Hidden between Victoria Street and Buckingham Gate is a small urban sanctum. SW1’s Onion Garden has sprung up out of pots and containers in a forgotten corner of Westminster, and last week I went to find it.
What I remember as being an expanse of dead-end pavement has been transformed into a wilderness of mythical wonder. While it is a true community garden in the sense that it is open to everyone, its creation and care rests heavily with Jens Jakobsen, Chief Onion and flower philanthropist.
The garden fits a huge amount into a small space. There are arbours of tomatoes, nests of agapanthus, ponds, a stairs of succulents and pockets of secluded seating.
“We have more than 200 species of plants within the Onion Garden,” Jakobsen tells me. He takes a mystical approach to gardening. “We garden with the circle of life and the circle of fairies, working with largely forgotten old English garden folklore. The circles give a place for the fairies to sleep in the day and dance in the night, and we have very kind permission to share this space with them.”
Each year onions appear hanging from the tree outside the pavilion, a curious way to get people talking about nature “We will hang onions from the trees again this winter,” Jakobsen explains. “A lot of people stop to question.”
With the support and permission of David and Tess Maxwell, owners of 5 Seaforth Place, Jakobsen has evolved the garden, building a pavilion for tea and coffee, and most recently an orangery has been added for the expanding collection of citrus fruit.
His work has not gone unnoticed, with support from Green Westminster, the neighbouring Gates Foundation, and he has recently been given access to additional space above the District and Circle lines by Transport for London.
