Today we’re celebrating two particular women; Edith Holden and Anna Atkins.

Edith Holden 1871 – 1920 , was born in Birmingham and is best known as an illustrator of the natural world. Although having a modicum of success in her lifetime, her star rose much higher in the 1970s and 80s with the re-publication of her charming and accomplished nature notebooks. The books including Nature Notes  and the Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady sold in their thousands. The notebooks chronical her walks and cycling trips around Birmingham, Solihull and Warwickshire. We think they’re all worth looking at again.

On Saturday 5^th April we will be doing just that.

Join us for a whole day remembering and rediscovering her work starting with an introduction by enthusiast Rachel SmithChopra. It’s not only listening but also doing! In keeping with our habit in Gardens, it’s a day of practical creation too.

Be inspired by the nature around us in the Gardens and take up a pencil, crayon or brush… all materials supplied… or bring your own.

On Saturday 5^th April, we’ll also be exploring  and celebrating Anna Atkins 1799 – 1871.

Although not local, Atkins was a pioneer botanist and photographer. She produced what is known as the first photographic illustrated book, Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions, in 1843. Atkins was a talented illustrator but wanted to find a more accurate way to depict the structure of a plant.

Her passion for botany along with the discovery of cyanotypes meant that over the span of 10 years she was able to create 3 volumes of work, representing a key step in the history of scientific illustration.

Visitors on 5^th April will also have the opportunity to make cyanotypes (‘sun printing’) with local artist Jake Lever, who has been experimenting with this technique.

See here for more about the day

And those other women connected with the Gardens?

Many, many of them!

Including all the volunteers and staff (80% women!) who keep the Gardens going and do such a good job of welcoming visitors. All the gardeners, historians, rangers, café, events, marketing , admin and office piskies, faeries and genii weaving the magic.

And here are three more names…all powerful women who have been key to the Gardens.

Lady Ida Bridgeman, Countess of Bradford (‘Lady Brad’),1848-1936, the last family resident of the Hall, who made sure the Gardens were used and not lost.

Lady Mary Bridgeman (1641- 1713), who probably had more influence over the development of the Gardens than is usually credited… a great subject for a PhD researcher.

Anne Kenrick MBE  (1923 – 2020), first Chairman of the Gardens Trust and force of, and for, nature.

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The Parkland has largely been left unmanaged since the estate was sold in 1969 with little work been done and so it now feels a bit neglected and quite wild. We plan to carry out a number of habitat improvements to enhance the site for wildlife and improve the experience for its visitors. 

Nuthatch (photo by Neil Aldridge)

We are busy getting to know the Parkland and would love to hear from you. We want to know what wildlife you see here.

Do you regularly admire the birds? Have you seen any owls?

Caught a glimpse of a fox or badger? We would love to know!

Please get in touch and send us your stories and pictures.

Do you remember what the Parkland used to be like in the past?

Did you play here as a child or have your grandparents told you stories about the park?

Maybe they would go hunting for horse chestnuts or picnics on the grassland?

Do they remember what the Avenue of Trees looked like before it became wild? Or have stories about the ponds?

I look forward to hearing from you all soon!

Email us at : CastleBromParklandInfo@gmail.com

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Plants had been gathered and collected over time for their economic potential as crops or medicine, or for their rarefied beauty and shown off by the rich and powerful,or subject to scientific scrutiny.

While the time of the great 19^th century plant hunters was still to come, the variety of plants, their very ‘exoticism’ was valued over and above more modest plants which might have been grown and used for centuries.

Today in the Gardens they all mix together, from little ‘weeds’ to flamboyant dragons. We are so used to some, we forget that their origins may be far, far away or from a long time ago.

Re-finding the wonder –  and recognising our luck – that we are so entwined with, and dependent on, other places in the world is perhaps one of the humbling outcomes of the current crisis.

…. And the music?

In 1738 George Frederick Handel premiered his opera, Xerxes, in London.

