Wetland garden taking shape

Kew's Palm House Pond gets a makeover with a new marginal wetland planting in front of Museum No.1

20 Apr 2010

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Wetland planting Palm House Pond

The new wetland planting in development at the Palm House Pond

David Mann

David Mann, one of the Kew team working on the new wetland planting.

Visitors who have been watching the swans on their nest by the Palm House pond may also have noticed some activity around the water's edge over the last couple of months.

Ideas for a new planting scheme have been incubating for a year and a half, and the first phase is now complete. In the area in front of Museum No 1, Doug Brown and his team including David Mann have begun creating a marginal wetland garden, placing a pond liner half a metre down to inhibit water drainage and raise the moisture content of the soil.

 With the help of Jerry Plunkett and his trusty JCB the soil work took about three weeks and was followed by the planting of a variety of plants, including Molinia caerulea ssp.arundinacea, Primula florindae and Iris fulva, many of which have been propagated here at Kew.

Inspiration for the planting was mainly taken from Longstock Park Water Garden, owned by the John Lewis Partnership, where David spent a week while on a John Scott-Marshall travel scholarship studying plants, soil, wildlife and management, and learning about the pressures and threats on wetlands and their wildlife. The next phase is to plant another wetland area, develop the borders around the lake, and eventually to partially clear and develop the island.

Head of Section Stewart Henchie says ‘This wet marginal planting will enhance the whole area around the Palm House pond. So watch this space!’

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2 comments on 'Wetland garden taking shape'

Feedback team says

27/04/2010 12:00:00 AM | Report abuse

Thanks for your comment. We have only just planted the wetland garden so the plants are tiny at the moment. Check back in a month or so to see some new photos of our plants. They will have grown a bit by then.

says

22/04/2010 12:00:00 AM | Report abuse

Where are the plants? - could we have some photos of them?

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