Let me introduce you to my
garden. It’s easy care and forever surprising. Indeed, it needs no care at all. It decides for itself what's in it and I never lift a finger to help. I never water. I never pull out weeds
- for there are no weeds to pull.
But don’t think it is perfection.
By no means. The air is often dreadful. There few places in it I would want to
sit. Other people sometimes interfere with the plants; one minute they are there, then suddenly, they are gone. When this happens, it can be disappointing. Worse than
that, I can feel a little heart tug. But there’s always a good supply of new ones.
Part of the fun is to seek them out and choose them; to note them, peer at and
appreciate them. And I always, always, have a little glow of satisfaction when
I visit my garden - for it is secret. Nobody visits but me. Hardly anyone even knows
it exists. Until today, that is, for I’m telling you now! But there will still
be an element of mystery because it covers such a large area it’s difficult to
discern and its borders are fluid. I
doubt if anyone who reads this blog would be able to find a single plant in it.
So - let me introduce you to my
garden, my garden of the streets - and a little of what it’s like in March
Here are a couple of lawns.
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| March 29th 2012 |
I have no idea how many people pass this little lawn during the course of the day but it's set in the side of steps up to a commercial building.
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| February 29th 2012 (I know that's not March - but it's only one day out. It didn't change much overnight!) |
And here is another. Durable. Hard wearing. No mowing needed. Tolerates drought, flood, full sunshine and shade.
It’s a good time for flowers. There have been some in the winter months; I have sought them out and I’ll return to them. But they've grown old and dusty and I expect you’d like to see new-leafed, freshly opened ones just now.
It’s a good time for flowers. There have been some in the winter months; I have sought them out and I’ll return to them. But they've grown old and dusty and I expect you’d like to see new-leafed, freshly opened ones just now.
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| March 30th 2012 The dandelion at the front of the picture is clear to see - but it's not alone. There's one with two flowers beyond. Can you see that one? And there are many in the wider fore-court behind me. It belongs to a pub which was closed a few years ago after the river next to it flooded the cellars. It's deteriorated much since then. |
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| March 30th 2012 Ivy-leafed Toad Flax. In the wall of a large car-park. |
Dandelions really are beginning to assert themselves. Although my garden is a street one (a garden of urban wild plants) if people leave their own gardens untended, I reckon the plants which grow there can be included in mine too. These are 'shared' plants.
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| March 28th 2012 |
Like this dandelion.
I have a selection of rockeries. In some, the plants are very small.
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| March 28th 2012 |
These ones (above) have to be small or lorries would squash
them. They are between the cobbles in the speed bump below. A dustcart had driven over it in both directions a moment before taking this picture.
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| March 28th 2012 |
The orange sticks are cigarette buts. That will help with scale.
Given that I have not seen anyone else crawling about on pavements, on the steps to public buildings or in the middles of roads, I suspect looking for these plants and admiring them is a minority interest. And I doubt our streets would be as safe as they are if lots of people took it up. But until I started to look out for urban wild plants, I hadn't realised how many there are to miss!
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| March 29th 2012 |
There are succulents too. These little ones will grow into a clump over the crack at the side of the step.
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| March 28th 2012 |
Bushes cut down last year are reasserting themselves.
This buddleia will grow substantially throughout the summer and will probably flower.
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March 30th 2012
This is the bud to watch. Below is the place where it is.
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Buds on the trees are beginning to bulk and green.
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| March 30th 2012 |
So, there you have it - a garden with lawns and flowering borders; rockeries, bushes and trees. All are free and free living. People walk through this garden every day. Maybe they notice some of its elements. Maybe they don't. Maybe they chose special plants themselves, perhaps without even realising it. I think this is most likely to happen with trees. Even those with only a subliminal awareness of the urban wild will mark the difference between winter and summer, no-leaves then, suddenly, leaves - a time of sweaty offices and ice-creams at weekends.
Do you have an urban garden?
Do you have an urban garden?
__________
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I'm Following a Tree
Are You?
A Growing List!
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I'm Following a Tree
Are You?
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If you have posted recently
about the life of a particular tree
you are 'following',
let me know
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