Dana’s rental front garden: ‘The plants are my friends’
There’s a handful of front gardens in north London I have admired for many years. One of these gardens is on a leafy avenue that sweeps down from Alexandra Palace Park and then up to central Muswell Hill. The garden is simple and, in my opinion, the most interesting on the road.
This delightful garden is bright and cheerful and has a touch of whimsy. Every time I stopped by to admire it, I wondered who had created this space. Eventually, I met the gardener, Dana. As I suspected, the garden reflected her friendly and endearing nature. I was to learn later that the garden has played an important part in Dana’s refugee journey from Syria to the United Kingdom.
Reclaimed garden
I had seen the garden evolve over a couple of years, as the space was cleared, flower beds laid out, pavers, bricks and sections of path edges repurposed. The garden looks handmade, and that’s part of the appeal.
In summer, the garden pops with colour. The first thing you notice are the billowy clouds of pink, red and white cosmos and tall strands of purple verbena bonariensis shouting hello over the garden wall. A closer inspection reveals a good variety of plants – daisies, hostas, roses, lavender, honeysuckle, cotton lavender, and African lily. There are plants climbing canes tied together like teepee frames, a bird feeder and a white metal obelisk with a clematis curling through it. I like the random pots of geraniums, planted in whatever container happens to be available.
Photo by Dana Sharkas
Syria, Lebanon, Manchester and then London
Dana comes from Syria where balcony gardens are very popular, although Dana’s family didn’t have a balcony large enough to grow plants. After the revolution and the war, she moved to Beirut in Lebanon and lived in a small studio with a huge roof top. Suddenly Dana was able to establish a garden. ‘I started buying lots of plants, including things like bougainvillea and herbs. They became my friends, my silent pets, and I needed to learn how to keep them alive.’
She talks fondly of her Lebanese haven. ‘Every morning, when I opened the door of my studio I would speak to my plants, saying “Good morning my love”. They were my pride and joy and made me really happy.’ Dana’s favourite plant was her gardenia because of its elegant flowers and perfume, and it flourished in the humid conditions of Beirut which is a coastal city.
Since arriving in the UK, Dana has moved numerous times but gardens whenever and however she can. She has never had access to a back garden so has focused on house plants, windowsills and front gardens. In Manchester, she managed to regenerate a neglected area at the front of her building. The landlord was not interested in maintaining the space and the rental agency would not assist by lending her any gardening tools. Undeterred, Dana created a garden, buying only the small plants she could afford.
After nurturing her rental front garden for over two and a half years, it was a wrench to leave all her plants behind when she moved to London. She lived in a couple of places in north London and eventually ended up in a room in a house with another neglected front garden that she simply couldn’t ignore. Again, she did all the work, provided the tools and bought the plants without any assistance from the landlord.
Anxiety of being a refugee
Dana explains that the garden helped her deal with a lot of anxiety while processing her asylum claim and the difficulties in navigating life in a new country. It has also been a great way to exercise and has ‘opened a window’ to meeting new people. Like Erif, whose front garden was featured by CPRE London in a previous blog, Dana finds that a lot of passersby stop for a chat and sometimes ask for the name of a plant. Someone called Martin, who runs a Muswell Hill Soup Kitchen, invited her to see their work in the kitchen, and Dana is now a volunteer, encountering a diverse group of interesting people who she calls her community.
Neighbours have gifted her plants and cuttings and one of the other residents in the house has offered her money to buy more pots. But she does worry sometimes about investing too much in the garden, in case the landlord decides to remove everything, demolish the plants, and maybe even create a parking space. So, she buys small, inexpensive plants such as herbs to fill the gaps and has learned how to propagate roses and hydrangea. Luckily, the rental agency is happy with her work, so the garden is probably safe.
Dana is clearly in a long-term love affair with gardening and will doubtless be working her magic green fingers even when she is an old lady. It’s heartening to meet someone who has a passion like this. Her dream is to one day have her own private garden ‘that would be my own private sanctuary’. I certainly think she deserves to have this dream come true.
CPRE London’s front gardens campaign: At CPRE London we run a Front Gardens Network that promotes de-paving and re-greening of front gardens. Members of the network include community groups, campaigners, urban design professionals and individuals concerned about the consequences of front garden destruction, including the increased risk of flooding. Our quarterly online meetings are a great opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals and are open to anyone who wishes to attend.
Please do tell anyone you know who is interested in front gardens and greening the public realm about the network. Email youngin.lee@cprelondon.org.uk to sign up for our newsletter. Also, if you are involved with or find out about any front garden projects, we would obviously love to hear about them.
Link to our front gardens campaign page here.
