Friends of Earlham Cemetery

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Earlham Cemetery, June 2012

Earlham Cemetery, June 2012

We live next to Earlham Cemetery in Norwich, a lovely area of greenery to the west of Norwich’s city centre. The Cemetery dates from 1856 and was created as a result of an order issued by the Home Secretary to the Mayor of Norwich in April 1854 banning burials in Norwich churchyards.

The original Cemetery occupied 34 acres and 23 of these were used immediately, with the remaining land put to agricultural use until it was needed. Many trees were planted when the Cemetery was established and there are some very fine specimens. There are now lots of headstones but originally very few burials were marked by headstones. Soldiers from Britannia Barracks were buried in unmarked graves but eventually a special army burial area was created, with a statue of “The Spirit of the Army”, which was unveiled by Lord Waveney in 1878 (read more).

The Cemetery has been extended since it was opened and the newer pieces of land further out of the city have sparser tree cover and are much more open. Thankfully, areas of longer grass and brambles have been left in places and plants such as Greater and Lesser Knapweed (Centaurea scabiosa and C. nigra), Sorrel (Rumex acetosa), Cowslips (Primula veris) and Meadow Saxifrage (Saxifraga granulata) can be found, along with swathes of the Umbellifers Cow Parsley (Anthriscus sylvestris) in the spring, followed by Hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium) in the summer.

Bombus hypnorum

Tree Bumblebee, Bombus hypnorum, on bramble flowers

The Cemetery is home to quite a variety of insects, including moths, butterflies such as the Speckled Wood and Orange Tip, bumblebees (Bombus hypnorum, the Tree Bumblebee, is common on bramble flowers at the moment) and hoverflies.

This year a group of local residents have formed Friends of Earlham Cemetery and we walk around the Cemetery on the 14th day of the month, starting at the main entrance on Earlham Road, by the Cemetery Office. (There’s a walk this evening at 6pm.) We have a Facebook page with photo galleries and we post the times of our walks here. I am working on a website for the group as well.

Update December 2012: The group’s website is now Live – see http://www.friendsofearlhamcemetery.co.uk/.

Three Gardens In Two Days

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Strangers' Hall garden

Strangers’ Hall garden – rose border

On Saturday members of the Grapes Hill Community Garden Group visited the garden at Strangers’ Hall in Norwich. We were shown around the garden and had tea and biscuits on the lawn.

The garden deserves to be better known, for it is lovely. It is tucked behind Strangers’ Hall, one of Norwich’s oldest and most fascinating buildings, dating back to 1320, which is open as a museum on Wednesdays and Saturdays (10am – 4pm). The garden contains a collection of herbs, old roses, box and lavender hedges, fruit trees and a shady border with a mass of different plants with contrasting foliage. It is maintained by the Strangers’ Hall Garden Group, who do a great job of keeping it in good shape. The Group are introducing a border of plants that are good for bees. They also sell spare plants to raise funds.

On Sunday morning I joined several other members of the Grapes Hill Community Garden Group working in the Grapes Hill Community Garden. Jobs included weeding one of the raised beds and the brickweave paths, pruning sideshoots on the grape vines and tying back plants that had been blown about in Friday’s strong winds.

Bishop's Garden

Bishop’s Garden, herbaceous borders

Then in the afternoon Vanna and I went to the Bishop’s Garden in Norwich (opposite the Law Courts, NR3 1SB), a great favourite of ours, which we try to visit at least once a year. The garden has existed since around 1100 AD and its current layout dates from about 300 years ago, so it is a contrast to the garden at Grapes Hill, which is only a year and a half old. It is also much bigger, at four acres (though it was six acres in size until 1959 when the new Bishop’s House was built on the site).

Tea and cake featured in the afternoon, as it often does, but first we walked around the garden. The Pear Tree Garden features a 400 year old pear tree with a wildflower maze planted around it, with its paths winding through a lovely mix of flowers such as Lady’s Bedstraw, Lesser Knapweed, Oxeye Daisies, Musk Mallow, Bird’s-foot Trefoil, vetches and Wild Carrot. Most of these are only starting to flower and will be at their best over the next couple of months.

Pruning the grapevines

Pruning the grapevines, Grapes Hill Community Garden

The herbaceous borders provided inspiration for the herbaceous border at Grapes Hill. They’re much bigger but they include a lovely mix of hardy perennials with good flowers for bees and other insects, including Echinops, Alliums, several sorts of hardy Geranium and the massive frothy white flowers of Crambe cordifolia.

There are also lots of exotic plants in the garden, including the spectacular Tetrapanax papyrifer, which seems to be doing very well. There’s a shade border packed with Hostas, a big bamboo thicket and a fruit and vegetable garden as well. Last but not least is the plant sales area, where there’s a chance to buy some very healthy plants and to chat with the Head Gardener. Last year we bought bamboos and a Tetrapanax for the back garden. This year we couldn’t resist a Begonia grandis subsp. evansiana.

And the Peregrines were on the spire of Norwich Cathedral, having nested successfully this year (see webcam). We were able to watch them as we sat outside drinking our tea.

The Bishop’s Garden is open to the public from 1pm – 5pm on the following Sundays this year, in aid of charity (£3 admission):

  • 17th June
  • 24th June
  • 1st July
  • 8th July
  • 22nd July.

Grapes Hill Community Garden is open every day of the year, admission free. Summer opening times are 9am to 6pm.

Sweet Rocket, Hesperis matronalis

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Early June. Sunshine (a little) and showers (lots). The Sweet Rocket (Hesperis matronalis) is looking lovely in Grapes Hill Community Garden and at the allotment.

Sweet Rocket

Sweet Rocket with Hostas in Grapes Hill Community Garden

Sweet Rocket is a biennial or short lived perennial, native to southern Europe and western Asia. In Britain it is largely a garden plant, though it occurs on waste ground an tips (see distribution map). It has flowers that vary in colour from deep rich purple, through all the paler lilac shades to white. It has been growing for several years at the allotment and comes in varying flower colours, while the Grapes Hill plants were grown from seed last year and are all deep pink. The plants will gently self seed around the garden, meaning that you should only need to buy seed once.

Sweet Rocket will grow in full sun or partial shade and under a canopy of deciduous trees the flowers – especially lighter shades – shine out. The flowers are beautifully scented as well and this is most pronounced in the evening. Sweet Rocket is a close relative of Night-scented Stock (Matthiola longipetala), which has a similar scent. Both plants are members of the cabbage family, Brassicaceae.

Sweet Rocket flowers are attractive to wildlife such as moths, Green-veined White and Orange Tip butterflies and look good in an informal cottage garden. The plant is also known by other common names, including Dame’s Violet, Dame’s Wort, Night-scented Gilliflower, Summer Lilac and Mother-of-the-evening.