(Photo: Colin Wing)
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Open:
Saturday 09:00–17:00
+ Sunday 09:00–17:00
Description:
The Phoenix Garden is the best-kept secret of London’s West End. Open daily, it provides a peaceful, green retreat for local residents, workers and tourists all year round and is a haven for a wide range of urban wildlife.
Created by local volunteers in 1984 on the site of a former car park, this is the last of the Covent Garden community gardens. The location can be challenging, yet the Phoenix Garden triumphs using ingenuity and innovation to demonstrate what can be achieved upon a bedrock of West End rubble.
Plants are chosen to suit the difficult growing conditions and to support as wide a range of wildlife species as possible. This creates an attractive year-round display with echiums towering over vibrant red salvias, clematis scrambling through bramble and golden nettles thrusting through purple elders.
A stone’s throw from the West End’s theatres, a surprising range of wildlife makes its home here: five species of bee, various butterflies, many birds (blue and great tit, wren, robin, blackbird, greenfinch, house sparrow, woodpecker, kestrel, sparrowhawk) and the West End’s only frogs.
Our award-winning community gardener, Chris Raeburn, continues to introduce innovative methods to create new habitats and improve the garden. Retaining walls have been built from recycled newspapers, while reclaimed bomb rubble from deep below the garden has been used to build gabion dry-stone walls. The newly completed wildlife ponds are an exciting addition to the Phoenix Garden.
The Phoenix Garden is a registered charity managed by an enthusiastic team of volunteers and funded from membership subscriptions, donations and grants.
Awards include London Green Corners (2007, 2008) and Camden in Bloom 2003-7 for Best Environmental Garden; Camden in Bloom 2009 Best Community Wildlife-Friendly Garden; Highly Commended, London in Bloom 2009.
Community gardener:
Christopher Raeburn
Activities:
Plant sale. Refreshments. Membership drive - you can support the charity by becoming a Friend of the Phoenix. Subscription £12 per year. Members receive a quarterly newsletter and invitations to all garden events.
Entrance:
St Giles Passage off New Compton Street (sign posted from Shaftesbury Avenue / Charing Cross Road). Garden remains open till dusk.
Nearest postcode: WC2H 8DE
Sells tickets.
Buses:
14, 19, 24, 29, 38, 176.
Stations:
Tottenham Court Road, Leicester Square.
Access:
Paths have been refurbished and are now accessible.
Dogs:
Working assistance dogs only
Further information:
Nearby Gardens (click on names for details):
Last updated: 06/02/2010