Dike, Sophie and Sallyann ran to the task, the rest of us met at the garden on the corner of Blundell street and Wapping. For a lot of Good Gymers the last time they had seen the garden was in the dark so it was lovely to see it in the beautiful early evening sun with so much in bloom.

Elaine was there to explain what was growing. Ema commented that the garden had the look of a hot climate garden and Elaine said that care had been taken to grow a variety of plants that could survive any climate. She said that the garden also had late bloomers so, when the rest of Liverpool has stopped flowering, the bees can come here for a late season party. There was towering globe artichoke, Fennel, Evening Primrose and lots of Salvia. There was an alpine sea holly that was such a vivid blue, if you’d painted it you’d be told that the colour was too vibrant. There was Jerusalem Sage that had pretty bulbed heads on stalks which apparently turns yellow in late summer. Elaine said that this shrub had spent some time spreading its roots before flowering. Elaine has to decide which plants are taking over the space but she said that now it is more about taking plants out that are getting too prolific rather than planting new ones.

And so, to the job in hand, which pesky plants are we culling this evening? Elaine explained to us that it was the grass that was taking over. She explained it was the flat leaf grass we wanted rid of and other varieties were ornamental and should stay. We set about rooting out this grass and some of us litter picked. The site is right next to a fast food restaurant so litter is a problem. While we were working a young lad went passed on his bike and shouted, ‘because of people like you, the world is a better place!’