Gardeners create beautiful living wall inspired by ball’s Where The Wild Things Are theme
If you’ve passed through Green Templeton College’s Lankester Quad in recent days you may have noticed a new addition to the landscape: a beautiful living wall.
The beautiful living wall is situated in Lankester Quad
The eye-catching burst of lush plants and colour was created by Head Gardener Michael Pirie and Assistant Gardener Carolyn Serra, after the Green Templeton Ball Committee 2019 first floated the idea of a living wall that complemented this year’s ball theme, Where the Wild Things Are.
In March, the committee contacted Michael to ask if a living wall could be built that reflected the wonderfully vibrant world imagined by author Maurice Sendak in his classic 1963 children’s picture book.
Assistant Gardener Carolyn Serra explaining the features of the living wall during its construction in June 2019
Michael and Carolyn were inspired by Sendak’s illustrations of animals dangling from tree branches, surrounded by luscious foliage, and began creating a jungle-esque wall filled with draping plants and floral displays.
The base of the structure was crafted from plywood, with paving grids slotted together to keep the contents in place. A mixture of compost and grit was used to ensure the wall wouldn’t be too heavy or get too waterlogged.
The base was created with plywood
Paving grids were used to keep the mixture of compost and grit in place and secure the plants
Features of the wall include these stunning Calibrachoa
To bring the magic of the jungle to Green Templeton, the winding grasses forming the tree trunk-like structure at the centre of the wall are Ophiopogen planiscarpus ‘Nigrescens’, surrounded by Aglaomorpha cor ferns.
Woven throughout are trailing plants Calibrachoa, Alyssum ‘Wonder White’, Lobelia ‘Cobalt Blue’, and Herniaria glabra.
Parsley and chamomile were dotted around the wall to provide a wonderful scent on a sunny day, while the ball committee added their own carnations for extra vibrancy and colour.
The wall has been a popular spot for photography, with students cocooned by greenery as they pose for pictures, as if transported into Sendak’s magical world. It will be situated in Lankester Quad throughout the summer.
You may also like to view Michael and Carolyn’s stunning Garden of Ancient Greece in the Radcliffe Observatory gardens opposite the greenhouse, which contains allusions to the world of classical antiquity and the architecture of our iconic observatory.
🌌 Last weekend, Green Templeton welcomed Nobel Prize-winning astronomer Professor Brian Schmidt for the latest event in our Astronomy for All series.
Professor Schmidt took a packed audience on a journey through more than 13 billion years of cosmic history, from the Big Bang to the distant future of the Universe. He explored what we know about the cosmos, how we know it and some of the biggest mysteries that remain.
The lecture was chaired by Governing Body Fellow Rob Fender, Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Oxford, and continued our celebration of Green Templeton’s connections with Oxford Astrophysics.
Our Oceania Alumni Group is on a roll after successful events in Sydney, Brisbane and last night in Perth.
We`re very thankful to the group`s committee for their energy, commitment and hard work in bringing the community together. It’s wonderful to see connections being strengthened, engagement growing, and the alumni community going from strength to strength.
Exciting times ahead!
If you would like to join a local alumni group, let us know!
Our EMBA and MBA alumni joined us on Friday for our last outdoor afternoon tea of the year.
Alumni from across the globe reunited with old friends, made new connections, and shared their career journeys since Oxford.
Our host, Vice Principal Professor Jonathan Reynolds, welcomed the group and shared the latest developments at Green Templeton College. Most importantly, he reminded them that here, they will always belong.
We can`t wait to welcome more of our community this week for Meeting Minds. We still have a few spaces for alumni wanting to join our college-based events (link in the comments).
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There’s lots happening behind the scenes as work continues on the Radcliffe Observatory.
Here is a peek behind the scenes at the progress so far…
A wonderful evening for the Green Templeton community in Sydney. It is always special to see alumni reconnecting and making new connections wherever they are in the world.
Thank you to Oceania Group and everyone who joined the group’s inaugural annual dinner.
The group’s next gathering takes place in Brisbane on Tuesday 8 September – another welcome opportunity for our alumni and friends in the region to connect.
A great start to what we hope will become a growing tradition for the college`s community across Oceania.
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