Garden Plan

Drowned rat to verdant green in six weeks that's Madeira.

We said watch this space. If you blink you could miss the speed of change here in warm Funchal. The grass is growing so fast it has to be cut twice a week while the rye mother grass that is protecting the kikuyu seed, which is slower to germinate, flies away. The kikuyu will in time crowd out the rye and be the dominant grass, it is much tougher, drought resistant, and needs less maintenance. Phillipa is back on her pedestal, the hedge frame in, the pergolas painted and their tops on with hidden downlights for the path at night, the benches all repainted. Today the damaged pebbles under the verhanda are being relaid, the men want to work tomorrow Sunday to finish, a sign of the harder times!

The best news is that Gerald Luckhurst has given us the list of plants he needs to make the garden spectacular. He will supply nearly a thousand himself free of charge! The rest will be circulated to the membership for their input, then we shall have to get the cheque book out for the rest especialy the specimen trees and rarer items.

KEEP WATCHING

You were asked to "Watch this Space" and we can now and with delight inform you that there has been a massive input of work in the Garden. In brief after the rains stopped:

Lawns - North and South.

The eighty tons of soil eventually dried out sufficiently for a digger to attempt levelling and grading. This was done but left a crust on the surface which needed breaking up by rotary cultivator. This achieved a good surface, but quite stony. Raking had to be done to achieve a better tilth and get rid of a large amount of these stones. Having done this for a second time we then had post and wire supports erected for a wall/hedge of flowers behind Philippa: (Golden Showers, Pyrostegia venusta and Rangoon Creeper, Quisqualis indica). Having achieved an evenly graded surface, the Irrigation specialists could then start and work to the levels achieved. To avoid the mechanics of this, we now have the piping and sprinklers installed and the system is undergoing testing. The lawn seed of our advised choice was sown, (sprayed by machine as a mixture of wood pulp and the seed), on Tuesday 27th April.

North Driveway - Pergolas.

These are completed. The columns are now painted to match the colours of the church wall and the cross members have been made, in house, and erected. Down lighting in them is also installed. The driveway here has been widened and strong kerbing put in place.

Entrance Driveway - Planting.

The wall opposite the Parsonage had a very colourful but unruly covering of Tecomaria capensis and it needed some attention. We now have more "Jasmine" plants installed in the border as espaliers which will help speed the covering of the wall and providing, at flowering, a delicious welcoming fragrance.

Contemplation area.

The walls in the corner have been painted and the original church gates too. We await the outcome of negotiations over the cairn to be completed as it will be located here.

Plants, in Brief.

The most valued plants have been saved or relocated. In line with the plans for the garden we have yet to release the definite list for planting but as already written there are climbers behind Philippa, Jasmines in the driveway and Spathodea, African tulip tree, in the garden. Untouched are Koelreutia and Australian frangipani, (Hymenospora) and the old Jacaranda and Norfolk Island Pine along with some Til trees. On the North side of the church we have Bauhinia, Hong Kong orchid and Dombeya, Pink Tassel.

We now await, with bated breath, the germination of the grass seed.

As before "WATCH THIS SPACE"

New Garden Report

Well at the time of writing there isn't one. A garden that is. Since the great rains came; rather like the great snow and ice that came to the UK but warmer. All work stopped under a deluge of water.

What the garden looks like at the moment is a giant mole competition, with huge heaps of soil where the eighty tons of topsoil where tipped, just like enormous mole hills. The heaps have been untouched since well before Christmas as they are too wet for the digger to level, and until it is level the irrigation squad cannot go in, and until the irrigation is done the grass cannot be planted. So there you go - no new garden yet.

However what has been achieved is worth a look. The new replacement high wall (which triggered the whole new garden project) is done and the new low wall in front, with the bed between the two. The pergolas down the drive beside the big lawn are in and the stage at the bottom of the lawn is done with it´s two columns. The coffee distribution area outside the shed/old lavada tank with it´s lower path is done but needs a rail: the six bench plinths, three on the lawn and the others in the shade alongside the drive are in. The wall coming back from the shed in the corner to the side entrance to the toilets and kitchen is now painted a lovely soft cream. The prayer and contemplation area is on its way. The high shrub along the right hand side of the driveway has been removed and looks a bit bare, however we had a complaint from the owner next door that it was intruding into her space, but it is going to be replaced with jasmine to match the other side and will be much more manageable. Then of course there will be the lighting to to give us a completely new night time garden for concerts, dinners, and weddings.

Manageability or low maintenance has been a major specification for the new design. Our two gardeners, one sixty seven the other in his fifties, have our huge cemetery to care for where a major rethink is involving them in work to eliminate the huge beds of weeds that have to be cleared four times a year. The labour of transforming the cemetery over the last year really should be viewed, Carlos and Antonio have worked miracles. What is needed for the Church garden is for us all to have faith and vision, and faith that Gerald Luckhurst is working his vision for our outside church.

It will happen - Watch this space