I've been working up to the inevitable London Plane (Platanus x acerifolia) post for some time but this, you may be pleased to know, is not it. Instead I'd like to compare notes on one of it's parents, the Oriental Plane (Platanus orientalis). Two examples of these relatives of the acerifolia (Maple-leaved) tree inhabit Brunswick... Continue Reading →
Tree of Heaven, aka the Ghetto Palm
In the eastern United States, the Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima) is known as the Ghetto Palm. It's a name I like, at once descriptive and ironic - I love the effortless way Americans do that with language... Since I wrote about the ToH a couple of weeks ago, I have started photographing them where... Continue Reading →
Bedford Row Robinias
Bedford Row is a very handsome eighteenth century London street, in some ways more handsome than it's Bloomsbury neighbours north of the Theobald's Road divide. It is wider than Great James Street and softer than Doughty Street, it is lined largely by fine Georgian terraces, (the exception being a post-war infill half way up on... Continue Reading →