The new park, to be called Lambeth Green is being created in partnership with Lambeth Council and Transport for London. The landscaping will be designed by Dan Pearson and a new pavilion, designed by architect Mary Duggan will be built for trainee horticulturists, as well as the gardeners and volunteers whom maintain the new park .
Lambeth Green
Inspired by John Tradescant’s arboretum of rarities, the park will see the planting of more than 40 trees. Plantings in Lambeth Green have been chosen by Dan Pearson Studio for a naturalistic style, showcasing hardy, climate resilient perennials.
Species will include plants which grow on the Peloponnese islands, such as a pomegranate from Hydra, the strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo) which is native on Poros, and the chasteberry (Vitex agnus-castus) a shrub which grows wild on the shores of Aegina.
The planting is inspired by botanist John Sibthorp (1758–1796) and his artist Ferdinand Bauer (1760–1826), whose Flora Graeca became one of the most beautiful botanical works ever published. Some of Bauer’s watercolours were engraved for publication by James Sowerby the artist who was buried in St Mary’s, Lambeth (now the Museum) and who is one inspiration to Dan Pearson’s design.
Lambeth Green will be a green and accessible gateway, not just to the museum but to the borough. This new park entrance will create better access to the museum for people with disabilities: the museum itself is fully accessible, but approaches to it are currently not – which the museum is adamant to change.
The Garden Museum has been working on the Lambeth Green masterplan for five years and last year completed Phase 1; the community Healing Garden on Lambeth High Street – located just across the road from the museum.
Training the gardeners of the future
The new park and pavilion will provide training opportunities for young Londoners seeking to undertake apprenticeships in horticulture. Britain offers the best horticultural training in the world, but there is currently nowhere in Lambeth for any of more than 1000 people who leave school each year to qualify as gardeners.
The park will also provide the opportunity for students to work with plants for biology classes (the museum has built the only facility in central London for formal biology classes from ages 4 to 18) and for the Garden Museum’s food learning programme, the first in any museum. In 2023, the museum hosted over 150 school visits, learning and community sessions.
A swim to bring flowers and trees to London
His sixth sponsored swim for the Garden Museum, this challenge is an open sea swim of a distance of 100km miles, which will take Woodward several days.
The target for the swim is £250,000 to enable the museum to proceed to the next stage of the project. In the Spring, they hope to plant up new gardens on 300m2 of land adjacent to the museum. The land, owned by TfL is currently nothing but road, kerb, and pavement.
For more information on the Lambeth Green project and/or to support Woodward’s sponsored swim, we refer you to the Garden Museum.