Refreshing our highway planters

Better Bankside has been given the green light by Southwark Council to re-plant several highway planters on Great Suffolk Street and Union Street.

Following on from a request by Hilton London Bankside re-plant the planters that line the northern end of Great Suffolk Street, our Urban Gardener, Dan, jumped at the chance to give them a re-fresh using drought tolerant and pollinator friendly plants sourced from the National Trust’s fantastic nursery in Morden.

Sourcing healthy and robust plants in London can often be a headache with high delivery costs and negative impacts on the environment, so Dan hopped on the underground with a backpack and two IKEA bags to reduce the impact of HGV’s entering Bankside and get a closer look at the selection of plants on offer. The National Trust uses peat-free plants according to a sustainable peat-free policy in UK nurseries that grow seasonal, hardy plants without artificially heated greenhouses. Some of the plants are grown in bio-degradable pots made from waste coir fibre (outer husk of coconuts) and natural latex that naturally break down back into the soil, reducing plastic waste.

As the planters were unloved for some time due to neglect and abuse, Dan introduced a mix of fresh compost, sand and gravel to improve the drainage, then added a selection of robust perennials and evergreens such as Stachys byzantina (lambs ear) of which attracts an incredible bee known as ‘the wool carder bee’ (Anthidium manicatum). The female cavity nesting bees harvest the cotton like material on the leaves and roll the fibre into soft, cotton like balls to line their nests.

Aside from their ecological benefit, we hope you can agree that the new planting and Hilton’s fantastic paint job showcases how even in a small way we can work together to better the neighbourhood, bees included!

We will be re-planting several other highway planters in the coming weeks, so watch out!