The first weekend of the Fringe is packed to the brim with hidden community gems, new skills for you to learn and mouthwatering offerings. Events are listed by area & alphabetically below-happy planning!
Sat 21st May – see full saturday listings around the world here
PopFarm-Brixton
Free training session today from 10am-1pm. Visit the community garden which has ornamental and edible areas. Free training sessions run during the Fringe, on Thurs and Sat from 10-1.
Brixton Living wall
7:00 am – 5:00 pm – free. Brixton Living Wall was made from salvaged and recycled materials and planted as a solution to greening a derelict back yard space in Brixton on a low budget. See how to green up an awkward space for very little cost.
Camden Town Weed and Plant Identification Walk
11:00 am – 12:00 pm – free, please register. Learn to identify the tiniest seedlings and thus encourage the plants you want and stop those you’re not so keen on from becoming a nuisance.
Common Thread – A Knitted Landscape-Hackney
Common Thread have knitted a model of their beloved Common-on permanent display in Stoke Newington Library. Workshop today: Knitting the Common 2pm – 4pm, Stoke Newington Library – on how they set about designing and making the Common
The molecular cube: a hidden garden-Hackney
11:00 am – 5:00 pm-free. Drs Eva Galante and Christian Capelli present a “molecular” garden-combining art and science. Every Sat morning from 11 am till 1 pm during the Fringe Eva will be there to present the work and answer your questions.
What’s the buzz?-Hackney
From 12-5pm. Workshops running all day or just drop in, free. Lauriston School’s award winning vegetable garden hosts a range of art, craft and gardening workshops inspired by bees and other pollinators.
A Spring Clean-Hackney
2:00 pm – 4:00 pm-£13 – £16. Find out how servants used to clean the home in springtime, then create your own natural cleaning products using herbs and other ingredients. Inspired by Geffrye Museum’s free exhibition.
Damselflies in spring-Hackney
May 21 @ 2:00 pm – 5:00 pm-free. Escape the hustle and bustle of Chatsworth Road Market, enter through the charming walled-in yard to see mini installations, artefacts and original artists’ prints of all things floral.
‘Floriography: The Bureau of the Unsaid’-Hackney
1-5pm. ‘The Bureau of the Unsaid’ revives the Victorian tradition of expressing your deepest feelings with a bouquet. Visit this pop-up florist’s office, filled with flowers entirely made from paper and make your own coded bouquet.
Topiary on the Thames-Hammersmith and Fulham
Today 10:00 am – 12:30 pm join Jake Hobson, expert topiarist, for a demonstration day at Fulham Riverside, where he will be hosting a master class. Free event, but booking is essential as numbers are limited. Refreshments will be served.
Imagining The Wharf Garden: Guided tour-Islington
A ‘Guided Tour’ by foot and by boat of The Wharf Garden, a new 40 metre planting scheme located along the Regents Canal. Each tour will last approximately 30mins and spaces are limited, please register.
Heath Robinson Exhibition at Harrods-Kensington and Chelsea
12:00 pm – 9:00 pm – free. Harrods hosts a month-long Heath Robinson exhibition, showcasing the works of an innovative artist, cartoonist and social historian. With a wide range of illustrations, the exhibition honours the idea of the British eccentric.
New commission by Rachael Champion-Lambeth
10:00 am – 5:00 pm – artist Rachael Champion has created an artwork for a disused railway arch using materials commonly found on major construction sites and development projects- contrasting these with ecological matter.
Greenhouse Effect-Lambeth
11:00 am – 5:00 pm. Visit Beaconsfield Gallery Vauxhall and its SpaceShip Earth garden- a laboratory and hot house for emerging visual artists. With roof garden made entirely from upcycled materials and voluntary labour.
Telegraph Hill Open Gardens Trail-Lewisham
10:00 am – 2:00 pm – voluntary donations welcome for local charity This Trail will give you an opportunity to explore local gardens and community gardening projects around Telegraph Hill. In addition, there will be a Plant Fair at St Catherine’s Church from 1-4pm
Jardiniere-Newham
11:00 am – 4:00 pm – free. An interior scene displaying slate sculpture and vessels incorporating planting and floral arrangements; recreating a Fin de Siecle bohemian setting for printed textiles and original watercolours in the historic House Mill.
Floating Garden in Burgess Park-Southwark
11:00 am – 3:00 pm – Free. Join Artists at Art in the Park to make a floating garden on the lake in Burgess Park. You can contribute to a large flower or make a small flower. The floating garden will be launched on the lake on Sunday 22nd May between 11am – 2pm.
The Potting Shed – Tower Hamlets
Botanical-themed clay workshops in the courtyard gallery to celebrate the joy of early summer flowers. Make unique floral decorated plates-numbers are limited so booking is required.
