The final garden I visited on 17th October was Christchurch Greyfriars on the corner of Newgate Street and King Edward Street. It is a garden I know well, for I often sit there when attending services at St Paul's Cathedral which is nearby.
The only problem is that it tends to be used as smoking place by staff from the nearby American Bank - and the waft of cigarette smoke vies with the scents from the gorgeously planted herb beds. Here is a bit of the history:
In the Middle Ages this was the site of a Franciscan monastery and today’s garden is on the site of the Franciscan Church of Greyfriars (1225). Following the dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII, it was converted for use as a parish church. In 1429 Richard Whittington, Lord Mayor, founded a library here.
Numerous well-known people, including four queens, were buried in the old church, which was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666. A new church, designed by Sir Christopher Wren, was built between 1687 and 1704. The body of the Wren church was gutted by fire in 1940 during WW2 and only the west tower remains.
A major overhaul of the gardens took place in 2011, when the garden was stripped of all its planting. Major soil improvements were carried out, along with some hard-landscaping improvements. The new planting design was implemented to reflect current trends in garden planting and to increase biodiversity.
The garden now consists of heavily planted herbaceous borders and includes a variety of modern repeat-flowering shrub roses and climbers. The concept, although based on traditional herbaceous planting, incorporates a more modern interpretation within the planting palette.
The garden has a colour scheme of mainly blue, purple and white, with shots of deep crimson, silver and lime to bring it to life - all contained within low, clipped box hedging.
The wooden towers within the planting, which replicate the original church towers and host a variety of climbing plants.
