A Triangle of Tranquillity

One of the many things I have always loved about London is its ability to continually surprise you.  London's garden squares take after the city and are often astonishing finds.   When I discovered this garden square, Formosa Garden, it simply took my breath away.  This is the entrance to it.  No imposing gate or railings through which the outsider is enticed to peek.  Just a solid, impassable barrier, with no hint, and with no leaf or plant peeking out to give you a clue as to what you might find behind.

At first the view isn't very promising, and it is only when you reach the end of this side path that the garden reveals itself.

A huge triangle of green stands before you, bordered by pruned plane trees, which stand guard between the garden and the backs of long terraces of houses.  Coming in at about three acres in size, this is an amazing space to have to yourself as you step out from your back gate.  A mini Highbury Fields or a Clapham Common in fact.

Far off, off-centre from the middle of the garden, one plane tree has been allowed to show off its true form.  It's a lovely reminder of what all the trees could have grown into, but being practical, it's not unreasonable that they have been pruned over the years to accommodate the enjoyment of the space by residents.  However, some of the trees are now showing their age and many only have 15 to 25 years of life left. 

Plans have been drawn up by garden designer Mark Lutyens to change the garden as the plane trees die in future years.  The plane trees will be replaced with British broad-leaf trees and little garden glades are being created in various scattered locations across the garden.  This process is also being managed by the gardener, Robert Player, from Garden Associates, and Westbourne Block Management.

The residents have been consulted and feedback from them has been taken into account in the final design. The essential nature of the garden as a secret place will remain.  Formosa Garden, and its nearby sister gardens, Crescent Gardens and Triangle, were created in the 1860s with a different concept to the well-known garden squares of Kensington and Notting Hill, which flaunted their wealth and tantalised passers-by who peeked through the railings.  Here at Formosa Garden the idea from the start was to retain secrecy and not be visible to the riff-raff of the day. 

You can see here the new trees being planted, each surrounded by a protective piece of ground, some bordered by low, natural fencing.

The new glades  incorporate different plantings .  There is a Mediterranean bed with a Mediterranean olive tree and a copper beech tree with shrubs.

Residents pay rent for their garden, under a rent charge deed issued in 1981-2 by the Church Commissioners, who used to own Maida Vale, where the garden is located.  The new design, incorporating open space with pockets of planting, has been through five meetings to thrash out and explain the changes and seven or eight draft plans - a good example of consultation to create beauty from the back windows of the houses.  As I left the garden, the houses began to take over the space as the path led up to the exit, and I turned sadly to recall the magic of the garden beyond.  A quiet place in the day, and busier in the evenings when families return home from work and school, this garden will only be open to the public over Open Garden Squares Weekend, on the afternoon of  Sunday June 18th.  With the weather forecast set to be fair and sunny (fingers crossed), it's time to stride out and visit a hidden gem.

This year there will be a new Hidden Gem Treasure Trail,  and you can find all the details on our Open Garden Squares Weekend website.   Look for the logo shown above and fill out the entry form.   Visitors can visit four 'Hidden Gems' and enter a competition for a unique opportunity for tea at Duck Island Cottage, shown below. Formosa Garden is a prime example of a hidden gem garden in London.  Don't miss it.

Further information on visiting Formosa Garden on Open Garden Squares Weekend.

Where have all the graveyards gone?

Vestry House is one of our 31 new gardens for 2017 - opening for the very first time to the public on the Sunday.  Small but perfectly formed, it has been created on the site of the graveyard of St Laurence Pountney parish church, which was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666 and never rebuilt.   You can see here one of the sarcophagi which would have filled the space in times gone by.  The planting tubs complement the tomb which remains and when I visited they were spilling out  tall black tulips and the ferns had just unfurled their new fronds. 

