Wild Flowers of Leazes Park

Fair maids of February Why don't you come out today? Fair maids of February Why don't you come out to play? Oh, we've seen you, oh, we've seen you Even when the icy winds did blow From the darkness of winter, the first flowers to venture And now you're lying beneath the snow Popular song. Robin Dransfield Our flowers never really stop flowering. If you look hard enough, there is usually something to see throughout the winter. This time of year (late January) there will be some stragglers hanging on from the previous autumn, a few that keep going all year and a few that start early. Just now, in late January, we are just seeing some of the first heralds of Spring. Of these, perhaps the most special is the snowdrop or  Galanthus nivalis .  It is one of the first arrivals which can even force its way through the frozen ground. It is also one of the easiest flowers to recognise because it 'does what it says on the tin'. The flowers a...

If ever you catch quite a beginner and want to give him a taste for botany tell him to make a perfect list of some little field or wood. Both Miss Thorley and I agree that it gives a really uncommon interest to the work, having a nice little definite world to work on, instead of the awful abyss and immensity of all British Plants. Charles Darwin in a letter to Joseph Hooker -director of Kew Gardens There are two ways of becoming wise. One is to travel out into the world and see as much as possible of God's creation. The other is is to put down roots in one spot and to study everything that happens there in as much detail as possible. The trouble is that it's impossible to do both at the same time. Jostein Gardner - The Christmas Mystery You will have probably gathered from the two quotes above that the general theme of this blog is studying one area in detail rather than travelling far and wide. In this case, studying the wild flowers that grow in Leazes Park and where po...