Residents plant Starch Green's new sensory garden
Shepherds Bush residents and businesses turned out to get their hands dirty and improve Starch Green.
We invited everyone down to a community planting day on Friday 8 September to improve the southern end of Ashchurch Grove where it joins Goldhawk Road.
The new sensory garden and its specially designed paving will help limit the risk of flooding to local homes by reducing surface water after heavy rain. It will also increase biodiversity and offer a home for wildlife.
As part of our Healthy Streets Campaign, we’re introducing these new drainage schemes to better cope with extreme weather across Hammersmith & Fulham. Notably, some have already won awards, including in Bridget Joyce Square in White City and Seagrave Road in Fulham.
Getting stuck in
The four new mini gardens were planted by green fingered residents and volunteers from local businesses. Each flowerbed is themed around a different sense – touch, sight, sound and smell.
The gardening gang planted a wide mix of shrubs, from zebra grass to golden woodrush, wild daffodils, catmint, Guernsey lily and herbs including thyme, rosemary and lavender. And to help the beds get established, we handed out watering cans to those who volunteered to care for the planting in hotter months.
Adults from the neighbouring Ashchurch Centre – H&F’s day-care facility for adults – also got involved. “We had a great time planting up the flowerbeds,” said Angela Mooney, MBE, manager at the Ashchurch Centre. “The day was so much fun, and everyone really enjoyed getting involved and catching up with the local neighbours.
“We’ve added the garden to our programme for watering, so our residents can help keep the beds green.”
Check out all the photos from planting day in our Flickr album.
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