Bulb planting
Barbican Residents’ bulb planting and sowing meadow seeds November 2015
2015 is the third year residents have planted bulbs and sown seeds to help create a mass of spring and early summer colour in our gardens and to provide forage for bees and other pollinators. This year the warm autumn weather encouraged families to come and help in Fann Street and Thomas More gardens. In all over 50 adults, including Barbican Wildlife Group volunteers and 20 children came to the two Sunday morning sessions. In Fann Street on 1st November we cleared grass to sow thirteen different types of wildflower seeds that will grow into perennial meadow plants, with intriguing names such as Ladies Bedstraw, Vipers’ Bugloss and Meadow
Cranesbill as well as a general woodland edge meadow mix. Others planted out spring flowering bulbs such as native bluebells, winter aconite and snowdrops.
Fann Street and in fact all the Barbican Gardens are designated
as a Site of Importance for Nature Conservation. The Barbican
Wildlife Group look after the Fann Street garden to ensure that
the plants and trees provide a diverse and beneficial habitat for
insects, birds and invertebrates. But where possible, the planting in
all the gardens is selected to provide forage for pollinators and
cover and food for birds. The following Sunday we turned our attention to Thomas More Garden. The narcissi and snow drops that residents planted last year and the year before are now well established and will flower again
next spring. This autumn we added woodland tulips that will naturalise and continue to flower every year.
Over the last three years we have planted well over 20,000 bulbs across the estate – not including those in the new Beech gardens.
