Image above: ‘Scarifying’ the meadow in preparation for replanting
Turnham Green is to be the happy recipient of lots more flowers. More wildflowers for the summer ‘meadow’ and more bulbs, which the Friends of Turnham Green would like your help planting on Saturday 12 November.
You may have seen a man with a tractor ‘scarifying’ the land. This has nothing to do with Halloween and everything to do with turning over the soil, ready to plant Rhinanthus minor (Yellow Rattle), to keep down the meadow grass, and 8,000 bulbs which the Friends have bought with money from the London Borough of Hounslow and Chiswick Flower Market.
The planting scheme is courtesy of one of the top landscape design firms, Tom Stuart-Smith, who have won many awards for their gardens and parks.
The Chiswick Calendar spoke to Nicola Pusterla, one of their landscape architects, about the vision they have in mind for Turnham Green.
Image above: Turnham Green in high summer; photograph Barbara Chandler
When I was first told about the ‘meadow’ on Turnham Green a few years ago, my reaction was: “what, that weedy bit along the side of Sutton Lne North?”
I hadn’t meant to be rude or sarcastic, (my comment was not well received) but I hadn’t realised it was meant to be a meadow because it seemed to be mainly long grass, with not many flowers in evidence.
This is now being rectified by the prestigious landscape design firm, who have designed a planting scheme at minimal cost which can be introduced over a period of time as and when there is money available.
“We are keeping the area of the wildflower meadow the same” Nicola Pusterla told me, “but the triangle of meadow feels very alien to everything else, it needs to be visually impactful.”
Image above: Yellow Rattle; photograph Ian Cunliffe
The way to do this, he told me, is to plant Rhrinanthus minor (Yellow Rattle), which will stifle the grass and make way for some flowers.
“Yellow Rattle is a parasite plant. It sucks up energy from the grass. You need open soil and a low density of grass for wildflowers to grow. Grass grows fast and tall and blocks out all the light.”
It will take a year for the Yellow Rattle to have an effect, so do not expect to see much of interest next summer, but by next autumn they will be ready to plant other flowers, said Nicola.
“There are already wildflower seeds in the soil and if we then just left it, in five or ten years’ time it would be much more interesting” he told me, in a nod to the careful work which has already been done by members of the Friends,
“but if there is funding available we could plant flowers such as field scabious and ox-eye daisies; cow parsley around the edges.”
Galium verum (Lady’s bedstraw), Centaurea nigra (Knapweed), Aucus carota (Wild carrot), Malva moschata (Musk mallow), Achillea millefolium (Yarrow), Primula veris (Cowslip), Silene dioica (Red Campion) and Silene vulgaris (Bladder Campion) are also on his list for planting next autumn.
“Poppies? Cornflowers?” I asked, warming to the theme.
“No, those are field flowers”.
Realising this is more complicated than I thought and I didn’t know a ‘field’ from a ‘meadow’ he explained flowers such as poppies and cornflowers thrive on arable land because the soil is turned each year.
This isn’t. They need to create a sustainable environment where insects can be at home with plants that have ‘naturalised’ – ie. established themselves and spread so they come up every year, left alone to their own devices.
While going for a “visually impactful” planting scheme, biodiversity and sustainability are also high on their list.
Images above: Narcissus ‘Sunlight Sensation’, photograph Peter Nyssen; Tulipa linifolia, photograph Ghislain 118; Tulipa clusiana ‘Cynthia’, photograph Salicyna
Turnham Green is spectacular in spring with all the cherry trees and while we are waiting for the summer meadow to come into its own, Nicola told me they have picked a variety of bulbs to be planted in the meadow area, along the pathway and under the trees, to complement the spring show of colour.
Flowers such as daffodils and narcissi, snowdrops, tulips and scillas – 8,000 in all – and it is these that Turnham Green Friends need your help planting.
“Please join us for a community bulb planting event on Turnham Green” say the Friends.
“We need lots of volunteers to help us. Mark your diaries, tell your friends and neighbours. Details of bulb planting as follows:
Saturday 12 November
10am until 2pm, come anytime, for as long as suits you
Meet by the rockery
Bring a trowel, spade or bulb planter if you have one and gloves.
Please sign up on Eventbrite for free. Not essential but it will give us an idea about who is coming.”
Images above: Chinodoxa forbesii (scilla), photograph Meneerke Bloem; Galanthus nivalis (snowdrops), photograph Dominicus Johannes Bergsma; Tulipa batalinii ‘Bright Gem’, photograph David J. Stang
The problem for would-be improvers of Turnham Green is that it is used by many different groups and individuals in a variety of different ways and the land is owned and overseen by the local council.
While flowers are lovely to look at, they can’t encroach on the area of grass without upsetting someone: the football teams who use if for a kick around, the personal trainers who use it for classes and the nursery children who have outside lessons there, to name but a few.
“We are very aware Turnham Green is used for lots of different purposes” Nicola told me,
“we are looking to enhance what there is and make everything more cohesive; we’re not talking about putting in more beds and making it into a park.”
“The problem is there is either flat, mown grass or trees on the periphery and we can make it slightly more interesting.”
The plans were presented to the Friends’ membership at their annual general meeting and with a few exceptions, they were well received.
‘We are very excited about this!’ the Friends say in their newsletter to members.
Image above: Preparing the meadow for planting; (R) Rebecca Frayn, Chair of Turnham Green Friends
‘Tom Stuart-Smith is one of the UK’s leading landscape designers who has done work all over the world, who has won numerous Chelsea Gold medals and whose client list includes The Royal Horticultural Society, The Royal Academy of Arts and the late Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
‘He is based in London and specialises in deftly combining naturalism with modernity and for gardens that respond to their wider landscape setting.
‘The fact that he is happy to be involved in a community project is a delight to us and this may be a once in a lifetime opportunity to improve our much loved Green.’
The meadow refresh has been funded by an LB Hounslow ‘Your Neighbourhood’ grant. The application was supported by local councillors Ranjit Gill and Ron Mushiso.
‘A big thank you to both of them and to LBH Community Partnerships Unit.’
See also: Friends of Turnham Green share plans for new proposals for more ‘naturalistic’ planting on Turnham Green
See also: Chiswick resident to be inducted into World Rugby Hall of Fame
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