` Gardens

from St Ives Local, JulyAugust 2022

and 32 Art

Garden Stories: King George V Memorial Walk

Vibrant blue agapanthus spikes, fluffy red bottlebrush blooms, and the sunny yellow flowers of euryops … Hayle’s stunning subtropical garden, King George V Memorial Walk, is at its brilliant best in these days of high summer – just in time for a visit by the judges from Britain in Bloom in late July.

Hayle has won many awards in the competition over the last 20 years, and the Walk – run by the town council – has played a vital role in that success, with its gardeners working closely with keen volunteers from the Hayle in Bloom group. For head gardener Olivia Pellowe, judging is always quite a nervewracking time. “I always hope there won’t be any rain in the weeks before the judges come, because I don’t want weeds to sprout up when they’re here!” she says. “We try to make the Walk look pristine, and show off the best bits of what we’ve done over the last year.” However, the focus over the two years of the pandemic has been to maintain the garden rather than carrying out any new projects. The Walk was created along a disused railway line – which once ran through the centre of Hayle – in memory of the Queen’s grandfather, following his death in 1937, and featured flower borders, ponds and a plantation of both British and non-native trees. Twenty years on, ivy was rampaging in the beds and brambles stretching across the path – but the Walk was soon knocked into shape by Russell Symons, who became head gardener in 1969. He introduced shrubs such as pittosporum and buddleia which he had grown at home, along with 200 dahlia cuttings, which he split to create around 2,000 new plants. The Walk’s next gardener, Mike Kemp, who took over when Russell retired in 1992, brought in exotics such as fan palms and bamboo, which thrive in the garden’s mild climate and sheltered setting. Mike once described it as “a garden for all season – there will always be something in bloom, even in January”. Mike created a sensory garden, a jungle and an architectural bed, where yuccas and trachycarpus grow around the old sluice gates which were used at Copperhouse Pool, which runs alongside the Walk, for more than 100 years. It was Mike who launched the Hayle in Bloom group. Olivia, who took over from him as head gardener in 2014, has continued this tradition of community involvement. In recent years, children from Bodriggy Academy have built a bug mansion and planted wildflowers and herbs. When Hayle Surf Life Saving Club donated a boat, it became the central feature of a flower bed and was framed by sand and marram grass, to make it look as though it had been beached. “We weren’t sure if the salt content of the sand might affect the plants, but it looks really good,” says Olivia. “And the plants are mostly ones you would see near a beach – evening primrose, poppy, red valerian, thrift and sea holly.” The Walk’s waterfront setting has proved the perfect place for the boat – and for Olivia! “One of the things I love about this job is being so close to Copperhouse Pool and watching the birds – we get some really unusual ones,” she says. “It’s a very peaceful place.”