Wimbledon’s head gardener has revealed how his team keep hazardous caterpillars at bay at the world-famous grounds, to prevent them causing harm to players and tennis fans.
The All England Lawn Tennis Club is well-known for its immaculate topiary and floral displays - with British women’s no 1 Katie Boulter recently saying there is “not one hair out of place” on the pristine 42-acre grounds.
But head gardener Martyn Falconer told media on Wednesday morning there are “a few pests and diseases” staff have to contend with, including oak processionary moth and box caterpillar.
“Oak processionary moth is one that you have to be mindful of because you’ve got a caterpillar with some pretty nasty hairs and if they drop it’s going to cause problems,” he explained.
“So they’re dealt with in the early spring with some biological spray controls.”
The species lives and feeds on oak trees, and are named Oak processionary because of the way they travel up trunks in procession during late spring and early summer.
The government warns the caterpillars are covered in small hairs which can blow about in the wind and cause “itchy rashes, eye and throat irritations and occasionally breathing difficulties in both people and animals”.
Mr Falconer explained: “If you catch them early in the spring then they don’t get to that stage where they turn into a caterpillar.” He added that they do not use “nasty chemicals” to deal with the moths.
He described preparing the grounds for the Wimbledon fortnight as a “full-on” operation.
He said making sure the Boston ivy - a creeper that iconically clads Centre Court - shipshape “keeps us well-entertained”.
“All the leaves fall off the ivy, so there’s plenty of leaves to pick up,” he said.
“It grows quickly, so we’re cutting round the windows and vents probably weekly at the minute. It’s a fast-growing plant. It’s a labour of love.”
Mr Falconer said around 28,000 additional plants are brought in every year, on top of around nine to 12,000 petunias to brighten the borders.
Year-round, 12 full-time gardeners keep the grounds looking their best, planting around 11,000 bulbs to boost displays in autumn and winter.
But Mr Falconer said “it’s all about preparing for the Championships really”, with extra gardeners brought in during summer.
“We’re out there from 6am making sure things are as pristine for day one as day 14,” he said.
It has been a wet start to this year’s Championships. Rain suspended play on Tuesday afternoon, while a wet morning on Wednesday meant no matches could start until after 1pm.
Mr Falconer said gardeners are “always battling with the elements” to keep the grounds looking their best come rain or shine.
“It’s been slightly wet so that was a challenge early in the year,” he said. “We had two really nice weeks before the Championships - sometimes we’re a little bit reliant on luck.”
He also spoke of the Championships’ drive for diversity, with wildflower sites, sedum roofs, and its own compost system.
He said the site is hoping to go peat-free in the next couple of years.
Peat has long been used in compost, but campaigners are calling for this to end, as peat is dug from the natural landscape - damaging peatlands and releasing carbon into the atmosphere.
“We’re going trials at the moment to go completely peat-free on all our hanging baskets,” said Mr Falconer.
“We’re just trialling it to try and get all the feeding right so the display’s as good.
“Hopefully the year after [next] we’re hoping to go peat-free. It might take a couple of years - that’s not a given - we’ve just got to get it right. The problem without having peat is you lose that retention of moisture, so we’ve just got to try and replicate that and get that right.”