In fact, many of the gardens in the City of London used to be churchyards in an earlier life.  Some churches were burnt down  in the Great Fire and others were bombed during the London blitz.  In the intervening Victorian period, an act was passed which turned many of the City's churchyards and burial grounds into gardens.  Most of these churchyard gardens are owned by the diocese (or the Bishop of London) and are managed by the City of London Corporation.  But Vestry House was sold about six years ago and its new owners, Eduard Truell and Cedriane de Boucard/Truell, have been taking their horticultural responsibilities seriously.  Vestry House is the London office of Disruptive Capital (their business) and the Eduard Truell Foundation (a Conservation Foundation), and just across the lane is the Rectory House garden, the sister garden to Vestry House.  Alas Rectory House is not open to the public, but you can peek through the railings as you leave.  It was built after the Great Fire of London, and stands on parts of an old Roman wall and palace.  It has had a variety of owners including wine merchants and the l'Anson family, and the front garden is also a bit of the old churchyard of Laurence Pountney church. 

As you stroll down Laurence Pountney Hill, you will find the garden on the corner on your left, a street up from the River Thames, protected by sturdy iron railings adjacent to Vestry House.  Passing through the gate, there is a striking display of bamboo wigwams set inside box hedging, with a variety of David Austen roses to scent the air.  In the winter months the hellebores hold sway here.   

On the path ahead of you are two arches of blue wisteria. Despite all the tender care of Marion Blair, the Head Gardener from Lavenders Blue, they have stubbornly restricted themselves to leaves for the past four years - but her magical touch and a heavier hand with the secateurs this year have produced the first flowers, still seeking cover amongst the greenery, below. Across the road, a white wisteria is much more forthcoming with its flowers.    

Marion has introduced woodland planting to the garden, bringing in  bio-diversity with herbaceous plants and bulbs.  And the flowers have loved the extra sunshine which the pruning of a very large London plane tree has created.   

Once through the wisteria arches, there is a quiet meeting area, used by the staff in Vestry House.  Geum 'Tangerine' and fresh, new hosta leaves, with a camellia hedge or espaliered fruit trees (pear and apple) in the background give this space a restful feel for meetings. 

The lines of the garden from east to west help to elongate the small space and draw the eye onwards.

Acers flourish in the mixed woodland planting.   The challenge of the garden has been the shade, but Centaura, hydrangea, begonia, Dicentra, Alchemilla mollis and white cyclamen have settled down happily with foxgloves, proving the old adage of right plant for the right place.    From this location, you can get a glimpse of Rectory House and garden across the road from Vestry House .

In the summer the tulips in this sunnier area of the garden will be replaced with Verbena bonariensis and Gaura, in a theme which will combine red, orange and purple flowers and there will also be a sweet pea wigwam.  The children at the St Paul's Cathedral School are busy working on an insect hotel, and we hope the bees will be delighting in the new flowers and visitors will come and take time to pause and smell the roses.

More information on visiting Vestry House on Open Garden Squares Weekend

Three Gardeners and an Ice Cream Man

I

Bina Gardens East is a privately owned delight of a garden, hidden by houses and railings off the Old Brompton Road.  When you enter the garden you are greeted by a magnificent specimen of a wedding cake tree (Cornus contraversa 'Variegata'), whose branches reach outwards in symmetrical, horizontal layers. 

The leaves are tiny at first, like this, but flesh out as summer comes, until the tree stands proudly for everyone to admire its layers, just like a traditional wedding cake.

When Alice Ulm, the garden's owner, first saved Bina Gardens East, she found the tree surviving as a tiny stump about two foot high.  It stayed that height, sulking, for about five years until it decided it had better get on with growing and has never looked back.

Bina Gardens East guards its charms from the world and has to be discovered by strolling along from Gloucester Road tube station, until you find Dove Mews, and peer through the railings.  The garden was laid out by the Gunter Estate in the 1880s, and some of the original rope-edged tiles for delineating the paths still remain.  James Gunter (1731-1819), whose wealth from confectionery secured the original purchase of the land, specialised in ice cream, a treat much loved in the Georgian London of the day. 

The shelter provided by the houses around has resulted in several hot spots - with an orange tree showing off its oranges in one corner when I visited - alas it is still not hot enough to eat the oranges.  But the gardeners have been inventive with plantings in hot corners, and banana trees coexist happily alongside echias and ginger lilies.

