WGG Update: Brockwell Park Walled Garden

In September, volunteers Laura and Alice gave us a guided tour of Brockwell Park’s walled garden, which has a fascinating array of plants and attracts a wide variety of pollinators.

As Alice and Laura emphasised, the garden is an ornamental one, designed to have year-round interest. It has been replanted in stages over the past ten years or so. Plants are selected for their looks and sometimes scent, how they fit into the existing scheme, their preferred habitat and, increasingly, tolerance of drought and climate change – such as the wet winters and springs we have had recently. Plants that are wildlife-friendly get an extra tick. The Friends of Brockwell Park provide a ‘generous’ budget for new plants each year.

We were given a list of 24 different plants and then introduced to them as we toured the space. (Of interest to those who know the walled garden already is the regenerating mulberry.)

We saw several species of butterfly during our visit, including the Small copper which is uncommon in Lambeth parks and open spaces and is listed as a priority species in London’s Nature Recovery Strategy. Carder bees were also hard at work foraging for nectar.

We then briefly looked at the older wildlife meadow near the Lido. It was very dry and lacking flowers and hence nectar but nonetheless, we saw a Small copper there too.

One of the group commented, “Thank you for arranging such a lovely afternoon. I learnt a lot, and was especially interested to hear all about the different effort to incease biodiversity in and around Brockwell Park.”

The Wildlife Gardening Group is free for all LHS members to join. If you are an LHS member and would like to be part of the WGG, contact us.