Plants and People: Dyeing Workshop-Tower Hamlets
10:00 am – 3:30 pm – £45.00. Hands-on workshop including a walk around Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park, to forage for the bountiful supply of wild plants and flowers. create your own beautifully dyed textiles, using natural materials and sustainable processes.
Plants and People: Wild Food-Tower Hamlets
1.30pm – 3.30pm-£8-please book. Walk a foraging trail and learn basic plant identification techniques and how to sustainably harvest at Tower Hamlets Cemetery. Nibble on leaves, berries and roots and make your own wild salad.
Roundabout Refresh-Wandsworth
Enjoy the beautiful new landscape design for Queen Circus roundabout by Churchman Landscape Architects. Open for duration of festival-all welcome to enjoy, no booking needed!
Behind the Wall-Wandsworth
From 7am – 8.30am today, free tour of the New Covent Garden Flower Market. Only 20 places available on each tour so book now to avoid disappointment. Tour runs on Weds 1st June too.
Flowering of the Maidens by Red, Eden & Olive-Wandsworth
9.30am-4.00pm, drop in anytime. Free, no booking required. Get involved with a floral adornment of the garden statues at Brunswick House or browse an array of reclaimed and salvaged stock.
Fragment by Anna Flemming-Wandsworth
Today and tomorrow 11am – 5pm – platform 1 Gallery host an exhibition of recent works by Anna Flemming who is influenced by the practice of constructing artificial ruins as garden ornamentation. Part of Wandsworth Arts Fringe.
Edible Avenue – Pot it up!-Wandsworth
11:00 am – 2:00 pm – free. The Edible Bus Stop are holding a potting up event and are presenting their designs for the area for a community consultation. Plant up herb plants and nurture at home-replant into the scheme once the planters are built in June – or keep them!
A Very British HMQ90 at The Connaught-City of Westminster
8:00 am – 6:00 pm – free. The Connaught Hotel and Indoor Garden Design, RHS Chelsea Gold Medal winner, have created a “very British garden” at the entrance to the hotel in Carlos Place in celebration of the Queen’s 90th birthday.
Sunday 22nd May – see full sunday listings around the world here
Freedom Street Opening-Belgravia
5-6pm-free. Orange Square in Pimlico transformed into ‘Freedom Street’- decorated with colourful, floriferous planters. To celebrate our freedom and call for the same for Britain’s victims of modern slavery. Come along to enjoy the flowers, choir and sing-a-long.
PopFarm-Brixton – see saturday above
Brixton Living wall – see saturday above
Camden Town Weed and Plant Identification Walk – see saturday above
Common Thread – A Knitted Landscape-Hackney – see saturday above
The molecular cube: a hidden garden-Hackney – see saturday above
Damselflies in spring-Hackney – see saturday above
‘Floriography: The Bureau of the Unsaid’-Hackney – see saturday above
Blooming Bees-Hounslow
11:00 am – 3:00 pm-free. Come and find out about growing plants for bees, how bees are cared for and taste some honey. Pot up your own bee friendly plant to take away-garden trails for children will also be on offer.
Heath Robinson Exhibition at Harrods-Kensington and Chelsea – see saturday above
New commission by Rachael Champion-Lambeth – see saturday above
Greenhouse Effect-Lambeth – see saturday above
Fete and film – Lambeth
2-9pm. See some rarer herbarium specimens and books on display, at this botanical garden. At 9.00pm, they’ll be an outdoor botanically themed film, ‘Silent Running’- free.
Jardiniere-Newham – see saturday above
Floating Garden in Burgess Park-Southwark – see saturday above
Get Tied-Up – Temple
11:00 am – 3:00 pm Flower arranging with home grown blooms through free drop-in workshops taught by Andrea Brunsendorf, the Head Gardener at the Inner Temple. Take part in a workshop or just visit to enjoy the 3 acres of the garden.
Diggers-Temple
Singing at get Tied-up Temple today (see event above)-a gardeners’ choir-open to all they sing to support gardening initiatives or, occasionally, to protest. All welcome to come and sing-along to some well-known ‘garden’ songs.
The Potting Shed – Tower Hamlets – see saturday above
Plants and People: Folklore-Tower Hamlets
1.30-3.30pm-Free, but booking essential. Learn about the plants in the Cemetery Park and hear the folklore associated with them. Including herbal remedies, riddles and legends concerning plants and much more.
Roundabout Refresh-Wandsworth – see saturday above
Fragment by Anna Flemming-Wandsworth – see saturday above
A Very British HMQ90 at The Connaught-City of Westminster – see saturday above