Oxford Botanic Gardens 2.0: Back to Green

Good Morning!
Welcome (back)

Today's pictures are the first of a few batches from a recent work- and personal- trip I took to Oxford and London.

This blog has previously talked (typed) about Oxford University's Botanic Gardens ... and the city's History of Science Museum was mentioned [HERE], in another post, but there are a few more things to add about both places..

First off, with Spring very much in the air in the Northern Hemisphere, I wanted to share a few flower and plant pictures from the Botanic Gardens. Pictures and comments about Oxford's History of Science Museum and little vestiges of London's engineering history snapped on the same trip will follow over the next couple of weeks.

Usually, I try to say something clever and learned about the places I visit or the images posted on here. It seems that if people are spending their time reading what I have to say, the least I can do is go out and read up a bit on each topic, check the half-recalled memories and generally try to make it so I have something worth saying or reading. More recently, though, it seems that approach may not always be right. Some of my more successful work has been the simpler stuff and sometimes, less is more*.

Today's theme, then, is purely visual: about "the purple" and "the green" in the botanic gardens** and I'll let the pictures do the talking-




Lewisia cotyledon, also known as "Siskiyou lewisia" or the "cliff maid" is native to Northern California and Southern Oregon. Here it is seen growing in Oxford, England, in one of the greenhouses of Oxford University's Botanic Gardens

Lewisia cotyledon- a plant in the Montiaceae family that grows naturally in rocky, sub-alpine habitat in Northern California and Southern Oregon.



Lush foliage inside one of the glass-houses at Oxford's Botanic Gardens


Tropical pitcher plant (Nepenthes sp.), Oxford University's Botanic Gardens

Tropical Pitcher Plant in one of the hot-houses at Oxford University's Botanic Gardens.
The Strange Life of Pitcher-Plants: a sign from one of the hot-houses of Oxford University's Botanic Gardens (which are open to the public).

Thanks for reading. The next post will be on Friday and more photographs from this trip will follow on Monday.
Best Wishes,
Victoria


Footnotes.

* Having spent quite a bit of time lately reading the social media output of various acquaintances, colleagues, heroes and celebrities, I am increasingly coming to the view that people like "simple" and personable, "they" like banal, short little pieces more than things that try too hard; "me with my cat" is always going to win out over "my latest quantum mechanics paper". "I like papaya"*** is almost invariably more popular than "the papaya tree is Carica papaya, one of the 22 accepted species  in its genus and is subject to the papaya ringspot virus: a non-enveloped, flexous rod-shaped particle that is between 760–800 nm long and 12 nm in diameter".
 It is not hard to understand why, but for someone like me, who spends a lot of each day reading, writing and thinking, it can be hard to remember exactly when to expand and when to say less.

** One of the best things about taking a break somewhere different, imo, is the fresh visual inspiration you get- the little things you see from random posters on the underground, to discarded magazine covers and plants by the roadside - things that shift your mental landscape and clear the mounds of familiar detritis (and with it, various blockages in your thinking).


*** There was actually an astonishingly popular article/essay on this exact theme on Triond.com at one point. I don't remember the full text, but its theme was pretty much "I like papaya: it tastes good..."

Comments

  1. How high does "me with my quantum cat" rank? Because I'm pretty sure mine partakes in tunnling :)
    Lovely pictures!

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  2. Tree shrew toilets! Ha ha! Made my evening. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Beautiful flowers . Beautiful pictures once again. I love the lewisia.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great post, Victoria. OMG tree shrew toilets roflmao!

    ReplyDelete
  5. The lewisia picture is great. It's one of my all time favorite plants.

    ReplyDelete

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