HomeGardening NewsGardens in generalSaxifraga x urbium (London Pride)

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Saxifraga x urbium (London Pride) — 34 Comments

  1. Hi Deb
    Good to hear from you. The garden is now looking much more lush, time I got myself sorted out and started posting again. Summer has been great here in Cheshire, hope all is going well in your part of the world.

  2. Hi Alistair, I hope you are having a great summer. You have accomplished so much in your garden. Soon it will be just as lush and wonderful as your old one. I love the color of your new fencing and trellis! And your new patio area is completely charming. I hope you are finding time to use it! Best wishes, Deb

  3. Hi Alistair, I saw your link on Helene’s blog and realized it has been way too long since I last paid your blog a visit. I see you have been really busy. Such a transformation you have made of your little back garden. Though you haven’t finished it already looks wonderful. Hopefully the house will come together soon.

  4. Hi Linda
    I dont know how often I have changed my mind regarding plants which I was once not so fond of.
    I did use Cuprinol shades! (Wild Thyme)

  5. I was never keen on Londons pride either and only really used it as a gap filler – after all if it survives up here it deserves a place in the garden, Then last year I took a reall look at those flowers and thought them the prettiest little things I had seen in a long long time. I love it now.
    Loving the colour of your fenceing – is it Cuprinol?
    Patio is looking fabulous too, such a relaxing place 🙂

  6. I was a mixed up kid Frances, still have a leaning towards this affliction.
    My maternal grandparents were no longer with us when I was born, an area that is filled with mystery. In fact something really strange happened only yesterday. I had never seen a picture of my mothers mum. A cousin of mine came across very old photographs after her mother had died recently, she came across a picture of my maternal grandmother taken in the late 1920s Fascinating to see.

  7. Thanks for dropping by Alan and leaving a comment I will look forward to dropping by and seeing how things are in your part of the world.

  8. My mother and grandmother grew London Pride, but I haven’t been able to find it here. It was never my favorite, either, but being away from England I feel differently about it. Your new garden is progressing beautifully, Alistair. P. x

  9. Alistair all I can say is wow…I love what you have done in the back with the lawn, beds and little patio and the side walk and arch. This plant, London Pride, is very unique and I love how it rises from the lovely foliage…I had never heard of this plant before but can see why you like it!!

  10. I was very interested in reading your post as I have almost finished a post on London pride and some other saxifages. Here in Canada, I would say that London pride is uncommon (I have never seen it an in other gardens). Mine is the variegated form.
    I also have good memories of my grand-parent’s garden (a vegetable garden). We would arrive there from a long trip and my parents and siblings would file into the house while I made a bee-line for the garden where I would make myself a sandwich (one carrot between two leaves of lettuce).
    Your garden looks beautifully neat and well organized.

  11. your garden improvements look great Alistair, you have been working hard and it has all come together, I hope the inside will ‘come together’ soon too,

    I find it a bit interesting that as a child you ask the name of a plant you don’t like rather than one you do like, your grandparents garden sounds a lovely place for childhood memories how wonderful, I never knew my grandparents as 3 died before I was born and my father refused to go back to south Wales to see his Mum, I hope your grandchildren will have as found memories of your garden too, Frances

  12. Alistair your garden is really coming together and looks just lovely. You must be so pleased.
    I live in the northeast of the US and I am not familiar with your London Pride. But it seems to be a sweet shrub. And I love your story of it from your childhood.

    Debra

  13. I am happy with the way the garden is coming along Linnie, you wouldn’t want to see indoors at the moment, not one job has gone smoothly.

  14. Just this week I had a lovely conversation with a very elderly client about London Pride. Her front garden was covered in about 2 square metres of the plant & I was sitting among it removing the spent flowers. She was telling me about all the old plants that she just doesn’t see anymore, inc LP & I was thrilled to say I had all of them in my garden.
    Bravo you on the big shout to the humble London Pride…worthy of a post of its own.

  15. Hi Alistair
    I used to grow London Pride too. It’s been missing for some years and I’ve no idea where it went. To your garden perhaps. I love the name and its habits and I would be most happy to purchase another start of it– I must keep an eye out in nurseries. Your land is transforming at such a pace, I wonder if you are using magic. (I’ve always kind of suspected….) The stonework and also the metal archway are wonderful additions. Your widening of the beds which edge the lawn reminded me of me.

