Chelsea Physic Garden

Galanthus nivalis, www.wikipedia.org

A SNEAK-PEAK INTO BOTANY HEAVEN

I don't know what I was thinking visiting a garden full of perennials in February! Maybe I had a sense that this wasn't a great plan. I didn't even bring a camera because I knew the 3.5 acre medicinal garden wouldn't look anything like it does in pictures like this:

Chelsea Physic Garden in summer... , www.wikipedia.org

Chelsea Physic Garden with the House of Chelsea in the background, www.wikipedia.org

However, the Snowdrop Days at Chelsea Physic Garden, the only open weekend during winter, didn't disappoint. The visit was a strong reminder that spring is on its way, although I look forward to my second visit at the end of May when the Garden will be at its greenest.

Snowdrop, Galanthus S. Arnott, http://blog.gardenersworld.com

ON THE TRAIL

The snowdrops (Galanthus spp) didn't grow in large white carpets as when you find them in a forrest clearing but in neat little bundles like above. 


They were set along a Snowdrop Trail that allowed you to compare and contrast the many different kinds of snowdrops as you walked through the garden. 


I never knew there were more than 75 species, not all on display, but the surrounding galanthophiles (my new favourite word!) pointed it out and told me that one of my favourites among the snowdrops wasn't even a snowdrop, but 'in the same family'. I see.  


A few examples, my two favorites:

Galanthus Brenda Troyle (I wonder who she was...),  http://www.galanthus.co.uk/snowdrop/Brenda-Troyle

The snowdrop that isn't a snowdrop but a Spring Snowflake, http://www.life-rostam.de/print/auwaelder-english.htm

A BIT OF BOTANY BACKGROUND

I thought it would be interesting to join a 1-hour tour done by a volunteer from ‘Friends of the Garden' and it was. I think the garden experts around me also enjoyed it. Here are some highlights:

Chelsea Physics Garden was founded in 1672 as a training ground for apothecaries. Exotic plants and seeds were exchanged through a botanist network that still exists today and explorers such as Captain Cook and Francis Drake brought specimens to Chelsea from their many expeditions. 


Cook even took home lava stone from Iceland for the apothecaries’ rock garden, which also consists of rubble from the Tower of London.

Sir Hans Sloane in Chelsea Physics Garden, owned the garden,co-founded the British Museum and introduced hot chocolate in the U.K., www.londontown.com

Today, the garden still maintains over 5000 different species from all over the world for conservation, education and research. This impressive collection includes Britain’s largest outdoor flowering olive tree, beds of perennials and herbs as well as many poisonous plants. 

She pointed out the winter flowering clematis and the deadly nightshade that someone apparently felt the need to taste a couple of years back. They spent four days in intensive care.  

Deadly Nightshade, www.wikipedia.org

On a lighter note: The garden café with the enticing name Tangerine Dream serves breakfast, light lunch and afternoon tea and they do it well - had a really delicious salad.   

FIND OUT ABOUT...

Closest tube: Sloane Square

The Chelsea Physic Garden is open to the public from April 1 to October 31 and for the Snowdrop Days in mid-February. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays 12-5pm Sundays and Bank Holiday Mondays 12-6pm.

Entrance: Adults: £7, Students and children (5-15 yrs old.) : £5 

Chelsea Physics Garden


Snowdrops

Postman's Park

Postman's Park, www.wikipedia.org

A WELL-KEPT CITY SECRET 

This small memorial garden north of St. Paul's Cathedral in the City of London is a green spot I came upon by chance, after a visit to the Museum of London.


Unfortunately, I didn't bring a camera that day but I won't let that stop me because Postman's Park deserves the attention.


The semi-secret green enclosure, between King Edward's Street, Little Britain and Aldersgate Street, stands out as one of the few places in London that commemorates the heroic deeds of ordinary working-class Londoners, who would otherwise have been forgotten.

Postman's Park, Colin Wing, http://www.opensquares.org/ 

I admit that the small open space, formerly a lunch-break garden for the postmen at the General Post Office in one of the neighbouring streets, comes off as rather unspectacular: It is slightly elevated and lined with the usual benches and flower beds. But who needs pomp when you can have a calm private moment in the centre of the financial district?

MEMORIAL TO EVERYDAY HEROES

The Memorial to Heroic Self Sacrifice, www.wikipedia.org 

The Memorial to Heroic Self Sacrifice, found in one corner of the park, is as unimposing as the park itself, but must not be overlooked. The structure, set up by the artist G.F. Watts, dates from 1900 and consists of around 50 beautifully decorated ceramic tablets hung within a simple open gallery. 

I wonder if the stranger and the foreigner were one and the same?, www.wikipedia.org

www.wikipedia.org

Some of the tiles are quite tragicomically worded but that in no way lessens the real tragedy, drama and necessity of the memorial. The tablets provide interesting glimpses into a different era and lend a melancholy quality to the tiny green space.

FIND OUT ABOUT...

Closest tube: St. Paul’s, Barbican, Moorgate

Postman's Park is open to the public from 8 am to 7 pm or dusk, whichever comes first.


Postman's Park


The Memorial to Heroic Self Sacrifice