The Trees That Weren't: August 2026 at the Japanese Garden of Peace

August at the Japanese Garden of Peace was supposed to be a quick tidy at the main gate. It turned into the main job of the day, because once we started cutting it became clear that quite a few of what we had been calling trees were overgrown shrubs that had simply been left to run.

Around ten Friends turned out on a warm, still Sunday — clear when we arrived, clouding over by early afternoon, low twenties and no rain. Litter picking ran alongside everything else, as it always does, and the van went home filled to the brim.

Main gate | Shrubs that turned out not to be trees

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The gate has been a running job since April, and this month was meant to be a light tidy. What we found once we were properly in among the shrubs was that they that had been left long enough to pass for small trees, with branches crossing and scraping against each other throughout. Anything crossing had to come out, so we cut a good deal more than we had planned to, and gave the worst of them a first round of hard pruning.

They will look stark for a while; that is what hard pruning looks like in its first season. Getting them back into shape will take time — once they have recovered and put on new growth we will go back and continue, most likely next year.

Several branches were also scraping against a cherry planted nearby and had to be taken off. Between an overgrown shrub and a cherry, the cherry wins.

Laurel | Light pruning, and a feature in the making

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On the opposite side of the gate, the laurel we pruned hard earlier in the summer is shooting back from the stumps, and this month's job was the lighter one: going over that regrowth and taking off the shoots heading in the wrong direction.

Not all of them. On a couple of stumps further back from the main line, where two stools are growing across each other, we have left the shoots on deliberately. They are far enough back not to affect the line, and the criss-cross is interesting; the plan is to shape them as they grow and make a feature of it.

Ponds | Blanket weed, and a start on the reed

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A good part of the day went into the water. Blanket weed came out in rafts and went onto the bank to drain before bagging, and we made a start on the reed, which has run well out from the margins. That is a longer job than one session, and it continues next month.

Acers | Avoidable damage at the back of the stream

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The least welcome part of the day. Two branches on the acers at the back of the stream were damaged badly enough that they had to come off, and there were more broken limbs to clean up around them. We cannot say for certain what caused it, but the likeliest explanation is people hanging on the branches.

It is worth being plain about this because it is entirely avoidable. Acer limbs are long and slender and look stronger than they are; a person's weight on one is enough to break it, and what is lost is not a twig. The branches that came off this month were substantial — you can see them in the van.

If you are visiting, please enjoy the trees from the ground.

Rockwork | What the dry summer has cost

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Several of the younger shrubs planted on the rockwork have gone over entirely, brown from tip to base, while the established planting around them has held. That is the usual pattern in a dry year: anything in its first season or two has no root to fall back on.

The hill | Reopening the back

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We have restarted work on the hill, with the idea of opening up the area at the back of it further. This month was a start rather than a finish.

Bamboo | Cloud pruning, as usual

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The bamboo got its routine going-over. Cloud pruning is one of the few jobs in the garden that is never done and never urgent: thin out the dead and the crowded culms, keep the silhouette legible, and leave it looking as though nobody has touched it.

Green waste | A van filled to the brim

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Everything cut went out in a single load: ton bags underneath, gate prunings and acer on top, and the heavier cut timber along the floor. Filled to the brim.

Thanks | A long Sunday at the Japanese Garden of Peace

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Thank you to the ten or so Friends who gave a Sunday to the Japanese Garden of Peace, and who stayed with a job that turned out a good deal bigger than the one they had been promised.

Gardening days run monthly through the warmer months. No experience is needed and no equipment either; come as you are and we will find you a job.

We Filled the Van: July 2026 Gardening Day at the Japanese Garden of Peace

The Japanese Garden of Peace had one of its best turnouts of the year on Sunday 26 July, and by the end of the morning we had stopped counting bags and simply filled the van.

It was a hot, dry morning and the garden showed it: the grass in Hammersmith Park bleached to straw, the stream down to a trickle, and the ponds thick with blanket weed. Most of the day went into the water.

Ponds | Blanket weed, lily pads and a moorhen brood

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Most of the morning was spent in waders. Blanket weed came out in heavy green rafts and was piled on the bank to drain — worth the extra step, because a day or two on the grass gives snails, larvae and anything else caught up in it the chance to work its way back into the pond before the waste goes on the van.

The water lilies had the same treatment. Left to themselves through a hot summer they close over the surface completely, so the job is thinning rather than removal: pull back enough pad to open up clear water and reflections, and leave the crowns to carry on. It is slow work and it needs a team, and this was the part of the day where the teamwork really showed.

The moorhens approve. This year's brood is doing well, and at least one well-grown youngster spent the morning working the newly opened margins. Cleared water and a draining heap of weed are both good hunting.

Bamboo | Summer damage along the boundary

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The bamboo has taken a knock. There are snapped culms across several of the stands and a scatter of broken canes on the ground beneath them — more than a summer's wind would account for. School holidays and a busier park are the likeliest explanation, though we cannot say for certain.

The stands themselves are healthy and will grow through it. The one thing that helps, if you are passing, is to keep to the paths and stay out of the clumps: bamboo takes several seasons to recover its shape once the outer culms are gone.

Beds and paths | A parched July and a van-load of green waste

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July was hard on the planting. Some of what went in earlier in the year failed, sadly — established plants ride out a dry spell, but anything in its first summer often does not get the chance. The beds along the rockwork are carrying more brown than green at the moment.

Litter, at least, was not the problem it can be. The grounds team has been keeping on top of it and the garden was in good order when we arrived, which meant the morning could go on horticulture rather than rubbish.

We did not get a reliable count of bags, but what we can report is that the van went back full.

Thanks | A well-travelled turnout for the Japanese Garden of Peace

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Thank you to everyone who gave a Sunday morning to the Japanese Garden of Peace. Some walked round from a street away. Others travelled in from much farther away.

That is the best argument we have for this place: a survivor of the 1910 Japan-British Exhibition, tucked into a park in Shepherd's Bush, that people will cross London to work in. Keeping it that way takes hands, and we can always use more.

Gardening days run monthly through the warmer months. No experience is needed and no equipment either — come as you are and we will find you a job. Details of the next session are on the website and our social channels.

Alcohol in Public Spaces — A Consultation Worth Knowing About

Another one from the Council's consultation list, and this one also covers Hammersmith Park.

Hammersmith & Fulham is asking for views on renewing its borough-wide Public Spaces Protection Order covering alcohol consumption in public places. The consultation closes on 9 September.

The order gives police officers and authorised council officers the power to ask someone to stop drinking and to hand over or dispose of their alcohol — but only where their behaviour is causing, or is likely to cause, anti-social behaviour. It is not a ban on drinking in public. The Council makes that point explicitly, and it's worth repeating, because PSPOs are often reported as though they were. Refusing a lawful request can lead to a £100 fine or prosecution.

These powers have been in place in the borough since 2017. The current order came into force in October 2023 and expires on 19 October 2026. PSPOs are time-limited by law, so the Council has to consult afresh if it wants them to continue.

The Council has written to Friends of Parks groups directly, and has said it is particularly interested in hearing about specific locations and issues. If you use Hammersmith Park or the Japanese Garden of Peace and have a view either way, it's worth putting on the record.

Take part at the Responsible Consumption of Alcohol consultation page.

The Council's annual parks satisfaction survey is also open at the moment, closing on 21 September. We've written about that separately.