The Verge
A brownfield garden and art project space in Yorkhill, Glasgow.
Long term permission has been given for this site to be improved for the community and environment. It had been derelict for over 25 years with local residents watching this space being used as a dumping ground. Brownfield sites often create a rich foundation for nature and their importance in our post industrial landscape is now being recognised.
Gaining permission for the site; Firstly I contacted Network Rail who informed it was not their land. Secondly contacted Glasgow City Council who informed that it possibly belonged to Glasgow Harbour. Glasgow Harbour informed that it was not theirs but did offer permissions for an expansive area of land around the corner to this site which has now became The Bee Garden, a community garden project. After performing a land registry search I was given a name and address of a man who lived on a farm in Aryshire. I wrote to him and a week later we spoke on the phone. He had no knowledge that the he owned the land and researched his families business history. He discovered that this business had owned areas of land in Yorkhill which had been sold off for development but this patch remained. He was keen that I nurtured the site and improved it for the community and the environment. Being a tree surgeon, and often upset by the cutting down of trees he felt strongly that this little area could create its own eco system to support biodiversity.
The blue marker shows the position of the site. This was the shipbuilding area of Glasgow and means the soil is most likely contaminated. Wildflowers thrive in this low nutrient soil.
Plant list; Bird’s Foot Trefoil, Wild Red Cover, Beacon Silver, Common Knapweed, Scentless Mayweed, Carline Thistle, Common Toadflax, Dandelion, Fox and Cubs, Ox Eye Daisy, Yarrow, Bronze Fennel, Herb Robert, Kindney Vetch, Bugle
This sculptural piece was for Glasgow Open House Festival, September 2021.
An artist led, non profit festival with over 125 artist showing work which could be viewed outdoors.
The Vegre brownfield garden, 2023.
In early 2024 Network Rail contacted me to say they needed to do major repairs on the rail bridge but they would reinstate the garden. The planting had established so it was very hard to see the site demolished.
In August, 2024 work began to remake the garden, with great help from Story Scotland.
Trees - Himalayan Birch, Witch Hazel, Mahonia
Plant List - Oxeye Daisy, Fox and Cubs, Hedge Bedstraw, Yarrow, Common Toadflax, Tansy, Birdsfoot Trefoil, Wild Red Clover, Self Heal, Wild Marjoram, Sweet Cicely, Columbine, Bittersweet, Bugle, Lesser Knapweed, Wild Angelica, Pepper Saxifrage, Wood Vetch, Sawwort, Nettle Leaved Bellflower, Ladys Bedstraw, White Stonecrop, Lesser Knapweed, Wild Carrot, Weld, Field Scabious, Meadowsweet, Crosswort, Vipers Bugloss, Wood Sage, Common Agrimony, Geranium Bill Walis, Euphorbia amygdaloides var. robbiae, Eryngium agavifolium, Centaurea macrocephala, Lamium galeobdolon ‘Silberteppich