Although the garden is privately owned, it is shared with residents of the neighbouring streets, who can subscribe to use it, with all the proceeds of their annual fee going to the garden.  Some other private garden squares in Kensington have formal committees with the rent historically collected by the council with the rates, an advantage for an assured income of a garden square; but in Bina Gardens East they collect the subscriptions themselves.  Less committees, more gardening.  

The use of modern statues and ornaments draws the eye along paths and down into the depths of the garden.  Care has been taken in restoring the garden to try to follow what was left of the original layout of paths and in one corner a knot garden has been planted.  After the garden was first created by the Gunter Estate, ownership changed and at one stage it was owned by Falkner House School nearby until it was put up for auction, Alice Ulm bought it, and became a very proficient gardener, learning on the job as she restored it.  

In actual fact, three gardeners are the mainstay and backbone of the garden.  Alice Ulm, on the left is the owner gardener, Lisa Simmonds in the centre is the Head Gardener and Susie Maier on the right is the assistant gardener.  Here they are in March, with the garden already green and pleasant around them so early in the year.  Alice and Lisa have a long history of gardening in Kent and they all agree that Lisa, with her lifelong passion for plants and horticultural knowledge "basically tells us what to do".  Susie's horticultural knowledge has also developed since she started helping them at Bina  Gardens East and they were all instrumental in different ways in saving the garden.  A true friendship of a shared love of horticulture.    

They work jointly on new projects each year.  Last year the bed by the railings behind this bench had red-leaved bananas to contrast with the green  of euphorbia, and was  topped by the cup and saucer climber (Cobaea scandens) shown below.  It had continued to flower throughout the winter.  You'll have to visit in June to see what they transform the bed into for 2017.  Whatever they decide, the new plants will be clearly labelled - the labels with full Latin names come out in the summer, courtesy of Lisa.

A wall on one side of the garden was covered in the star-like flowers of Clematis montana.  Nearby in summer the hot lips salvia (Salvia argentea) blooms brightly in red, and elsewhere you will find a variety of shrubs and plants including several tree ferns,  Chinese privet (Ligustrum lucidum), Skimmia reevesiana, Viburnum x bodnantense, and climbing hydrangea (Pileostegia viburnoides) to name but a few.

The Echium pininana, shown above, delighted visitors in 2016, and they are hopeful it will perform again in 2017. 

And this is what, in their different ways, three gardeners and an ice cream man saved for posterity - the garden in all its splendour in summer.  In 2017 Bina Gardens East has been chosen as a 'Hidden Gem', so look out for it in the Open Garden Squares Weekend guidebook and see if you can complete the 'Hidden Gems' competition and win a unique invitation to tea at Duck Island Cottage in St James's Park.

Information on visiting Bina Gardens East on Open Garden Squares Weekend »

Windy times

I visited Winterton House Organic Garden on a cold morning just after storm Doris had wreaked its destructive winds over London gardens.  A large shrub had been uprooted but although the garden sits in a wind vortex zone at the foot of Europe's (yes, really, Europe's) tallest brick-built residential block (24 storeys, no less), it had survived the storm relatively unscathed.  It is set near the heart of Shadwell in East London and has been rightly chosen as one of our 'Hidden Gem' gardens for 2017.

You can just about make out the small group of allotments at the back of the garden in this photo by their green plastic polytunnels, and see the trees which flank the land on the other side.  There are 14 vegetable plots in all: 10 share a home with the chickens in the vegetable part of the garden, and 4 nestle alongside the main garden, which is a riot of colour in June.  When I arrived, Antonio, a plot holder, was busy tending his plot, bringing kitchen waste from home for his compost bin.  He was a man in search of Valerian, a herb, which he had been told speeds up the compost process, but the black gold in his bin was well on its way to nurturing his plants later in the spring without it. 

There are four types of chicken kept in the vegetable garden: Polands, Golden Silkies, Cream Legbars and Buff Orpingtons.  The Polands are shown below, and are particularly pretty, but not now the best layers of eggs. 

