Three upcoming events, for further information see the Events page on this website:

Sunday 7:  Two walks in Brompton Cemetery, contributions to the Friends of Brompton Cemetery Open Day, which runs from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m.

11.30 a.m. Tree Walk, lasting c.75 minutes.

‘1.30 p.m. Herbal Heritage: Uses and Folklore of Cemetery Plants, again lasting c.75 minutes.

Report:  As seems usual, the morning walk, which attracted 17 participants, proved much more popular than the afternoon one which attracted only seven (two people attended both).  People seem to have enjoyed both walks, and many took copious notes.

‘Thank you very much, that was lovely’ [comment on morning walk].

Tuesday 9:  Pavement Prowl – Discover the Wealth of Wayside Plant Life, meet at the South London Botanical Institute, 323 Norwood Road, SE24, at 11 a.m. and continuing for c.90 minutes.

Report:  Unfortunately due to misunderstandings the publicity for this event was rather poor, and there was a strike on the London Underground, so it was pleasing to welcome the five people who came along.  Rather than following our usual route we ventured to the west side of Norwood Road and slowly wandered along two side roads.  As expected a wide range of native and non-native plants were found and discussed.  These included two species of bellflower, Adria bellflower (Campanula portenschlagiana) and trailing bellflower (C. poscharskyana), both native to the eastern Adriatic region, introduced  as ornamentals and now spreading over garden walls and on to pavements.

‘Around the world along two roads!’

Images: upper, ash (Fraxinus excelsior), a tree discussed on both  Brompton Cemetery walks; lower, water bent (Polypogon viridis), native to southern Europe, north Africa, and southwestern and central Asia, now becoming widespread and common on London pavements, seen on the 9 September walk.