Photos from the Unveiling of the Royal Scarecrows at Cottington Gardens

On Saturday I dropped by the Cottington Gardens community garden to visit their new royal scarecrows and had the opportunity to meet some very small Cottington gardeners!  It's great to see people gardening and growing flowers and vegetables in an urban setting, and the community garden has an immense variety of wildlife, flowers and herbs.  Feel free to visit, as it is open to the public!  The weather was unseasonably warm, and the Cottington Gardens residents enjoyed a barbecue :

Meet the bridge, Kate Middleton, the Royal Scarecrow.  Look carefully and you'll see a chain around her waist.  She's chained to the lamp post with her back to William.  A subtle comment on the state of marriage today or a security precaution?  There's no getting out of it now...

And here's William, not looking terrible comfortable, preparing for the big day.  I do love this subversive SE11 commentary on the Royal Wedding:

Lovely flowers in one of several "allotment" style community boxes:

Pink tulip close-up.  Beauty with a concrete backdrop.  This box belongs to the Little Starz nursery on Whitehart Street:

And here, there's an entire herb garden:

The sparkling, shiny new green house, opened on Saturday will allow the community to cultivate their plants:

This is a willow house (funded by the National Lottery).  The willow will grow up around it, and provide a tiny green space for children to play:

It looks like an load of old crates, but this is actually an upmarket bug hotel.  Diversity is taken seriously in this garden in this thriving haven for bugs...