Normally the chickens would be out and about, clearing the soil of slugs and snails for the gardeners, but, alas, since January  they have been confined to barracks because of concerns about the spread of avian flu.  Shadwell is not far from the Thames and the main threat comes from the river. Geese, ducks and swans are the main conveyors of the disease, and pigeons also present a constant menace for such a small  gardening space.   Ducks, which were happy neighbours for the chickens, have been evacuated to the countryside for their own safety while the  avian flu threat continues to exist.  The current restrictions were due to end at the end of February, but the gardeners may have to call on the goodwill of companies in the City of London and their bands of volunteers to construct higher netting so that the chickens can roam around again in safety. Volunteers from Barclays Bank and other companies have already helped to construct a new wooden pergola and chicken sheds.

The summer splendour of the garden is a great contrast to the rather austere environment in which it sits, with the tower block an ever-present feature looming over it.  Five years ago Melvyn Smith sat in his flat looking down at the windswept scrubland that it was - a neglected garden, the odd evergreen shrub, pruned religiously, with the odd useful feature such as a brick pergola.  The council announced plans to turn the 'garden' into a car park and this galvanised Melvyn into action - and he was swiftly joined by fellow resident Ken Davis.  The rest is history.

Now the organic garden has a small pond, to complement the flowers, vegetables and chickens.
Vines now trail over the brick pergola.  I didn't enquire as to the vintage of the produce it gives, but feel sure that its grapes or its wine would be delectable.

The residents have successfully established one raised alpine bed and are starting on the second, alongside a dry garden with grasses and gravel.

They take their veg growing seriously here, and Ken started chitting his potatoes in January - now they are bedded down in this home grown solarium, next to a recycled greenhouse below.

Ken already has the seeds sprouting in the greenhouse he has created from discarded materials - with the local market and district a good source of resources.  Local school students with learning difficulties  look after two small veg plots in the main garden and  cabbage, kale and flowers were already sprouting in the greenhouse.

The people who garden here and fill these allotments with an abundance of produce for the summer come from all walks of life and backgrounds. Gardening is a marvellous leveller.  Actors brush shoulders with social workers, consultant psychologists, post office engineers and managing directors with many people from different professions now enjoying their retirement here.  A Bulgarian prunes and tends the grapes, others are Londoners, with their rich heritage from so many countries, Yorkshire, Birmingham and Bangladesh included.

Last year they won an innovation award for growing cotton, and not to be outdone, they are planning on trying to grow flax this year.  The cotton flower is shown below.

The roses in summer are superb. They have great teas and plant sales over the Open Garden Squares Weekend.  Their fame spread, and attracted a senior civil servant, who brought along friends from her  church to sample the delights of this hidden gem.

So impressed was she with the displays of flowers and the tale of the creation of the garden, that she decided to lobby for recognition for Melvyn and Ken and pestered the Cabinet Office until she won its attention.  Invitations to a Buckingham Palace Garden Party have just plopped through Melvyn and Ken's letterboxes and they are both overjoyed.  So good to see the perks of life sometimes go to the right people.

Winterton House Organic Garden are now used to winning garden awards - the  innovation award for  growing cotton, Tower Hamlets in Bloom award, an  RHS Gold in 2016 and Outstanding and Diploma of Recognition awards in other years.  The gardeners are joined by  2-3 regular volunteers each year.

This is Melvyn at the front of the block, which is managed by Tower Hamlets Community Housing. Watch out for the 2017 Open Garden Squares guidebook. An emerald green gem logo will delineate gardens selected for the 'Hidden Gem' competition with details of how to enter. 

If I lived in this tower block I'd be down in the garden every day. There is a warm welcome for all the residents in the block - don't just look down and admire, glorious as that must be in summer - go down to smell the flowers.

Information on visiting Winterton House Organic Garden on Open Garden Squares Weekend »

Temples by the Thames

In a week when judges seized the headlines not far away from this Temple hall, I contemplated the gardens lawyers can relax in on the banks of the Thames. The Temple Gardens at  Middle Temple Inn were my focus, just a stone's throw away from the north bank of the Thames and here they are in all their summer splendour.  Trainee barristers eat their dinners here and study to become fully fledged lawyers, in majestic, historic surroundings which date back to the twelfth century, when the site was owned by the Knights Templar.   

