner Award. "Green corners from the past with a walled herb garden and period gardens reflecting life over four centuries and a sanctuary for birds and insects."

Roe Green Walled Garden received a Green Corner Award. "Tended by volunteers, a green oasis and a peaceful garden for anyone, with ponds, borders and children's areas."

To enter the Green Corners Awards, which are part of the foundation's 25th anniversary programme, nominate a space that cheers your day - the only proviso is that it must be visible to someone other than its owner. Please contact Lindsay Swan on 020 7591 3111 for more information.

Gardens reflect history of herbal medicine

Open Garden Squares Weekend — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 16:51:00 +0000

Several gardens taking part in Open Garden Squares Weekend reflect London's important rôle in the history of plant-based medicine.

The Royal College of Physicians and the Pharmacopoeia Londinensis

A major landmark in medicine was the publication of the Pharmacopoeia Londinensis by the the Royal College of Physicians in 1618. A first edition in May of that year, with 712 compound remedies and 680 crude drugs, was quickly followed by a second edition in December, with 963 compound remedies and 1,190 crude drugs.

The college's present-day medicinal garden near Regent's Park has been extensively replanted since 2005. A bed for medicinal plants from the southern hemisphere, and eight small gardens along St. Andrew’s Place, with box parterres containing plants from the Pharmacopoeia Londinensis are the latest areas to be developed.

The Oriental section of the medicinal garden at the Royal College of Physicians

Nearly 1000 different medicinal plants are represented in the gardens. There are plants from different cultures and geographical regions of the world, plants identified with famous physicians, ancient plants, poisonous plants and edible plants and those representing the long history of plants and medical beliefs.

The garden is open from 10am to 5pm on Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th June. Further details at http://www.opensquares.org/detail/RoyalColl.html

Nicholas Culpeper and The London Dispensatory

The Pharmacopoeia Londinensis was of limited use to the general public. First of all, it was written in Latin. Secondly the remedies were arranged by class (waters, ointments, lozenges etc.) and the drugs were arranged by origin (plants, animals, minerals etc.), rather than by the ailments that they were effective in treating.

Culpeper published The London Dispensatory in 1653. It was based on the Pharmacopoeia Londinensis, but it was in English and included descriptions of the various plants – so that they could be identified – as well as their medical uses. The book was a great success, enabling the public to find remedies without recourse to physicians – of whom there were an inadequate number at that time – and apothecaries.

The Culpeper Community Garden in Islington

The Culpeper Community Garden in Islington is named after Nicholas Culpeper, who published The London Dispensatory in Islington. This hidden paradise is a unique project, with 46 plots for local people and groups to tend. It has a communal lawn, ponds, a rose pergola, a wildlife area and a vast array of herbaceous perennials and shrubs. The project encourages the involvement of many disadvantaged groups as well as children and young people.

The garden is open on Sunday 8th June from 10am to 5pm, when there will be a number of special activities, including garden tours, children’s trails and activities, plant sales, Reiki therapy sessions and home-made refreshments.

Further details at www.opensquares.org/detail/Culpeper.html

The Physic Garden at Chelsea

The Worshipful Society of Apothecaries founded its garden at Chelsea in 1673, with the purpose of training apprentices in identifying plants. The site near the river was chosen for its microclimate – which favoured the growth of non-native species – as well as easy communication.

The Chelsea Physic Garden

Today the Physic Garden is a centre of education, beauty and relaxation. It continues to research the properties, origins and conservation of over 5000 species. It is open as part of Open Garden Squares Weekend on Sunday 8th June from 9 to 11.30am. Further details at www.opensquares.org/detail/ChelseaPhysic.html

Gardening as a medium for therapy

Just across the river from the Physic Garden in Battersea Park is Thrive's herb garden.

Thrive is a national charity which ‘uses gardening to change lives'. Thrive works with disabled people from local communities and uses gardening as a medium to deliver therapy, life skills, pre-vocational and vocational training, helping people to help themselves to realise their potential.

Thrive Battersea – Herb Garden

The herb garden is akin to a physic garden, designed and planted by disabled people. It contains a huge range of plants, either edible or with a medicinal or therapeutic use. It is cultivated using organic gardening principles. Different beds have different functions, including women's health, male health and mental health. The Herb Garden was created from scratch in 2000 using a plot left vacant in the staff yard after demolition of the park's greenhouses. The garden is beautiful as well as practical, winning a London in Bloom award for the past three years.

The garden is open on Saturday 7th June from 10am to 5pm and on Sunday 8th June from 11am to 5pm. There will be a garden fête, with

plants and garden ceramics for sale, produced by Thrive gardeners and other locally based projects,
fabulous plants for sale, donated by QVC’s Chelsea Flower Show garden and designed by up-and-coming young designer Sarah Price
delicious food and drink for sale
information on Thrive, its activities in Battersea Park and the local community,
a gardening workshop for blind and partially-sighted people (Saturday 11am–2.30pm). Thrive established the Blind Gardeners Club and has a wealth of expertise and experience working with blind and partially sighted people, enabling them to get the most out of gardening.

