Wild about Wildflowers!

The RHS launched Britain in Bloom in April with the first ever National Gardening Week. Between the 16th and 22nd April the RHS asked Britain in Bloom finalists and other community groups to encourage people to get gardening. They had a number of events taking place during the week and asked groups to get involved with sowing wild-flower meadows as part of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations and the RHS Wild about Wildflowers campaign.

In recent years a decline in wildflower meadows and similar habitats has added to the demise of pollinating insects, bees and in turn affected our birds. Sowing meadows on waste land, in urban situations or forgotten corners will help support our wildlife and restore their natural habitat.

The RHS offered support packets of wildflower seed to the community groups and we recieved 10 square metres worth of a cornfield seed mix. The packet includes plants like corn poppy, corn marigold, corn chamomile, corn cockle and cornflowers.

We asked the pre-schoolers to help us sow the seeds on Thursday 19th April, in the new flower bed by the entrance to the Woodland Walk. We've noticed that a lot of the seed has already germinated, which is brilliant because it will make what looks to be a bit of an empty flower bed at the top of the hill much brighter and more colourful than before and also attract bees and butterflies.

To read more about the RHS campaign and the Britain in Bloom launch follow this link; http://www.rhs.org.uk/Gardening/Community-gardening/Britain-in-Bloom/2012-Britain-in-Bloom-launch

Narcissus 'Herm'

The new award-winning Narcissus ‘Herm’ has recently started flowering for the first time!

The white clock-face daffodil was specially bred for Herm Island by Rae Beckwith of Beckwith Bulbs in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
Rae had been breeding the white daffodil since 2001 and it won an award at the Harrogate Flower Show in 2009.
We recieved the first ten bulbs at the end of September 2011 and are very proud that the daffodil is named after the island. Five of the bulbs are part of the new planting in the White garden next to St Tuguals Chapel, the remainder are going to be kept safe to grow and produce more flowers and bulbs over the next few years.
More information about the Herm daffodil can be found on the 2011 Efforts page of this blog.

Photograph by Roseanne Wheeler

Woodland Trust Trees

On 15th February we recieved approximately 420 trees from the Woodland Trust.
The free community packs of trees have been offered to many different communities, neighbours and schools in accordance with Her Majesty the Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee celebrations.

Jubilee Woods are attempting to mark the special occasion by planting around 6 million trees in the UK and at the same time creating a significate and lasting transformation of public parks and community spaces.

We recieved 90 Ash, 75 Rowan, 60 Oak, 90 Birch and 105 Cherry trees. Plus 1 special Jubilee Oak tree that will be planted in the school garden. The trees arrived bare root, so we have potted the trees on, until we are able to plant them.

We are hoping that corporate groups from Guernsey will join the Island community to help plant the trees in different areas around the island.
To find out more about the Jubilee Wood Projects follow this link http://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/en/jubilee-woods/Pages/home.aspx#.T4Cu-tnhKSo

Newspaper and TV Appearances

We have recently had The Guernsey Press over to Herm to record what we are up to on the island and any new developments in our effort for Britain in Bloom 2012.

Brett and I showed them the Valley area where the outdoor team have made a few improvements with planting schemes, the pond and stream and cleared two fallen Eucalyptus trees which fell during the winds in November and December. One of the trees has been made into a new seat.

We also took them to the Farm area where we have started harvesting rainwater by installing Water Butts to collect run off of the log cabin roofs, in an effort to conserve more water for use by residents and the gardening team. In the summer months, watering the tubs and planters in the Farm area is important to keep the place looking good for the guests and seasonal staff. This will now be much easier and better for the environment.



The wormeries have also arrived, so we can soon install them and start to make compost and plant feed in the school garden. We just need the worms!

Photographs by Brett Moore

Willow Whips

Sunday 29th January

Members of the Herm community gathered on Sunday morning to help plant willow whips collected by the garden team from existing coppiced willow hedges on the Island.





The cuttings were pushed into the ground to create a new hedge near the Mermaid campsite.
The volunteers were rewarded with coffee, tea and cakes as a thank you. 

Photographs by Yolandi Moore

Britain In Bloom 2012!

After returning from the Britain in Bloom Conference at Assembly House, Norwich, Brett Moore and I are getting focused and ready for the next very busy 7 months.
In Norwich we met fellow Bloomers and found out who will be judging us in August.
We are in the Small Coastal Category for villages and towns with a smaller population than 12000 and with only 63 residents on Herm Island I think we will have our work cut out!
Also in our category are;

• Grouville, Jersey
• Lytham, North West
• North Berwick, Scotland
• Tenby, Wales

All of the above have done well in previous judging years, so this will be a very high scoring category!