London's Number One Climber

Will it tolerate shade? What about traffic pollution? My balcony is very windy; I want a plant that will provide shelter! I really want something with scented flowers. It must be evergreen. I don’t want something that will grow too vigorously and ruin the walls! Can’t be doing with something that needs a lot of fuss, I have a busy lifestyle; it will have to take a certain amount of neglected. It gets very hot next to my porch; do you think it will survive?

There is just one answer to all these questions. Star jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides). Glossy evergreen leaves, attractively tinged with red in the colder months. Delicately scented white flowers virtually non-stop throughout the summer. Stays bushy right from the base, not too slow and not too vigorous. Happy anywhere. It’s almost like it has been designed for the London gardener.

Written By Alistair Ayres

At Little Green Space we specialise in beautifying London balconies! - love the little green space ladybird

Scented Plants

Right now it’s early April and my whole garden is filled with a delightful, lemony scent. The plant that is so free with it’s fragrance? Osmanthus delavayi, a small evergreen shrub of around 5 feet high and wide, and in my experience rather slow growing. It has foliage a little like small holly leaves, and for a month it will pour it’s scent upon the air.

Another scented star is in the Daphne tribe, D. odora ‘aureomarginata’, another small evergreen whose scent is among the finest of all plants. All the Daphnes are scented, but this one is special.

Written By Alistair Ayres

(Little Green Space, for all your urban gardening needs, produces some scented boxes. Look out as they are only seasonally available! - love the little green space ladybird)