Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Our neighborhood, in London…

Our travels break down into two distinct categories. There are the ones where we’re constantly on the go, spending no more than one or two nights in the same city. And then there are ones like our trip to London, where the same hotel is home base for a week or more. When that’s the case it’s extra important I find a comfortable hotel in a good location; after all it will have a huge effect on how we enjoy our time there. I am happy to report I did well!


We stayed at the Doubletree by Hilton near the Tower of London, just a couple of blocks from the River Thames. When we arrived our room wasn’t quite ready so we left our bags and went for a walk around the neighborhood. Just at the end of our block was St Olave Church, the entrance to the courtyard is shown above (and you thought that was our hotel right?), I’m not sure which feature makes more of a statement the skulls or those wicked spikes? I was surprised to find gravestones in the courtyard just inside the entrance.

It was a well tended small garden.

Just a few blocks away we stumbled upon the Monument to the Great Fire of London in 1666. Even before we saw the monument we saw the line get in, it would have been a nice view to start our visit, but the line stretched on for blocks. If we had gone to the top of the 202 ft tower we would have climbed 311 steps!  Can you see the people?

Our next discovery was St Dunstan-in-the-East, a garden on the site of a church first built in Saxon times and then rebuilt in 1697 (having been damaged in the Great Fire). Only the tower of the church survives as there was severe damage to the church in the Blitz. It was opened as a public space in 1967.

Looks like this garden has taken home several 1st place prizes in the London Garden Squares Competitions. Don’t you just have to love a city that has enough “garden squares” to have a competition?

Haven’t seen much green moss at home lately (since it’s been so dry)…

I was very surprised at the amount of Mahonia (here behind the Yucca) I saw growing all over London. I didn’t expect it.

Nor did I expect to find an insect hotel!

Now we are walking along the River Thames and I’m making my first discovery of their monster size Phormiums. How jealous am I?

There were also numerous Euphorbia.

London Bridge…nope, turns out this is actually the Tower Bridge, what do I know!?

Look at that little Cordyline growing in a tiny crack in the cement!

But even more impressive are the not-so-little Yucca Cordylines growing in the Trinity Square Gardens just across the street.

This distinguished looking fellow is part of the World War II Memorial (as is the building above).

More massive Phormium action…

The plant in the center of this mixed planting caught my eye.

Here’s a close-up, anyone know what it is? In this picture it looks very fern-like but in reality it had more of a Grevillea leaf.

There was a crowd gathered around the London Wall, just out of sight on the grassy area.

Okay time to head back to the hotel and what do I discover looking up through the glass atrium in the lobby? A green wall! (actually there were several around the building)…

Later we went up to the roof lounge, to get a better view…

There were also several sections with a small green-roof like planting.

And of course we had to take in the rest of the view from the top of the hotel…

Heading back to the elevators we discovered these guys doing a little vertical garden maintenance.

Did you notice the track their little “car” was on? It runs all the way around the building (the gold arc on the plants is actually a reflection of a floor lamp base next to me as I took the picture out the window)…

And back in our room. I just loved the floor to ceiling window and the bit of old architecture it framed…

39 comments:

  1. I love those green walls, and hope that they catch on everywhere! They seem high-maintenance (depending on climate maybe?) but so wonderful. Although I think I'd rather see green on every roof first.

    Some great photos here! Love the St. Dunstan vine-draped walls!

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    1. The green walls at the hotel seemed especially well done, and I'm sure the climate had a lot to do with them looking good. I saw a lot of partial green roofs too, a great trend!

      I took so many pictures of those amazing walls and arches at St. Dunstan it was really hard to only show a couple. Glad you liked them!

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  2. So fun to see my favorite city in the world through your gardener's eyes!

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    1. I'd love to hear more about why it's your favorite city...I feel like we just barely scratched the surface!

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  3. Amazing! I too love a city with enough garden squares to have a competition. I think your monster yuccas are cordylines. I was sooo jealous of all their cordylines and flax in London - even a few canary island date palms

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    1. Thanks Louis! I first called them Cordylines but the more I looked at them I started to doubt myself and then decided I was wrong. What about the tree ferns? Did you see many of those? I did...so jealous!

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    2. Oh the tree ferns! dang it would be epic to have an urban heat island like London. Please tell me you visited all the glorious tree ferns in the temperate house at Kew! London is a horticultural cornucopia! I'm actually hoping to go to the Chelsea flower and gardening show one of these years! We should do garden bloggers tour of Chelsea! now that would be cool!

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    3. I did! It was amazing, as were the tree ferns in Mark and Gaz's garden. I'd love to make it to the Chelsea show someday, that would be uhm, what's the word I'm looking for? Oh ya...EPIC!

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  4. Who knew it would look like this? Something for every height person, love it!

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    1. I really was blown away by all the plants and gardens, just on that little walk! Wonderful place.

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  5. I'm already loving this series about your visit to London. The vines growing through the ancient arches at St. Dunstan really grabbed my attention! They are so hauntingly beautiful.

