A BOX OF DELIGHTS

It’s not often that I get the chance to write a review of a Michelin-starred restaurant, but Locanda Locatelli has caught my attention, not for its fabulous food, but for its flowers. This restaurant near Marble Arch, in London, is stopping passers-by in their tracks as its frontage has the longest window box in London. This 20-metre window box is almost the length of a cricket pitch and runs right along the modern frontage of the building, forming a strong, bold statement that absolutely commands attention. Its welcoming stripe of foliage and vibrant flowers lifts the large, modern glassand-render facade behind. But it is not the sheer length that makes the dramatic impact, more the laid-back, naturalistic style – a hybrid of a herbaceous border and a meadow Declan Buckley has been planting it for the owner, the chef Georgio Locatelli, since the summer of 2012. Declan decided to be radical and replace the traditional clipped box and Busy Lizzie and try a much wilder feel. The first year he plunged in around 700 plants of more than 20 different types to lend a feeling of exuberance. The plants were carefully chosen to perform right through from April/May till late October/ November. Then he replaced them with winter and spring plants and bulbs. The relaxed feel of the summer planting is down to stars such as Agastache ‘After Eight’, a giant hyssop with an upright habit, deep-purple and blue flowers that reach a height of 50cm, mingling with the popular umbilifera Ammi majus ‘Graceland’, with its lacy flowers and ferny foliage, and the loosestrife Lythrum virgatum ‘Dropmore Purple’. Others including Penstemon ‘Raven’ and Salvia nemorosa ‘Amethyst’ pull in admiring glances and trips from bees stationed on the Selfridges roof garden nearby. Alliums, such as A. Sphaerocephalon with its intense dusky pink/ purple drumsticks, punctuate the mini border. Window boxes can be predictable in winter, but not here. At this time of year ,spring bulbs such as narcissus pep up the neighbouring Bergenia ‘Overture’ (AGM), which has stunning, sparky, magenta flowers (March-May) and dark red winter foliage. The more subtle Helleborus foetidus ‘Winter Flisk’ (Novemberspring), with its apple-green red-edged bracts, joins various ferns and grassy pennisetums (Hameln and Cassian’s Choice). Selecting the plants to run through and look joyful even in the depth of January is quite a task. The trick is to use