  16. Diana, it is satisfying to see the garden taking shape, and the Summer weather is definitely kinder than that of the North East of Scotland. Hope you are not feeling too cold in 11c, I have a feeling that may be a little cooler than your normal Winter daytime temp.

  17. Oh Alistair now I can see your garden vision taking glorious shape. It looks magnificent, already! I see the lovely lady kneeling on the patio stretching into the welcme sun. It is 11C 52F here at midday shudder.

  18. Hi Patty, Myra has also been getting stuck into the garden. I must say, I am very pleased with the arch at the front garden.

  19. Hi Helene, I think quite a few of us inherit our interest of gardening from grandparents. Clematis Armandii!! well! things were not as they seemed. There is actually two of these giants in the garden, one in the side path leading to the back garden. Anyway, in Winter we kept waiting to see if it would produce flower buds, however come Spring buds started to appear and they were clearly not Clematis, in fact turns out to be evergreen honeysuckle, duh! This will be the subject of my next post.

  20. I dont suppose I would have gone out of my way to buy London Pride either Rick, but now that we have it I can kinda see why it was popular.

  21. Glad things are coming together Alistair, your garden is looking well. The much maligned London Pride also reminds me of my childhood when it seemed to be everywhere and it also reminds me of privet hedges for some reason, maybe because it did seem to tolerate the conditions found adjacent to them. I still have some today but rarely see them as they have colonized an area between some shrubs and the front beech hedge but last time I saw them they were fine. Although I quite like them I don’t think I would buy one if I had not “inherited” them like yourself.

  22. Your garden looks lovely already Alistair, you have done a lot of work to it! Loved the story about how you remember London Pride, I have similar memories about the first flowers I can remember, being allowed to go around with my grandfather in his garden. I was the oldest of the grandchildren, and the only one ‘let lose’ in the garden, I was so proud to be allowed to ‘help’ him. As grown-ups, I am the only one of all of us 8 cousins that are interested in gardening 🙂
    And it was irises for me, I remember deciding as a 5 year old that when I grew up, I wanted irises in my garden, just like my grandfather had!

    Changing the subject completely, have you decided what to do with your Clematis armandii ? I think you mentioned in a previous post that you had one and it was starting to become unruly, and that a neighbour had mentioned it had never flowered, possibly been pruned every year, do I remember right, was that you?

    You see, I have the same dilemma, after 2 ½ years in the ground, my Clematis armandii ‘Apple Blossom’ is a monster! I can’t possibly leave it to grow as it wants, and I have had to snip branches here and there, sacrificing flowers next spring. I am considering cutting it down completely every other year, so it will flower only every other year, hoping that would work – any experience?

  23. Hi Alistair, six months and you’ve done so much already, it’s a big transformation. I can already see your tell-take immaculate style in the back garden with the clipped conifers/box, rich soil and razor sharp lawn edges.

  24. Your back garden is looking so much better now. I love the shape of your lawn too. Your hostas are looking really healthy – do you have as many slugs down there? Mine are getting eaten to bits this year.

  25. I have a think for saxifrage. London’s Pride is so very pretty and has nice leaves too. The garden is looking really nice Alistair, you have done quite a bit of work in a short time. The new metal arch is beautiful.

  26. Hi Angie, funny the things that stick in our minds. The big Lonicera at the top of the back garden was here, just been sort of shaping it up, the box balls came with us from Aberdeen.

  27. Spooky or what! London Pride is the first plant I can remember learning. It grew everywhere in a neighbours garden – it lined every single path. Although I never knew it’s proper name for a good while, there is no mistaking those Saxifrage flowers, is there?
    Your garden is looking great Alistair. Did you bring all the topiary with you? Or have you been let loose with the shears. Not that it matters, either way, it adds real structure to those borders. Liking what you’ve achieved so far and the path and patio look ever so good.
    Also glad to read that you are both now starting to settle in, it makes a heck of a difference doesn’t it?

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