Rock samphire, a plant with a story

Along the old railway line at the entrance to Folkestone’s Harbour Arm, there flourishes a rather special plant. It looks unremarkable enough, small and bushy with a branching structure of fleshy leaves topped by yellow flower heads, but this is a plant with a big history that’s inextricably bound up with humans, food, danger, survival and drama.

 

The name of this heroic plant is rock samphire, Latin name Crithmum maritimum, so called because it’s most usually seen growing on rocks and cliffs.

In the places where it’s growing by ‘our’ railway lines, the plants are at ground level, but the soil is poor and full of stones and, of course, very close to the spray-filled breeze from the sea.

 

 

 

 

For centuries rock samphire has thrived on the cliffs of Dover – and been gathered from the eroding tops of cliffs at great risk to life and limb. This we know partly because Shakespeare, who was familiar with Dover, wrote in King Lear: 

"There is a cliff whose high and bending head looks fearfully in the confined deep… The crows and choughs that wing the midway air scarce so gross as beetles; halfway down hangs one that gathers samphire, dreadful trade!". 

Local people, struggling to survive, would climb down on to the cliffs in early summer to pick the leaves, which were pickled in barrels of brine and sent to London, where it fetched an excellent price, being highly prized as a dish to accompany meat. Apparently street criers would call it ‘Crest Marine’. 

Photo: Karen Roe for White Cliffs of Dover

The samphire which has become fashionable recently to eat with fish is not the same plant – that is marsh samphire. Marsh samphire comes from a different family and grows at ground level close to the sea on salt marshes, as the name suggests. The first time I went to Samphire Hoe, close to Folkestone, I felt cheated because I didn’t see any marsh samphire. It was only later that I discovered that the name refers to the rock samphire plants that were successfully seeded on the cliffs when this land feature was created from the spoil of Channel Tunnel excavations. 

Rock samphire is equally nutritious as marsh samphire but has a more pungent, salty taste with hints of parsley and carrot. It is, in fact, a member of the carrot family. Rock samphire can be steamed or used sparingly in stir-fries, salads and sushi, and apparently when it’s pickled it goes well with smoked eggs. 

Rock samphire gin. Photo: Curio

 

Obviously it can also be used in drinks, as recently on the market is samphire gin. At 41% proof, this may be a drink for those with a constitution as hardy as the samphire gatherers of old!

 

A garden in the making and plant multiplication

In the high wall behind the harbour station platform, where expectant travellers to France once disembarked, is a faded wooden door that hasn’t been opened in years. On the other side of the door is something that looks almost like a ready-made garden. It’s all a bit Harry Potter… 

The garden essentially consists of a pile of large rocks with some plants growing on and between them, then outcrops of rock bedded in the shingle and beyond those clumps of sea kale spreading in a rather pleasing drift towards the sea. (Last week I called it sea cabbage, but this time I’m getting it right. Kale.) Oh, and there’s a rather random large bent metal mesh frame lurking by the rocks and a lot of old plastic bags and other rubbish. 

 

We surveyed the scene and discussed what to do to make this unexpected area look good and become useful. Obviously the rubbish needs to be cleared but the rock is weighty and a machine would spoil things. So we decided to clean up and then take stock and maybe balance the look of the rock by adding more plants and some strong structural or sculptural elements. You see, there are magnificent opportunities for you sculptors, engineers and people with an eye for this kind of thing. 

 

We might also create a pathway and/or patterns in the shingle. Then we will have an interesting, attractive area, a talking point for the way nature has behaved between the wall and the beach when given a few rocks and left to its own devices – and a sort of bonus garden area in the raw. 

Having made that plan on Monday, we started the exciting business of gathering seed and digging up plants from the specimens on the railway line. Exciting because, after a lot of talking, exploring and planning, we got our hands in among the plants for the first time. Seeds were gathered from: 

Plantago Lanceolata- Ribwort Plantain
Verbascum Thapsus- Great Mullein
Hypericum Perforatum- St. John's Wort
Lagurus Ovatus- Bunnytail Grass 

Impressive that we have the common names and the Latin names for precise identification – and they are so poetic. We also have our very own ‘nursery’ now, where we’ve lovingly placed the transplants, including rock samphire, in the hope they will thrive over winter to be planted out next year. So it’s a nail biting week to see whether our infants survive the uprooting experience and the weather as Folkestone basks in the hottest days of the summer.

 

A journey of discovery in maritime garden planning

Before we can create, we must conceive. Last Monday’s gathering of the Folkestone Harbour garden group was a breath taking journey of revelation and it’s starting to feel as though our garden areas will be brought to life through a process of detection and discovery that inspire the imagination. 

