Encouraged by planting in Kendor Gardens and elsewhere in the borough, last year I started the ‘Merton Park Daffs’ initiative, initially seeking to plant around the bottom of trees in Kenley Road. This idea for a bit of post-covid ‘guerilla gardening’, quickly expanded into a plan to plant daffodils in our grass verges. It seemed like a great thing to look forward to in spring each year, especially after the impact of Covid 19. Feedback was overwhelming and about 80 volunteers from the ward soon offered to help, including local schoolchildren. Each street nominated a representative to generate interest and co-ordinate their requirements for bulbs which were funded from our Ward Allocation Fund.
We planted 16,250 daffodil and crocus bulbs last year and the results came to fruition in March this year. You couldn’t help but notice the incredible transformation in many of our streets with the flowering of the daffodils coinciding with the cherry blossom. Residents were very proud that their efforts had improved the neighborhood and generated a great community spirit.
This year we want to plant bulbs in even more streets and improve coverage in some of the ones already planted to replace plants damaged by footfall. More people will now also be able to become involved. Unfortunately, however, this year the council don’t have the funds to support us through the Ward Allocation Fund. So, we’re very lucky that this year the John Innes Society have kindly offered to help us with some funding for the daffodils and we’re also grateful to have the support of Sean and his team at Evolution Creations. Many of our sponsors’ employees and volunteers live and work in Merton Park and we’d like to encourage other residents who have businesses in and around Merton Park to support us.
We’d like to raise £1500 this year and are already half-way there. All funds raised go directly to buying bulbs that are shared amongst the street representatives for planting in their streets. If you run a local business and would like to support us then you can get in touch with me at jason.besant@gmail.com or if you would like to make a personal donation then you can do so via our Just Giving page https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/merton-park-daffs.
We plan to start planting in late October, so if you’d like to volunteer to help then you can find out more by contacting me or joining our Merton Park Daffs group on the NextDoor app at https://nextdoor.co.uk/g/n2pzf1rub/
Jason Besant
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