As with many theatrical productions of the time the ‘idea’ of the countryside was shifting from that ‘uncivilised place’ which is dirty, smelly and dangerous, to being a pastoral idyll, a place of purity and innocence.

Handel – a German composer  who spent most of his life in London – reworked an older Italian song by Cavalli and Bononcini. The opera is about the ancient King of Persia, Xerxes. Here the American countertenor, Christopher Lowrey  sings, in Italian, with a group of musicians playing instruments made variously in Paris, the Netherlands, Florence and Germany.

Like our Garden…a composition made beautiful because the world comes together in it.

Maybe you will like the music too.

 (feel free to donate to the musicians)

By the way, the character is singing the praises of a Plane tree (Platanus orientalis ) – No, I don’t think we  have one ..

*Five continents not 7 in the Gardens. Westerners had not reached Australia by the 1760s, and Antarctica,was a bit harsh

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To mark the 75th Anniversary of VE Day, Matthew Biggs looks into the origins and success of the ‘Dig for Victory’ campaign set up during WWII by the British Ministry of Agriculture.

Here below is his fascinating article sent from the Organic Gardening Catalogue 

Click on the link to the catalogue to find the full article

………………………

The 75th Anniversary of Digging for Victory – ‘Fighting on the Homefront’

“At 11.15 on Sunday 3rd September 1939, British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain announced that Britain was at war with Germany. With European ports closed, Britain’s supplies now had to come from across the Atlantic. But within hours, the Battle of the Atlantic also began, with the intention of starving Britain into submission.

In 1938, 55 million tons of food were imported by shipping and 90% of all onions from Europe – there was a vast chasm to fill. Now there was a war to be waged on the Home Front; the fight to feed the nation.

On 12th September 1939 a ‘leader’ in the London Evening Standard, by young journalist, Michael Foot, concluded with the phrase ‘Dig For Victory’. It rapidly became a rallying cry for all. There was an urgent need to educate the public and encourage them to ‘get gardening’.

The Royal Horticultural Society began lectures and demonstrations, a plethora of pamphlets, books and booklets were produced, Mr Middleton broadcast gardening advice on BBC radio at 2.00pm on Sunday afternoons and Lord Dedham, from the Ministry of Agriculture, announced the intention to create half a million allotments, raising the number to 1,330,000. All available land was to be used to feed the nation; stately home lawns, railway sidings, sports field’s, the moat at the Tower of London, lawns in front of the Albert Memorial, even a bomb crater in the grounds of Westminster Cathedral where all turned over to vegetables.

Everyone was encouraged to grow brassicas to replace vitamin rich citrus and bananas and to make their own compost heaps; the introduction of National Growmore in 1942 increased productivity in poorer conditions. They also began to wage war against another arch enemy – pests.

One vital crop was onions. In 1943, the Horticultural Committee of the Red Cross Agricultural Fund introduced a scheme to increase production by forming onion clubs of 12-20 members, who should aim to cultivate ¼ acre between them, to be sold to the NAAFI or Admiralty contractors, with the proceeds going to the Red Cross. If every allotment holder in the country gave 7lbs, 5 000 tons of onions would be produced.

Despite the pressures, an American Professor who visited England, in 1942 was astounded by the health of the people and at the end of the war, the ‘Dig for Victory’ campaign deemed a success.

Growing your own is still the only way to capture the flavour, freshness and natural goodness that kept Britain fighting fit until VE day. Let’s celebrate ‘Dig for Victory’ once again. Growing your own fruit and veg has many benefits – from saving money, reducing food waste and your environmental impact, to improving your physical and mental health through gentle outdoor exercise.”

Matthew Biggs trained at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, has been a professional gardener for over forty years and is a regular panelist on BBC Radio 4’s Gardeners’ Question Time. He has guested on numerous TV and Radio programs and has written books on a range of horticultural subjects from houseplants to vegetables.

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