If there is a star of the show in Butter Wakefield’s west London garden then it is, indisputably, the meadow. From the stable door of her colourful, art-filled kitchen, this tapestry of flowers and grasses stretches out, a glorious slice of the country in the city.
In succession, spring flowers including narcissi, cowslips and Geranium phaeum, are followed by Allium ‘Purple Sensation’ and ‘Purple Rain’, red campion, sorrel, knapweed and vetch, creating a haze of pinks and purples, punctuated with the acid yellow flowers of lady’s bedstraw or the golden glow of delicate buttercups. ‘It captures my heart because it’s ever-changing, every year it’s different,’ says Butter. For later in the season, she has added Verbena bonariensis, viper’s bugloss, Eupatorium and ornamental grasses Molinia ‘Transparent’ and ‘Heidebraut’.
In the centre,…