The main lawn of the gardens used to be much closer to the river in times gone by; but the vista down to the Thames has retained its beauty today as a landscape to be enjoyed by people through the hard work and vision of its gardener, Kate Jenrick, and her assistant who, between them work an eight-day week planting, weeding and maintaining the lawns.  Two ‘Master Gardeners’ from the inns of court help them plant bulbs and open the gardens for Open Garden Squares Weekend.  Underneath the lawn there is a ginormous tank with 20,000 litres of water collected from the buildings, which is used to keep the lawns green and lush all summer long in a sustainable way. 

As well as the expanse of lawn, most of the gardens comprise a series of courtyards.  This one is Fountain Court, one of the oldest gardens in the whole of London, with three very impressive trees, a plane, horse chestnut and mulberry and a water fountain - one of the earliest public fountains in London. There used to be another plane tree, which died, and its demise has let in more light for new fuchsias and camellias, whilst retaining the feeling of green under the tree canopies.   Charles Dickens had lodgings here at the time he wrote Martin Chuzzlewit.

Gas lamps still light the way around the courtyards in keeping with the cloister and ancient university feel of the architecture.  But Kate has sought to ring the changes during her eight years of stewardship of the gardens, bringing in new planting schemes with more perennials for year-round colour. Currants and gooseberries, a styrax tree as well as rosemary, cosmos, livinias, marigolds and a variety of perennials have been introduced.  Kate is one of three custodians that look after gardens of London Inns of Court, (Inner Temple, Middle Temple and Lincoln's Inn) who all bring their  common experience of studying at Kew Gardens to their roles and so are known as the Kew Ladies. 

Here is an Agastache with its green candles, planted in front of old roses, of which there is a historic tale.  Shakespeare's play Henry VI Part 1 talks of the plucking of red and white roses in Temple Garden.  People wonder if it refers to Middle Temple or Inner Temple, but the idea certainly came from hereabouts.

Roses float above the courtyard plantings. They are pruned to half their height in December or January, but, alas, some are suffering from honey fungus and will benefit from new plantings shortly. In other areas the traditional combination of rose and lavender has successfully been replaced with Gaura, hibiscus and Agastache rather than summer bedding plants, with spring bulbs, violas and primroses providing spring colour. 

The changes in plantings to the courtyards have been noticed in Elm Court and Church Court, for instance, and recognised in recent years with City in Bloom awards. Plumbago flowers well in the shelter of Elm Court, where the rubble from war bombings has meant lots of compost has had to be imported and dug in. Now there are lilies of the valley in the shady areas, dogwood for winter colour along one side and a carefully designed successional planting scheme has been established.

Middle Temple's emblem is a Paschal Lamb, adorned with a halo and staff, and it reflects the Inn's links with the Knights Templar.   You can see it adorning many of the buildings as you walk around the streets of the Inn. 

I visited the gardens with other Open Garden Squares Coordinators and  had the privilege of a private tour by the Gardener.  We are all volunteers and look after the different areas of London, helping gardens as they get ready for opening for Open Garden Squares Weekend. It's a very rewarding and fascinating role, but one of the drawbacks is that we don't get a lot of chance to visit gardens outside our area over the weekend,  so we came up with the idea of meeting occasionally at different gardens, which has proved very popular.  Just as we started to walk around the gardens, we met a procession of people in full regalia walking the cobbled streets.  It turned out this was in honour of the Middle Temple Treasurer meeting Sheriffs of the City of London for the ‘Quit Rents’ annual ceremony.

In the middle of the Temple we came across this intriguing gate and steps - which invite you to peek through the railings and discover the secrets of the garden inside.  This is part of the charm of  many of the London gardens  which open over Open Garden Squares Weekend - discovering the garden behind the gate, door or fence.    

And here is what we found - the Master's Garden. Just lovely.

Wandering around Middle Temple is a fascinating combination of history and horticulture.  As you turn a corner into a new alleyway, there is a sense sometimes of déjà vu.  Not surprising when you realise that the streets and courtyards have been the setting for Downton Abbey and more recently, the new series, Taboo.  It's a garden well worth discovering.