Happy Easter!

Whimsical Windows, Delirious Doors #18

This afternoon I typed 'door' into my computer to search for photos which I have labeled with that word.  As you may imagine for someone as enthralled with doors as I am, there were many options.

Accoring to the notes in the title of the photo, this door is in Westminster Abbey, London, England.  I remember being fascinated with the carvings on the corners. 

And a slightly open door always beckons to me... 

Here is the link to other doors and windows around the world.

In Honour Of

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Eleanor Elizabeth Goes To Hogwarts

For all of you who plan to see HBP on opening night.

Maybe you'll see Eleanor Elizabeth-

on Platform 9 3/4.

Memories of Fragrance and Color

ROSA CENTIFLORA

'Rose otto' and rose water are produced by steam distillation from the fresh petals of this rose.

Chelsea Physic Garden

GERANIUMS

Chelsea Farmers Market

HYDRANGEAS FOR SALE

South Kensington Flower Shop

Edibles

I haven't mentioned that our Eleanor Elizabeth accompanied us to Chelsea Physic Garden. She enjoyed the garden immensely.

Especially the Edible Plants area.

There were all the usual normal every day plants in the edible garden. Tomatoes. Green Beans. Onions. Garlic. Rhubarb. Carrots.

Lettuces!

No, Bunny! They're for LOOKING AT, NOT EATING!

Eleanor thought that maybe she could nibble her way through this really large humongous green monster leaf.

Even a Bunny couldn't eat a whole GIANT leaf. It might work better as a papa san chair.

Oooooh! Pretty flowers to chew on!

Ummm, no. Not so tasty.

This is more like it! Red Clover!

After our discovery walk through the Edible Plant Garden, Eleanor wanted to visit the Gift Shop where she had seen a quite handsome bear on a display table.

The Gift Shop! What a delightful place! Everything a gardener could want, need or imagine!

Even this sweet little Terracotta Pot Man

I loved the cotton shades!

The docents at the shop recommended Jekka's Complete Herb Book as the best resource available. It was a tempting purchase, but I decided against buying it. We had traveled to London from Los Angeles with only our backpacks and I didn't want to carry the weight back home.

I hope you have enjoyed our visits to Chelsea Physic Garden. If you ever have the opportunity to travel to London and decide to go to the garden, it would be wise to check the website for visiting hours.

After Tea

Yesterday I showed you what The Professor and I explored before having lavender scones, clotted cream and jam for tea at Chelsea Physic Garden. We sat outside under the trees and enjoyed looking around at the signs of a working, functioning garden.

After we sipped the last of our tea and wiped our lips, we ventured out again to see the Fish Pond at the other end of the garden.



We passed the Rock Garden on the way. The Rock Garden is famous because the various rocks for assembling it came from different places including

"stones from the Tower of London, Icelandic lava (brought to the garden by Sir Joseph Banks in 1772 on a ship named St. Lawrence), fused bricks and flint. This curious structure has been listed Grade II* and is the oldest rock garden in England on view to the public. It was completed on 16th August 1773. "



The Fish Pond was much more overgrown with lily pads and other pond plants than when we visited in 2004.

Wild flowers lined the edges of the rectangular pond.

It was hard to tell which bright orange spots were koi swimming under the surface and which were reflections of the orange poppies.

The reflections looked like a Monet painting.

I don't wish to overwhelm anyone with too many photos of this magical place. Shall I post one more set of photos tomorrow?

Chelsea Physic Garden, London

There is a unassuming, almost anonymous looking, walled four acre area of gardens and pathways in Chelsea, near the Thames River. The name on the plaque attached to the plain brick wall says

HORTUS BOTANICUS SOCIETATIS PHARMACEUTICAE LOND. 1686

This is the site of the Chelsea Physic Garden, a botanical garden dedicated to researching the medicinal qualities of plants from all over the world.

We visited the Garden in 2004 and when I knew we'd be in London in June 2008, I declared to The Professor that I didn't much care where else we went, I did want to return to the Physic Garden. One afternoon, after we had wandered around downtown London, we took the tube to South Kensington Station and wandered around Kensington and Chelsea and waited until the garden's afternoon opening time. We checked our backpack at the entrance, and I grabbed my camera.
We strolled up and down and around, remembering the areas we'd explored four years before and finding new places we didn't remember seeing on our previous visit.
The garden is laid out in sections with titles such as Garden of World Medicine, Edible Plants and Poisonous Plants. I was very interested in the plants the Society had identified as herbal or medicinal.

The Yerba Mansa plant (Anemopsis Californica) is native to California. The root stock is used by California Indians to prepare an infusion to treat malaria and dysentery.

Another plant that is used in China for the treatment of malaria is Sweet Wormwood. I wish I'd known about Sweet Wormwood when I lived in Indonesia. The medication I took to prevent malaria break-throughs gave me nightmares and I still got malaria. I eventually switched to an Indonesian folk remedy of an infusion made from the boiled leaves of the papaya tree.

Feverfew (Tanacetum Parthenium) is a highly effective remedy for migraine. Gardeners in the Pacific Northwest could become wealthy selling the Fewerfew that grows perniciously in their gardens every spring.

Opium Poppy (Papaver Somniferum) Seeds for these poppies were NOT for sale in the Chelsea Physic Garden gift shop.
Just so you know.

We took a little tea break before we went back to exploring the Edible Plants area, the Pond and the Rock Garden.

And so shall I take a break and return tomorrow to share the rest of my visit to Chelsea Physic Garden.

London Memories

When I was talking with MamaMia last week while we were packing boxes of dishes in her kitchen, she mentioned my photos of London. That was all it took for me to start thinking again about posting another London Memory.

One morning The Professor and I found ourselves walking along the Thames River. We had bought our morning coffee and stood on the bank gazing at the Tower Bridge.

We strolled down to the Tower Bridge Piazza, enjoying being tourists, gaping at the buildings of flats and shops that lined this street by the river.

We decided to cross the bridge, just because it was there.

Then we walked back across, just because we could. We walked up and down on both sides of the Thames.

We saw the HMS Belfast.

We passed London Bridge.

We descended some crazy diagonal steps.

We didn't descend the steps that led directly in to the water.

As we strolled, we looked across the river to the other embankment.

We crossed another bridge, just because it was there and just because we could.
We walked and walked.

We walked back and forth across the Thames on different bridges.

We walked and crossed until we were back where we started.

And it was time to walk away from the River Thames and explore another area of London.