About

Garden tour and canapés included.

You may have joined us on a visit before, but Mona’s garden has been extended, come and explore the new area!

Mona had run out of room in her original garden and the additional 600 square meters, acquired last year, provides her with the opportunity to add to her planting scheme and try out new ways to create a new garden.

The land is in the process of being transformed from unloved scrub ground to a superb new garden space which will include an exotic border, a woodland area, prairie planting, and a raised border framed by the felled conifer logs displaying Mediterranean shrubs and trees. 

The most exciting challenge with the new garden area is making it environmentally sustainable. Recycling and reusing all of the materials such as the logs and branches from the felled trees and cut back stems of the overgrown shrubs, the lumps of the concrete base on which the previous dilapidated greenhouse sat, all contribute to reducing the garden’s carbon footprint.

Created in 2000, Mona’s Garden holds the national collection of Corokia as well as many other unusual Australasian and Mediterranean plants. These are complemented in recent years by Restios from South Africa and interesting exotics. It emphasises texture, shapes and contrasting foliage colour.

Situated between Highgate and Muswell Hill in north London the unique space will benefit both visitors to and residents of London. It shows what can be created in a suburban environment. As the first town garden to be held by Perennial, it will be a perfect example of a typical domestic plot that has been transformed into a collector’s garden through a love of gardening.

Opera singer and musician Mona Abboud is enthusiastic about bringing her plant collection to the general public. She says: “I am delighted that Perennial will inherit my legacy. I know that I will be leaving my garden in good hands. And I feel honoured that it will be used to generate support for people in horticulture. I hope visitors will be inspired by my ‘labour of love’ as I call it and come to enjoy the versatility of Corokia as much as I have over the years.”

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All pictures ©Clive Nichols