Last bud not least

“Where did the wind come from?”, exclaimed the first few arrivals at tonight’s task.

Gathering by the Cable Street Mural in Shadwell, we glanced in to St George’s Gardens, home of tonight’s task, to see if there was any shelter from the wind (there wasn’t).

Opened to the public in 1875, these are ‘probably one of Tower Hamlets' least known historic public Gardens’, according to Tower Hamlets Council. “Through a ten month period, the Gardens have undergone a major refurbishment with support from the National Lottery Heritage Lottery Fund. New paths, planting and grass areas have been laid out and significant heritage features including monuments and walls have been conserved and repaired.”

We were soon joined by task owner Terry, from the Friends of Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park. (Terry worked as an environmental education officer for a local charity for 22 years. Now an Honorary Trustee of the Friends of Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park, we’ve been lucky enough to enjoy a few tasks led by Terry, whose extensive knowledge combined with a dry sense of humour help make these outdoor Autumn evening tasks an absolute joy).

After a full introduction to the area, including the neighbouring B&B and the Register Office (yes, that’s right – no typo), we proceeded to make our way around to the left corner of the park to plant 350 bluebells just by the Register Office. Working in small teams, we followed Terry’s careful instructions, and accomplished the task fairly speedily I'd say.

Moving further around the left side of the park, towards the Highway end, we then got to work planting hundreds of tulips, daffodils and - last but not least – anemones. (Anemone bulbs are interesting-looking things: a little misshapen - unlike the usual bulb shape - and this last minute addition to our planting task was quite the area of interest).

At around 8:15, we decided to call it a day, promising we’d return for a picnic next year, to see what looks set to be a fabulous array of carefully-planted flowers.

Another lovely start to the week.

Next Monday, we’re back to the great GET OUT garden in Bow, to see Kieran and Frankie!

Until then.