Monday, 27 September 2010
Wandsworth Gardening Group
http://wandsworthgardeninggroup.blogspot.com
Georgina's garden
By Victoria Summerley, Garden Media Guild’s Journalist of the Year 2010
When I started opening my own garden for the National Garden Scheme, Georgina was one of the first visitors. She told me she also opened her garden - and it was she who asked me if I was interested in joining the Wandsworth Gardening Group. Since then, I've visited Georgina's garden more than once, and each time it weaves the same spell. It's a small London garden, surrounded by high walls, especially at the rear. You enter the garden via a flight of steps down from the kitchen, which sounds pretty unremarkable until you stop to think about it: this is a garden that has to look good from above, from ground level and also from below, as you look back up at the house and the surrounding walls.
Looking down, a pear tree spreads itself invitingly over a bench on a decked area, as if to say: "Come and sit down!" You're aware of colour: the pinks of roses and cosmos, the green of the grass, the duck-egg blue of the furthest wall against which the flowers of Abutilon 'Kentish Belle' glow like little Chinese lanterns.
It's a lovely outlook, but you only become aware of how much there is in this garden once you're down at grass level. Everywhere you look there is something of interest - a myrtle here, a physalis there.
A range of containers (where would London gardeners be without their pots?) enables Georgina to change the look with the seasons, while on the little deck outside her kitchen window, a miniature allotment burgeons with herbs, salad leaves and nasturtiums.
The cosmos echo the bright pink of a rose on the left of the garden. Georgina's not sure which variety this is: it came from her mother's garden, so it has moved from Fulham, to Clapham South and now to Balham. You could say it's a rose that's been around the block a few times.
On the right, against a high wall, is the rose 'Rambling Rector' - not in flower in the picture below, unfortunately, but a froth of white when it is. The eucalyptus has been pruned to keep it in check, which means it does a good job of softening the hard angles of the building behind without taking over the entire garden.
You don't have to wait until you get to the back garden to see that Georgina is a Yellow Book garden owner. The front garden is a wonderful mix of sophisticated slate grey and billowy, almost cottagey planting. The wooden screens that hide the bins have been stained the same slatey colour as the tiles, complemented by the soft greys of the lavender.
Next year, Georgina is opening for the NGS on the afternoon of Sunday 5 June and the evening of Wednesday 15 June. She's also happy to open the garden for groups – she did cucumber sandwiches and strawberries and cream teas for the Wandsworth Society in 2008 and prosecco & canapés for the Battersea Society this summer. Georgina also runs a B&B from her home, which had an honourable mention in the Guardian recently. You can read about it (and find her contact details) here. Her garden must be such a welcome sight for her guests as they turn off the busy Balham High Road into a little oasis of tranquillity.
Victoria Summerley
Garden Media Guild’s Journalist of the Year 2010
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