Our 12th NGS garden opening: things at their best

Our 12^th NGS opening was again a big success! A huge thank you to the 226 people who came as together we raised just over £2700!

More huge thanks to everyone who helped as we could not do it without our on the day volunteers.

Final big special thanks to Alan and Jonathan for their generosity in donating plants for the sale. Alan always shames me with the quality of his plants! Jonathan donated a car load of well grown Hedychium’s, many of whose names I had never heard of before. Thank you! This has all helped turn the plant sale into quite a big part of our opening which is great, with a big rush at opening to get the best plants. I think I am still bruised from all those sharp elbows…

This year was probably the one which has stressed me the most as the drought made things very difficult. A lot of August was spent watering the garden to try and keep things alive, with many plants dropping their leaves or being crispy around the edges. Many of the bedding plants had barely grown, and I was particularly sad to lose a tree fern that just got fried in the heat ☹ The only thing that seemed to do well were two Paulownias that this year are the biggest ever at perhaps 20+ ft!

I was dreading the hosepipe ban which hit a couple of weeks before the opening, but thankfully just as it was introduced, we had quite a lot of heavy rain. This came just in the nick of time and everything freshened up really nicely and started growing again. Two weeks on the garden is back to its usual lush self…

 I am always humbled by how many people have already visited and come back. Thank you!

 

Changes in 2022

I am always changing things and editing what is there as there are always tweaks to be made. The biggest challenges were digging out three massive clumps of bamboo that were taking over…I took it all out to the left of the pond, up by the far corner of Ivanhoe Road and a clump near the house. They had all been in for 11 years and were beginning to go crazy, taking up a lot of space. I am glad I got a mattock for my birthday!

I also took out some big old shrubs in the front garden that had been there forever which has given an un expectedly huge bed and made our grand Victorian iron railings a lot more visible. The aims are to celebrate these more with lots of climbers including clematis and Eccremocarpus. The bed was meant to be a riot of Tithonia, Ricinus and hot salvias, but being in full sun and out of reach of the hose it was all rather crispy!

There has also been some big lots of pruning going on with the Olive tree being hard pruned back to the main stems, and our neighbour removing most of an old apple tree making the garden by the house much more open.

Finally, I have installed a new Balinese style bell Tower near the top Ganesh shrine, complete with cordyline leaf roof!

Some pictures of things at their best....

Our Camberwell garden open for charity: Sunday 4th September 2022 11-4:30

Our garden opening is coming up!

 

The NGS says

‘An exotic garden full of the exuberance of late summer inspired by travel in Southeast Asia.

A lush and naturalistic jungle of big leafed plants, bold colours and shapes including cannas, bananas, bamboos, dahlias, mature tetrapanax and towering paulownias.

Huge ‘hidden’ garden, created from being able to buy derelict land which had been the bottom half of two of the neighbour’s gardens in 2010 gives the garden an unexpected size. Three ponds (one for wildlife and two with fish), a productive area and contemporary sunken terrace full of pampered prized plants.

We deliver on the 'wow' factor with visitors being surprised by the scale of the garden and getting lost in the exotica. The garden changes and improves every year as the plants grow bigger and the feel gets 'junglier'.

Since first opening for the NGS in 2011 the garden has changed radically. At that time the top garden was still new and being cleared. Planting was mostly annuals and pumpkins! It took a year to clear the rubble, brambles and hops. We filled 5 skips with rubble and broke 20 spades and forks digging the land. Many visitors have kept coming back to see the transformation!

The lower lawn, lots of seating and hidden corners give space to sit and enjoy. Renowned for good teas and home-made cakes. Last admission at 4:30’

The garden is on a slight slope and so does include some steps. Some paths are uneven and made of wood chip, others gravel. Sadly we are not wheelchair accessible.

Press Coverage: Featured on BBC Gardeners' World, BBC Instant Gardener and in Garden News, The Independent and Simple Things magazine.

Full details here: https://findagarden.ngs.org.uk/garden/22791/24-grove-park

 No need to pre-book.

The nearest train stations are Peckham Rye or Denmark Hill, check routes before you travel as they always seem to do works that weekend! If you are driving there is lots of street parking on our road.  The full postcode is SE5 8LH, we are at the Chadwick Road end of Grove Park. Check your satnav/phone is directing you to Grove Park as sometimes it can take you to the back of the house.

Winter is coming

The end of the year looms and the garden totters between portly lush exuberance that is now so top heavy that many plants are falling over after being buffeted by the wind. Things like the Dahlias are still going strong but they are so tall and many stems so weak that they snap easily. Those bananas and Colocasia’s that have escaped the wind are still looking so lush and tropical. Other more sensitive things like the Manihot started shedding their leaves early. The fuchsias, which I don’t have much luck with have only just started flowering… 

 I have never known a year where things have grown so tall….The Tithonia were all at about 6-7ft, I have an 8ft Ricinus, the Amicia is flowering strongly at 7ft. This was also the year I have had to do the least watering. In fact the opposite was true as things were so wet that I had to take the pots off the saucers and keep emptying out pots that had no drainage holes. 

 The ‘to do’ list for winter grows….compost heaps need emptying, and the war on a couple of very virulent bamboos is about to begin once my new mattock arrives…I haven’t yet taken in any of the tender things, probably leaving it till the last week in November/when frosts appear and for the first time will try having two pop up greenhouses to keep things safe. I also plan on digging up most of the dahlias, not to protect them from frost but from slugs and snails, and give them a head start. Lots to do!

Our 2021 Opening

A huge thank you to everyone who came to this years opening. It was another record year and we had 245 visitors and make about £2700 for charity! Hurrah! We were blessed with one of the sunniest days for weeks (the sun always shines in Camberwell) and the garden was looking super lush. This year was different in that we opened for longer (from 11-4:30) with the hopes of having less of a rush. The lovely Hayley also joined us to sell some of her fabulous metal sculptures which was a great addition. This year I was told how a visit to our garden was lifechanging, with a fab lady saying how after her visit to the garden last year she had thrown out all her old plants and started just growing exotics! The plant sale is also clearly becoming a thing with a huge rush on plants when we first opened. I never really know how well things will sell, and even my 10 Polypody ferns which were unusual, but not to everyone’s taste all went within 10 mins! We also had a dinosaur trail for kids, but my 5yr off nephew told me off for it being too hard. Sorry Henry... As always it was humbling to see so many people returning, and lots of people saying such nice things. A huge thank you to everyone who has helped out on the day and those who donated plants to sell, it really is a team effort! THANK YOU! So some pictures of things at their best….