Elizabeth Daryush Memorial Garden, Boars Hill - Saturday, 22nd November 2025

Blog by Sally. Photos by Michele and Sally

On Saturday, 22nd November, nine Green Gymmers braved a wet November morning to join consultant ecologist, Rod d'Ayala, at the lovely Elizabeth Daryush Memorial Garden at Boars Hill, which is one of Oxford Preservation Trust's sites boasting some rather rare (for Oxfordshire, particularly) acid grassland.  We needed a variety of tools for all the tasks we'd been asked to do - saws and loppers for removing encroaching scrub, rubber gloves and black bin liners for removing Crassula helmsii from the pond, scythes for cutting vegetation and bramble that the tractor could not reach when the grassland was cut, rakes and pitchforks for removing the cut material and the tree popper for removing young trees to prevent the grassland from becoming a wood.  The tools were carried to our usual "base camp" next to the bench under a sweet chestnut tree by the pond, where Rod gave instructions to the group.

After Rod's briefing it's time to choose the tools for the job

No, it's not the Grim Reaper, but Jim making a head start on scything around a tree near to the pond where the mower could not reach

Work starts on clearing the Crassula from the pond edge and removing sprouting scrub

One of the tasks was to make a start cutting back this bramble patch, which was too much for the mower to tackle as it creates a thicket making it difficult for the farmer to spot hidden hazards.  The bramble is encroaching on the acid grassland, which we are trying to conserve for the specialist flora and fauna that thrive on it, including wood sage.

Making room for the broom, which has beautiful scented yellow flowers and is one of the acid heath plants that is being encouraged to grow in order to increase biodiversity.

An old nest found in amongst the bramble

David removing Crassula helmsii from the pond.  This is an invasive non-native aquatic or semi-terrestrial plant from Australia and New Zealand and was the first plant to be banned from sale in the UK.  It might be small (growing only less than an inch in height), but it's a mighty threat to native UK flora as it forms dense mats, preventing other plants from flourishing.  It's painstaking work, as each tiny piece of Crassula needs to be removed and bagged up.  We filled three black sacks with it.

Rod raking up

Rosie heaps the vegetation which Jim scythed onto a drag sheet.  The cut material was heaped onto an existing dead hedge, which will provide valuable shelter for a number of invertebrates, small mammals and birds over winter.

Dieuwke also cut back the overgrowing holly from around the entrance gate to the Garden, which she managed to finish before she and Lesley had to leave at break time.

Break time!  But a Cardinal Sin had been committed as the Green Gym biscuits (the stuff of legend!) had been forgotten by Sally. Grin and bear it wasn't just about the weather!

Rosie, Simon and Rod finish up clearing away the cut bramble and "popped" trees from the bramble patch.

The Broom revealed.  The extra light to the bare ground will give its seeds a better chance to germinate.

We were lucky in that the rain was not torrential and it did dry up for us part way through our session.  We didn't let the weather (or the lack of biscuits!!) dampen our spirits and Rod seemed rather pleased at our team effort.  It's work in progress and we look forward to returning to the site to continue the good work - remembering to bring the biscuits next time, of course!  Sally won't live this one down in a hurry, that's for sure!