26 Arlington Avenue

About 26 Arlington Avenue

A small London garden behind 1848 ‘Georgian’ terraced house, with combination of classic and unusual plants and shrubs: roses, clematis, lilies, iris. Bizarre microclimate, shade to desert. Much self-seeding. ‘Over-grown’ effect. Much to interest the plant-lover

This tiny back garden contains more than 150 plants. You should see roses, bearded iris, libertia, alliums, aquilegia, verbascum possibly aconite, hemerocallis and roses, as well as some new inspiration each year.

I inherited the basic structure of the garden with its brick floor. Plants seed successfully, often making themselves more useful and behaving better than the carefully chosen and placed original. I like rare plants and jolly annuals. Don’t talk to me about low maintenance.

Of interest in the front area: Phlomis tuberosa, Tibouchina urvilleana, Pittisporum tobira. And in the back garden: bearded iris, Libertia ixiodes (a special form only available from one nursery), various Aquilegia, Allium ‘Globemaster’, Asphodeline lutea, Rosa ‘Félicité Parmentier’, Rosa ‘Ghislaine de Féligonde’, Clematis ‘Arabella’, Verbascum

Shrubs and trees in the back garden include Salix exigua, Pseudowintera
colorata and Bupleurum fruticosum (which seemed to be dead at the end of the ’23 season. Will it recover?).