Last Saturday Phibsboro' Village Tidy Towns celebrated the launch of Villa Bank Biodiversity Garden. This beautiful space is the culmination of five years work, mainly by our Biodiversity Group, to create a haven for nature from waste ground, filled with native plants which provide a habitat for pollinators.
The garden was officially launched by Lorraine Bull, Biodiversity Officer with Dublin City Council, and we celebrated the occasion with music courtesy of Ava Flynn and refreshments provided by both volunteers and The Bohemian Pub, and tree-hugger decorations made by the Phizzfest Stitchers. Members of the Biodiversity Group gave tours of the garden to visitors. These were kept to limited numbers to minimise the risk of trampling the vegetation and disturbing the insects. In addition there was face-painting by volunteers and a scavenger hunt designed by the Biodiversity Group to highlight the most important species in the area.
The Villa Bank Biodiversity Garden project began with Mountjoy Prison giving the use of the land adjacent to the car park which was strewn with rubble and overgrown with invasive plants. The group gradually cleared the space, prepared the ground and planted it with a beautiful mix of trees, shrubs and plants, to create a corridor of native vegetation which is specifically designed to appeal to pollinators, such as bees and butterflies.
Also there on Saturday were Kaethe Burt O'Dea from Bí Urban, who gave away packets of seeds and shared information on how to support native planting and save feral honeybee populations, and wildflower grower Ger O'Halloran from Connecting Cabra, with a hands-on plant workshop. The Biodiversity Group also gave away plug plants, with help from Reilly's Community Garden. We also met groups including Dublin Community Growers and a number of public representatives, including Councillors Declan Meenagh, Joe Costello, Colm O'Rourke and Senator Mary Fitzgerald.
The Biodiversity Group meets fortnightly at Villa Bank Garden, and the next meeting will be Wednesday 21st June, from 6.30pm. New volunteers are always welcome. Further information can be requested from phibsborotidytowns@gmail.com or you can follow our social media for more details.
