Monday 19 November 2018

Awards 2018



On the 3rd November we raised our new Green Flag in the Rose Garden. This was after our phase 5 rose planting session.
Not only have we held onto our Green Flag status for yet another year, we also received another unexpected award.
As part of the Royal Horticultural Society's Britain in Bloom Awards, the Rose Garden was awarded a Certificate. John Booth invited the RHS to pay us a visit and they were clearly pleased to find that volunteers had created such a lovely green space, particularly the long, mixed herbacious border.

Interpretation Board


At one of our previous Green Flag inspection days, it was suggested that an interpretation board would be a welcome addition to the Rose Garden.

After lots of discussion and input from both Committee members and help from Wirral Council, the board was finally installed.


It is located along the top path by the entrance to the Quarry area. We hope it will be appreciated by all, but especially by younger visitors or school parties with their teachers.

Secret Gardens Plant Stall 2018

This year the Secret Gardens of Oxton event was held on Sunday May 13th.  This was our second year organising and running the plant stall.  We had beautiful weather on the day and lots of plant donations from local residents, along with plants we had divided from the Rose Garden long border.
We made some changes this year. Cloakroom tickets were used to speed up organisation of the plant creche, which was a great success and meant the stall ran more smoothly.

Many thanks to all those who donated plants and also those people who helped run the stall on the day. This year the stall raised £747.40 so well done everyone!

April 2018.

Now that the rose arches are installed, we set about the task of planting it up. Four climbing roses , two on either side of the double arch were planted. Those chosen to grow up and embellish our arches are called Blush Noisette and Claire Austin.



It was difficult to dig down deep enough as lots of sandstone was present. However, the roses were finally in.

Sadly, one of the Blush Noisette roses was stolen sometime during the weekend of the Secret Gardens event in May!  This will be replaced during our next phase of rose planting.

Litter Picking



We held another litter pick event on March 24th 2018.  These are regular events which aim to keep the Rose Garden, Quarry and Oxton Fields clean and tidy, safe for both the public and wildlife.

Although we have noticed a gradual decrease in the amount of rubbish on the Oxton Fields, the Quarry still seems to be an area where drinkers congregate. The number of empty bottles and cans found there is still much more than we would like. The bags show how much rubbish we collected in just 2 hours!

Wonderful Rose Arches.




On the 29th November 2017, our long awaited double rose arch was finally installed at the top of the Rose Garden.  It was custom made for us by Austrometal, led by Wolfgang Eibl.


This was an expensive addition to the Rose Garden which we hope will be a beautiful focal point and give lots of pleasure, clothed in climbing, scented roses for years to come.