Category Plant-based – all things botanical
Counting urban Bee Orchids
My pal Geoff & I visit some urban Bee Orchids in a local housing estate lawn. We count 17 leaf rosettes nestled in the turf & will be back to see how many have flowered come late spring/early summer. When they do, this is what they look like.
Henbit Deadnettle – Pavement Plant
Even after days and days of rain, pavement plants are properly getting going in SE London. Here’s Henbit Deadnettle, doing its thing on a road verge. It’s in the Deadnettle family – Lamiaceae – and is superficially similar to its more common relative Red Deadnettle but the overall impression is that it has more defined […]
Wild plants found @TheGroveDIY skatepark & garden, SE22 8LF, and a cool urban bird.
I popped down to the skatepark for a recce before the Wild Pavements – Urban Nature workshop I’m leading there on Thursday 7 Aug at 6pm, and found a good selection of common urban wild plants to point out to the group. & for the icing on the urban nature cake, I heard a Hobby […]
Urban botany in the snow – Deptford, SE London
For nearly a decade, Nick Bertrand, has been leading a walk on the first day of winter – 1st December – in search of wild plants in flower in Deptford. I first joined one of these urban botany walks two years ago and really enjoyed the plant hunting and sociability. Last Friday we met as […]
London Pavement Plants – in flower this week
You don’t have to go far to find colour and interest in our city with new pavement plants coming into flower almost every day. From top left & clockwise, these are Black Medick, Shining Crane’s-bill, Common Field Speedwell and Rue-leaved Saxifrage. Urban botany is just fab and the smaller London plants rival our spectacular street […]
Wild Pavements Diary – a NYD hunt for flowers on the Thames Path
As new year’s eve celebrations ramp up, I find myself questioning the wisdom of arranging to meet plant-loving folk the following morning, but by the time it is morning, it’s great to have something to hop out of bed for. This is the first year I’ve plant-hunted on NYD with others and I’m really looking […]
Wild Pavements Diary – a trip to Greenland (Dock)
The area to the south of Canada Water station is one big car park. Literally. I skirt the stretch of water in front of Decathlon and pick my way through car park bays to some green I can see in front of Surrey Quays station. In a patch about the size of a couple of […]
27th September 2020 – autumn colour in unexpected places
It certainly feels like autumn today even if the leaves haven’t really turned yet. In a few weeks I expect social media channels will be wallpapered with photos of autumn trees and vibrant fungi. In the meantime, there is autumn colour to be found today in an unexpected place. A Smooth Sowthistle plant on our […]
28th August 2020 – a bitter bouquet
The scramble of Traveller’s Joy, Brambles and Hop plants is getting a bit out of hand. In the chill air after a downpour I stay a while to remember the things I’ve seen in this clearing this year so far in a wave of nostalgia. I’ve been keeping an eye out for some Hop flowers […]
16th August 2020 – crimson tufts of lesser burdock
In the past I’ve come across the cabbage-sized leaves of Greater or Lesser Burdock each spring and had a complete blank about what they are. It hasn’t helped that this is a biennial plant which grows just a leaf rosette the first year and then flowers the second year. Next year is going to be […]
The Urban Naturalist 