Which is, I suppose, a fancy way of saying that we explored the harbour railway yard and found a lot of promising materials and we examined the beach and railway line and found some exciting plants. Frankly this was quite a relief, since we have set ourselves the aim of using what already exists on site – and now we know that there should be enough choice of materials and flora to make that a practical – even exciting – proposition. 

Stone, timber and metal are traditional maritime materials used to make piers, harbours, defence walls, so they are very suitable for our gardens, combining well with shingle. 

 

We found a veritable mountain of large pieces of rock that can punctuate designs and act as sculptural objects in their own right.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were excited to see massive chunks of timber that once supported Folkestone’s pier; they are thought to be green oak from Canada and around 200 years old. We also saw the potential for frilly columns that have been removed from the building that was most recently Onyx night club. 

 

On the beach we were inspired by the impressive clumps of sea cabbage that thrive there. Could we transplant them? Should we transplant them? We might have to in order to save them when the seafront development starts. 

Louella and Wendy Ward are painstakingly examining the plants that currently flourish between the old railway tracks. They are posting photographs on the SALT: Shingle Garden Project Facebook page inviting ‘name that plant’. Even if you haven’t a clue, it’s fascinating to see the comments of those who know. 

On Monday we started to get to know the delicate yellow toad flax, Valerian with its cherry red flowers, willow herb whose seeds travel the railways, yellow horned poppies, which surely deserve to thrive for their name alone, the humble yet imposing thistle. And more random individuals like a seedling elderflower tree.

 

With every discovery come new challenges: 

Now that we are identifying a wide range of plants, we need to know them as annuals, perennials or shrubs, to decide whether transplanting, gathering seed or taking cuttings may be the best way to use or reproduce them in the garden. With the input of our Facebook readers, enthusiastic volunteers and our expert adviser, Frances Tophill, this process is underway.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now that we know there are materials with fabulous sculptural potential, we need sculptors to come up with ideas for fashioning them into wonderful art, paths and seats that will grace the garden areas. And people willing to handle an angle grinder, welding tool or paint brush to bring the ideas to life. Interested? Please contact Louella at louella@folkestonefringe.com

 

 

Folkestone Harbour's garden project is launched

Where Folkestone’s harbour railway rusts, long quiet of trains, nature has been blooming with a delicate determination. Now the faded industrial landscape and its thriving wild flowers have inspired a new community initiative - to create two areas of shingle garden close to the entrance to the Harbour Arm. 

The initiative was born out of Folkestone Quarterhouse and Folkestone Fringe’s regular brain storming sessions for their jointly created festivals. The Harbour Gardening Project is part of the SALT festival of the Sea and Environment taking place around Quarterhouse and the Harbour from 29^th September to 2 October https://www.quarterhouse.co.uk/festivals/salt-festival-of-the-sea-and-environment/

 

The project has been developed by Diane Dever, director of Folkestone Fringe, working with garden expert Frances Tophill, who knows the Kent coast and its species well. They decided to recruit volunteers to bring the idea to life and on Monday 8^th August the Folkestone Harbour Gardening Project was officially launched. 

In early evening sunshine an enthusiastic group of volunteers gathered and introduced themselves.Some are artists or like the idea of working communally outdoors. Others are interested in ecology and it soon became clear that a few are expert gardeners and horticulturists, especially landscape architect Bridget Robinson. 

From group discussions, two guiding principles quickly emerged. The first was an enthusiasm for utilising materials already on site – stuff that some might think of as ‘junk’, along with sleepers and

materials from the railway – to create sculptures and garden structures such as paths and seats. The second was to include plant species that are either already growing or would naturally thrive in this coastal landscape. 

Louella Ward of Folkestone Fringe is leading a small team to meet the challenge of identifying and recording the species of plants currently growing wild. Among them is samphire, from which nearby Samphire Hoe takes its name. The edible, nutritious leaves of the railway’s plants are already harvested by local restaurants as an accompaniment to fish dishes.

 

 

 

 

 

Another major challenge is that of trying to save the wild plants as their current location on the railway line becomes threatened by works being carried out. The old station environment is being restored to create a pleasant new walkway into the Harbour Arm – and also a space for the first brand new shingle garden. 

A second area of garden will be created in the courtyard known as the Enterprise Zone and one of the first tasks here is to clear a large area of fading hardware, from chairs to sleepers, and identify their potential as the makings of sculptures. 

The Folkestone Harbour Gardening Project meets every Monday from 6pm to 8pm at the entrance to the Harbour Arm and volunteers are welcome. For information on taking part or register your interest, please contact Louella Ward on louella@folkestonefringe.com. I'll be posting updates each week, so do check in.

Faith Warn