Wildflower Meadow, Rain Garden & Mosaic Habitat Creation Days @ ORTUS Mosaic Garden (ORTUS Centre, Camberwell SE5)

Join us for a wildflower meadow creation day at the new wildlife garden of the ORTUS Centre. Over the course of these Fridays in June, we will be transforming the ORTUS garden lawns to create a rich and diverse habitat of native wildflowers for the enjoyment of pollinators, wildlife and the local community. We will also be carrying out a variety of biodiversity and habitat improvements in these participatory and educational sessions.

The soil we dig out will be used to create wildflower mounds and earth berms. We will also be digging and planting up rain gardens (swales or shallow trenches filled with free draining grit or moisture-holding wood chip). These will capture and absorb rainwater run-off and create habitat for different wildflower species, bees and other insects. 

We will be working on and learning about multiple other landscape elements that will help transform the ORTUS garden into a mosaic habitat (and that can be easily replicated in your home and community gardens): 

• dead hedge around the new pond
• an 'ephemeral pond'/bog garden at the bottom of the slope fed by rainwater collected by the swales 
• log pile habitats and seating around the pond and Tiny Forest
• sand banks for solitary bees, butterflies and other ground-dwelling wildlife
• standing deadwood chestnut stakes (habitat for bees, stag beetles, fungi and other creatures!)
• planting wildlife-friendly herbaceous perennials 
• Hot compost system (using yakisugi timber treatment method)

We hope the increased biodiversity and wildlife will also provide huge benefits to the wellbeing of the staff, service users and visitors to the ORTUS and Maudsley Hospital.

The sessions will be led by ORTUS gardener Ben and the ORTUS garden team. You are welcome to drop in at any time throughout the day! There will be a variety of different tasks to get involved in from seed-sowing and gentle weeding to digging swales and moving grit/sand in wheelbarrows. Please also free free to just drop by to say hello and enjoy the garden space - no obligation to do any physical work!

Everyone is welcome to join and all tools and gloves will be provided. ORTUS Centre will kindly offer all volunteers a free drink in the cafe and delicious lunches will be available for a reasonable price!

The workshop is generously funded by a grant from Southwark Council's Biodiversity Fund, which is helping us to carry out biodiversity improvements on the ORTUS garden throughout 2026 for the benefit of wildlife and the staff, service users and the local community at ORTUS, the Maudsley Hospital and the wider Camberwell area.

Accessibility, venue and what to bring

• ORTUS Centre is an events centre, work space, cafe and the home of the Maudsley Charity. The gardens and cafe are open to the public Monday - Friday (8am - 5pm)
• Address: 82-96 Grove Ln, London SE5 8SN
• What3words location https://w3w.co/fantastic.curry.lift
• We are about 5 mins walk from Denmark Hill overground station 
• Please call Ben on 07757268809 on the day if you have any trouble finding us
• Toilets and refreshments will be available inside the ORTUS Centre throughout the day
• The site is wheelchair accessible
• We will have all the equipment you need for the workshop, including tools and gloves
• Wear sturdy shoes and appropiate clothing if you'd like to get involved with planting (no obligation to!)
• Any other questions feel free to get in touch beforehand!