Further details at www.opensquares.org/detail/ThriveBattersea.html

Other gardens with medicinal plants

South London Botanical Institute (Open Saturday 7th June, 2–5pm)

Hidden behind the institute, London’s smallest botanical garden surprises visitors with its lush planting. Over 500 labelled species are grown in themed borders, separated by a grid of paved paths. Tudor medicinal plants are grown beside those used in current pharmaceutical research. Further details at www.opensquares.org/detail/SouthLondonBI.html

Westminster Abbey: College Garden (Open Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th June 10am-5pm)

'College' here refers to the old meaning of the word: a community of clergy. To the right of the entrance gate is a knot garden with a lonicera hedge on the site of the original Infirmarer's garden. Aromatic, culinary and medicinal herbs now grow around the edges. Further details at www.opensquares.org/detail/Westminster2.html

Participating gardens win green flags

Open Garden Squares Weekend — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 19:32:00 +0000

The Green Flag Award is the national standard for parks and green spaces in England and Wales. The award scheme began in 1996 as a means of recognising and rewarding the best green spaces in the country. It was also seen as a way of encouraging others to achieve the same high environmental standards, creating a benchmark of excellence in recreational green areas.

The Green Flag flying at Edward Square

In judging candidates for Green Flag awards, the following criteria are used:

A welcoming place
Healthy, safe, and secure
Clean and well maintained
Sustainability
Conservation and heritage
Community involvement
Marketing
Management

A Green Flag has been awarded to the following gardens taking part in Open Garden Squares Weekend 2008:

The Green Pennant Award is a national award that recognises high quality green spaces in England and Wales that are managed by voluntary and community groups. Similar criteria are applied. The following gardens have been awarded a Green Pennant:

The Green Flag Award is run by the Civic Trust and supported by the CLG. For further details, please see www.greenflagaward.org.uk

Open Parks and Gardens Weekend in Bratislava

Open Garden Squares Weekend — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 19:27:00 +0000

"A First Successful Experience"

London's Open Gardens concept has been taken up with enthusiasm in Slovakia. MICHAELA CHALUPOVA reports.

June 9th -10th 2007 were quite special days in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. During that weekend the National Trust of Slovakia, together with many Slovak partners, was able to hold the first Open Parks and Gardens Weekend.

Everybody in the city, whether resident or visitor, who appreciates the historical, cultural, natural, social and many other values of the parks and gardens of Bratislava had a chance for the very first time to celebrate the existence and uniqueness of its green spaces - the common creation of man and nature! In staging this celebration we were aided by the experience of the London Parks & Gardens Trust in organising its own Open Garden Squares Weekend and particularly by the kind help of its Vice-President, Mr lan Kennaway.

How was this starting year? Before organising Open Parks and Gardens Weekend, we were not sure how people would accept this new kind of happening in their city. However, even during the first day we got the feeling that our event was both very useful and timely! Bratislava is at the moment a very fast-growing and developing city and there is enormous pressure, especially on the areas which are not built up yet, unfortunately also on historic parks and gardens or any kind of green space. Sometimes it looks like all those areas are already history.

Public Feedback

From the reaction of many of the participants in OPGW, we are now convinced that people in our city still have a very positive attitude to parks and gardens and are willing to be involved in their active protection and sensible use. We just have to work with them. Organising a regular Open Parks and Gardens Weekend could be the way towards a better future for our parks and gardens.

Some of the most interesting feedback on our event came from our survey / competition to find the Favourite Historical Park or Garden in Bratislava. We not only asked visitors to give us the name of their favourite park and garden but also asked them some more questions concerning their attitude to historic parks and gardens. Although the winner of the competition as the favourite place for all generations was the originally French-style Medical Garden, we saw that there are many parks and gardens of Bratislava which people cherish close to their hearts!

British Chargé d'Affaires Tom Carter with members of the organising committee at the launch of Bratislava's first Open Parks & Gardens Weekend

Open Historic Parks and Gardens Weekend in Bratislava was officially launched with an opening ceremony in the Medical Garden on Saturday 9th June. We were very happy that one of the speakers at the opening ceremony was Mr Thomas Carter - Chargé d'Affaires at the British Embassy in Slovakia (the whole event was part of the Historic Parks and Gardens of Bratislava project, supported by British Embassy) who expressed his pleasure with this kind of event, symbolically connecting two European Capitals, Bratislava and London.

During the two days visitors could take part in many interesting activities at all the sites involved. Together with our partners, we prepared, for example, an exhibition of landscape architects and their work, a concert of celtic music, demonstrations of tree treatments, flower arrangements, children's games, a literary evening with the young writers etc. The activities most appreciated by many people were guided tours through the parks and gardens involved. The guides were students from the Secondary Gardening School in Malinovo.

Stone of Knowledge

People could also receive at all localities a very small memento - the so-called Stone of Knowledge, which reflected the symbolic connection of the art of Man with the art of Nature. These beautiful stones were produced with the help of pupils from the Milan Rastislav Štefánik Basic School in Bratislava.

Perhaps the most attractive locality was the small Koch's Garden - a dendrological and architectural gem of Bratislava from the last century. During the two days almost 500 residents and visitors of Bratislava visited this site! This garden is normally closed throughout the year and was opened only during our event. There is a big pressure from development companies to acquire this garden, and its future and public access are unsure at the moment. We would be very happy to help the current owner find ways to protect this unique garden for the future generations!

Mayoral Support

As our project involved the whole area of Bratislava and especially its Old City, we asked the Mayor of the Bratislava, Mr Andrej Durkovsky, and also the Mayor of the Old City, Mr Andrej Petrek, to be patrons of the event and in this way support it. We are happy that they were willing to co-operate with us and assumed patronage. Both Mayors have also expressed their interest to continue with co-operation in the future.

The idea of an Open Parks and Gardens Weekend also attracted the Association for Garden Design and Landscaping from the town of Nitra. Members of this Association were able to put on a similar event in their town over the same weekend, coinciding with events both in Bratislava and London.

Having successfully started this event, we hope that we can continue with it in the future and that many more cities from Slovakia and the whole of Europe will join us!

Michaela Chalupova, who wrote this article, is Project Co-ordinator for The National Trust of Slovakia.