Friends of Turnham Green share plans for new proposals for more ‘naturalistic’ planting on Turnham Green

Sunflowers Turnham Green 2017 by Barbara Chandler

Image above: Sunflowers on Turnham Gree; photograph Barbara Chandler

Design by leading landscape designer Tom Stuart-Smith

The leading British landscape designer Tom Stuart-Smith has drawn up a landscaping proposal for Turnham Green, which the Friends of Turnham Green will present at their AGM on Monday 3 October. The design will improve the bio-diversity of the Green and ‘visually unite the different elements of the Green using naturalistic planting’.

They invite Chiswick residents to join them to give your feedback on it.

Tom’s landscape design practice is known for its naturalistic and bio-diverse creations in all sorts of settings from gardens to public parks. His designs have graced many prestigious UK heritage projects, including the Queen’s Jubilee Garden at Windsor Castle, and he has won eight gold medals and been awarded ‘Best In Show’ at Chelsea Flower Show three times.

He offered to come up with a proposal for Turnham Green, for a scheme which could be planted in phases as funding becomes available and would be implemented and maintained as a collaboration between local volunteers and Hounslow Council.

Images above: Tom Stuart-Smith’s designs for gardens at Cannon Street and Brockhampton Cottages, Chelsea Flower Show 2010 and 2018; photographs Tom Stuart-Smith

Extending the wildflower meadow

The plans for Turnham Green involve a ‘reboot’ of the present wildflower meadow at a projected cost of £1,856. Phase two would see the planting of bulbs along periphery, projected cost £3,000. In phase three the plan is to extend the wildflower meadow – yet to be costed.

The final phase would see intermittent naturalistic shrubbery added along sections of Sutton Lane North to soften the impact of the road for recreational users and improve bio-diversity. ‘Sight lines and security issues to be borne in mind when considering the height and location of shrubs’ – yet to be costed.

Image above: Area of the wild flower meadow before 

Before and after

These two plans show the extent of the wildflower meadow before and after. This is not a precise proposal but is meant ‘to represent an intention and a possible direction’.

Tom and his team would review the different uses on site with Friends of Turnham Green and LBH to make sure the proposed extension doesn’t compete with other interests. Planting always has to take into consideration how the Green is used, by people walking their dogs, playing sport and just using the Green to relax in.

‘We would also look at mowing paths through the wildflower meadows to create areas that children and adults could move through’ they say.

Image above: Area of the wild flower meadow after

Rescuing Turnham Green from ‘Municipal Shabbiness’

Friends of Turnham Green are a community based voluntary organisation, founded in 2007. They have worked since then ‘to rescue Turnham Green from municipal shabbiness’.

They began by successfully lobbying to remove derelict buildings and in their place created a natural play area for children together with the wild flower meadow. Since then they have raised money to replace broken bins, cracked paths, bent railings and also undertaken a number of collaborations with Abundance London to improve bio-diversity.

As a result, the park has received the Green Flag award from the environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy for the past four years in a row. There have also been rows, most notably over the planting of cherry trees, which led to the Friends being disbanded and reconstituted and their Chair Rebecca Frayn being re-elected.

Rebecca is well-known as an environmentalist. She co-founded the environmental group WeCan to lobby the government in the run up to the Copenhagen Climate Conference in 2009 and is currently engaged in Can Pep, an off-grid eco-farm in the north of Ibiza.

The Friends’ hold an annual AGM at Christ Church every year and a team of enthusiastic volunteers regularly turn out in rain or shine to help with twice yearly weeding and planting sessions.

The AGM is on Monday 3 October at Christ Church, Turnham Green at 7.30pm.

Image above: Cow Parsley in the wildflower meadow; Friends of Turnham Green

Read more stories on The Chiswick Calendar

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