A Garden In May

Time for our monthly date with the Botanic Garden in Cambridge. It was another glorious day, though not as peaceful as usual. The reason was a large group of "young botanists" in the shape of a school group clutching their clip-boards and scurrying around in search of the answers to their questionnaire. It was a reminder that the garden was designed as a teaching facility by Charles Darwin's tutor, no less.

As usual I didn't complete my homework very fully so I'll add some notes where I can, but feel free to add information or correct me via a comment...

These are the unmistakable blooms of Bleeding Hearts (Lamprocapnos spectabilis). There's really nothing else like them.

The pond above can be seen from the Woodland Garden. I think I take a photo here most times when I visit.

Is this some kind of peony? Whatever it is I love the papery petals and the startling splodges of deep red. (It's cistus ladanifer - thanks, Rosemary, see comment below)

Astonishing colour combinations beside the little stream, which seems to have been planted up since last time I was here.

There never seems to be anything quite as white as the flowers of the Arum Lily (Zantedeschia aethiopica). Apparently they are native to Southern Africa.

It's easy to spend a long time sitting in the sunshine beside the fountain.

I'd never noticed the above tree before, which must mean that I've never been here when it's flowering. I wandered over to have a look at the little sign which told me that it's a Manna Ash (Fraxinus ornus). In Medieval times it's sugary sap was said to taste like "manna from heaven", hence the name. 

This is one of my favourite areas of the garden, where the vegetation around the trees is left to "do its own thing".

Variety of colours around the "lake".

We had a lot of this white flower growing in the garden where I spent my childhood and it was known as "the one that Granny dug up" as she had brought it from a previous home. We did the same thing when we moved house later on. Its more usual name is Snow In Summer or  Cerastium silver carpet. It was growing in the Chronological Beds so I can tell you that it was introduced into the UK in around 1650.

There were lots of flowers like the one above growing all over the garden, I presume they are an Allium of some kind.

This striking flower was in the Systematic Beds and was grouped with the Daisy Family.

Fallen blossom, still beautiful despite being grounded!

Take care.