    Thank you.

    Ragna

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    1. Those arches set off every plant around them just perfectly. Oh to have something like that in your own garden! (real of course, not fake). Glad you enjoyed Ragna!

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  6. OF COURSE we thought that was your Danger Hotel...but your actual accommodations look cushier and less creepy. That combo of rounded rocks and moss makes me drool (figuratively speaking, of course).
    My travels to London and Paris were pre-gardening, but I was struck by how uptight the people, yet how lush and relaxed the greenspaces in and around London, while the reverse seemed to be true of Paris.

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    1. Hahah! Yes, much cushier and less creepy!

      I was warned by a local that the people in London would be less than friendly and not to take it personally. But I really didn't think that was the case, everyone was very nice. Maybe I just didn't spend enough time in the uptight parts of town.

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  7. What a great look at your first day in London! The last time I was in London to stay (as opposed to just passing through on the way to my MIL) I was 19, which was well over 30 years ago. That vertical garden is way cool, and I love the Cordyline growing in the crack.

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    1. Oh my, I wonder what my trip would have been like if my 19 year old self had been behind the camera? No doubt we would have spent a lot more time clothes and shoe shopping, oh and records too!

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  8. I hope you had a lovely time. It's certainly lovely to read your outsider's view of the place.

    My word has it rained a lot over here recently, glad you saw some blue sky.

    I can't think of mahonia as being at all exotic - because there are so many of them about!

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    1. Oh boy did it rain! My Sunday plans got changed because it was just to ugly to have been outside all day, and we switched our day at Kew because of the weather. Lucky we did as we found out later that night they'd closed because of the weather.

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  9. St. Dunstan church looks wonderful, and so does everywhere else that you took photos of. Looks like you guys made a great choice of somewhere to stay, lovely location within London, and for the hotel to have a greenwall too is such a bonus.

    Even if I work in London everyday, I still never get tired of the city and we enjoy exploring it as much as we can.

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    1. Glad to hear you guys enjoy the city too, I know sometimes locals can have a less than favorable take on their own city.

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  10. Wonderful photos, love it all. The green wall at your hotel is so special. I look forward to the rest of your trip.

    This post was so awesome you even prompted my friend Ragna to leave a comment.



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    1. I knew that name (as unusual as it is) sounded familiar!

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  11. What a great introduction to your trip. It's the next best thing to being there in person. I can't wait for the next installment.

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    1. I need to get to work on that next installment!...

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  12. Fall travel is the best, isn't it? The last time I was in London I became more aware of the bombed-out buildings from the Blitz -- such an eerie sight to stumble on at night. I'm glad they've left these reminders tho. Such fun taking the train to Kew Gardens -- can't wait for your report!

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    1. I especially enjoy fall travel because I'm not as worried about the garden left behind.

      The train to Kew allowed lots of peeking into backyards along the way. I tried to snap photos of a few but we were moving to fast for them to be any good.

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  13. very cool i have never seen this stuff love the pictures of the garden church..and the gothis winows!! Living walls are becoming hot right now! what is the white star plant? love the moaay cobble...how do those palm survive the winter???

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    1. Most of the palms I saw in London were Trachycarpus fortunei which are actually quite cold hardy (single digits at least), there are many here in Portland too. I think the white star plant you're asking about is Nicotiana.

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  14. Very interesting post. Love the garden square...what a piece of perfection! Love the plants growing on the sides. I find this design extremely attractive.

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    1. I agree greenwalls can be most attractive, when done correctly and cared for (like everything in life right?)...

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  15. Wow! Everything looks so amazing! We'd all love to have huge phormiums again! Sigh...

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    1. God if mine hadn't died I wonder how huge they would be now? I had something like 23 of them. I went a bit overboard.

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  16. I'm going to enjoy all these photos, all I have is 25 years of memories and no pictures .

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    1. No pictures?! Wow...that's too bad! I hope I can "take you back"...

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  17. Great post Loree, I'm so jealous ! I look forward to the rest of your travelogue!

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  18. London is a blast. You can spend six months there and not run out of fun stuff to look at. Looks like you had a wonderful trip. The Grevillea looks like a Grevillea robusta seedling. They grow super fast, and reseed a lot around here.

    Back in the 90s in college I spent 5 months in the UK, funny story brought back by your graveyard photos. My little old British landlady who talked exactly like a (Monty) Python asked me one day if visiting cemeteries was a really popular American pastime. I responded with a completely blank look, and she explained that she'd always see Americans in the local graveyards, and wondered why.

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    1. Yep I think that might just be it! (Grevillea robusta). Honestly it felt a little intrusive to be there among the gravestones...

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  19. Sheesh - I get buried in work for a few days, and you go to London, find cool plants, and then some. The Cordylines are amazing, not to mention all the Phormium plants and the care with which many of their landscapes are given. Thanks...guess I need to catch up!

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