Great news! All the old Japanese spindle that Building Green and the council moved from Concorde 2 to their new home on Madeira Drive green wall are showing signs of growth!
Later this spring volunteers from Building Green will be planting even more as part of the long term project to restore the longest, oldest green wall in the country.
Green Architecture Day comes to Brighton again this year on 30 March.
Some great speakers lined up including Duncan Baker Brown, Kate Scanlon and Oliver Heath.
Building Green will be there, come say hi.
Great to see the green wall featuring alongside the precious Madeira Terrace in the artwork on the new community container.
The container contains an office and other facilities for local community groups to use. Building Green will be!
Artwork features Japanese Spindle – the main feature of the Madeira Drive Green Wall, these plants are now almost 150 years old. It also features hoary stock – one of the rarest native plants that has been found along the green wall. Hoary stock has another name…’Hopes’. Seems apt!
Unfortunately we couldn’t raise the funds to green the container itself…a green roof, or some living walls would have been even better. To see what’s possible with a shipping container, go here and here.
It would be easy to take for granted what it takes to keep the longest, oldest green wall in Europe in good condition. Especially when the work is managed by volunteers, doing it for the love, the friendship and the exercise that comes with it!
Here they are, Portslade Green Gym, in action at Madeira Drive Green Wall this week, keeping the Spindle and beds in great condition, and a stretch of wall ready for receiving new Spindle plants in the Spring… A huge thank you to all the Green Gymers – we appreciate you!
A great start to the National Year of Green Action (YOGA)!
After…and before! The Duke’s Mound end.
The first new shoot has appeared growing on the newly transplanted Japanese Spindle. Fingers crossed they all spring to life this Spring!
And thanks to the Council, new guidewires have been installed to help these and other recently coppiced Spindle plants re-establish and grow up the cliff.
Seen here – the old Victorian guide wire tensioners…and the modern stainless steel version (hopefully even longer lasting).
February edition of Coast includes a short but sweet article on Madeira Drive green wall.
Work is complete to transplant 12 Japanese Spindle trees to their new home on Madeira Drive Green Wall.
Thanks to volunteers, the Council, and their contractors, these trees should grow up like their 150 year old neighbours, and help restore another section of the UK’s oldest, longest green wall.
They were saved from building work above Concorde 2, and are each approximately 40 years old.
Coming up:
Volunteers and donations or sponsorship from local businesses are welcome.
Brighton carnival in front of Madeira Drive green wall. Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove
Great to see some ‘old man’s beard’ aka ‘travellers joy’ along the Madeira Drive Green Wall this week.
You will also know it as Clematis – this is ‘Clematis vitalba‘, which is native to the South of England. The ‘joy’ comes from the feathery seed heads which add interest to an otherwise usually barren hedgerow in the run up to Christmas. In this case, it is surrounded by flowering ivy and fruiting Japanese Spindle, a great mix of plants for wildlife as evidenced by the birds, bees and other insects making the most of the seeds and nectar late in the season.
Just one of the 100 species of plants now found on the UK’s oldest, longest green wall.
Well, sort of. Fatboy Slim – Brighton’s own Norman Cook – was previously in the band Housemartins, most well known for their cover of Caravan of Love.
Fitting then, that the most recent birds seen at Madeira Drive were house martins…flying and feeding along the Madeira Drive Green Wall in preparation for their long migration to Africa. Fatboys and girls they need to be to get the energy for the 1000 mile trip…
Just some of the wildlife recorded on the oldest, longest green wall in the UK.
You’ll need to wait to March to have a chance of seeing another in Brighton & Hove. In the meantime…come and join the caravan!
Volunteers from the local community have been helping dig holes ready for more tree planting this week on Madeira Drive – the location of the oldest, longest green wall in the UK.
The project is saving some 40 year old ‘Japanese spindle’ plants, and giving them a new home, as part of a wider vision to restore the green wall to its former glory. The plants have been coppiced – cut back hard – but should grow and one day could be as tall as their 140+ year old neighbours!
Volunteers included the first vegan design certified interior designers Materialise Interiors.
Brighton & Hove Building Green 