For fifteen years, a former country girl has found her gardening passion amidst London's urban landscape, discovering that the city's geography reveals itself through its window boxes and container displays.
The Hidden World of London Mews
Beyond the bright lights of the West End and the smart stucco buildings with their regimented window boxes filled with pristine ivy and glossy cyclamen, lies a more intriguing world. The author discovered central London's mews - those quiet, cobbled backstreets nestled behind grand garden squares where container gardening truly comes alive.
These charming lanes feature no traditional front gardens, yet they burst with personality through their diverse collections of plant containers. From grand ornamental pots to improvised planters, these hidden streets offer some of London's most inspiring examples of urban gardening creativity.
Principles of Successful Container Gardening
Having gardened exclusively on balconies for seven years before acquiring a proper garden in 2020, the author understands container gardening intimately. Good container gardens share the same qualities as well-designed traditional gardens: cohesion, varied height and interest, and year-round appeal.
The most common mistake urban gardeners make is selecting pots that are too small and then cramming them with one of every blooming plant from the garden centre. This approach creates what resembles a horticultural jumble sale and proves difficult to maintain. Larger pots hold more compost and water, making plants more self-sufficient.
Plant Recommendations for Impact
Don't shy away from height in your container arrangements. A small tree, particularly a multi-stem variety, provides far greater aesthetic impact than a few pansies. Amelanchier lamarckii makes an excellent choice, offering white flowers and copper leaves in spring that transform to red in autumn.
Evergreens provide structure during bare winter months. Fatsia japonica thrives in shady spots, producing large star-shaped leaves and structural white flowers at this time of year. For trailing elegance, Muehlenbeckia complexa offers a politely vigorous vine that spills beautifully over pot edges, while small ivies help unite different planting elements.
These thoughtful plant selections will outlast the temporary paintbox cyclamen typically rotated through autumn containers, creating a container garden with lasting appeal through London's changing seasons.
