Railway tracks are a good locale for urban wildflowers. Red Valerian is in flower among the clinker with Buddleja bushes to follow. As I photographed this spot a lady with a pram was taking a snap on her phone to send to her parents. She said Red Valerian grew all over the garden when she was a child and the sight of it made her feel nostalgic. 

Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea)

Purple Toadflax (Linaria purpurea)

 An abundance of flora will bloom in the damp ground of Oughtonhead Common in the weeks and months ahead. As Brian Sawford once noted: "Marshes fed with highly calcareous waters can support a great variety of wildflowers". 

 Dog Rose (Rosa canina) is much in evidence at the moment. Hedgerows are the classic habitat but here one grows right next to one of the ditches that cuts across the common. As I stood at this spot I heard the call of a Cuckoo loud and close by. 

 Good to pay a visit to the South London Botanical Institute last week. Urgent repairs and refurbishment necessitated the closure of the building for over a year (and the garden with it). In fact it has yet to reopen to the public but will do in the near future. I dropped by to help the gardeners with a few tasks- it was nice to catch up and have a natter.

 Rainy day. It's said that we have had the wettest 18 months on record. Prior to that we had the most severe heatwave/drought since the summer of '76.

 I took part in the annual Open Gardens in my neighbourhood today. It always happens round about now which is after the spring flowers have peaked but before most of the summer flowers appear. Accordingly it's rather variable what may or may not be in bloom depending on the weather we've had.

 Obligingly Trailing Bellflower (Campanula poscharskyana) trails all around the front steps and is flowering a couple of weeks earlier than usual...