I went for a nature walk in the centre of Europe’s largest metropolis. The Barbican is running a nice exhibition with the title Radical Nature. Though I found the land art described inside mostly quite trivial, some of the installations are quite intriguing. Well worth a visit. The best part of it was however Secret Nature, a guided walk to explore wild plant life within London, to see the uninvited green things within the concrete structures of the Barbican and the surrounding City of London.
Our guide was a very sympathetic fellow from the Royal Horticulturalist Society, with a bristly gray beard and thick glasses. A striped collared shirt was tucked into trousers that were raised well above his waist. He spoke delicate sentences with long pauses, as if to make sure no word was misplaced. He gave the impression of a man with a passion for categorization and order.
I was genuinely surprized of the variety of wild plant life that was there, in the cracks of asphalt, struggling for space in the kept green spaces, in the small holes of walls barely able to keep the necessary moisture. They were not just blunt weeds and hay, but also colourful flowers. Some of them had apparently escaped from inhabitants’ flower pots and were making a run in their newly found freedom. Such wild urban flora had previously completely escaped my attention. It was indeed like a secret, one that no-one cared to hear.
The guide had some delightful stories about the origins and journeys of the plants. They spread via birds and the lunch boxes of city workers, or were earlier carried in the bowels of horses pulling the beer into the local pubs from the country. Some had come from as far as China and Indonesia. The most fascinating case was a small yellow flower that looked rather commonplace but in fact originated from Mount Edna. It had been introduced to the Oxford Botanic Gardens sometime in the 17th century and had soon began spreading along the walls of colleges. When the railroad arrived, the cunning plant advanced along the rails propelled by trains. (I find these stories amusing when they are told as if the flora acted with full intention - I suppose it is particularly justified in the case with the uncultivated plants that make their moves regardless of people.) It had now made its way into the square mile. The City is obviously one of the main hubs of the globalized world, drawing in people from everywhere and directing the flow of the world’s funds. Some of its guests from far away lands go mostly unnoticed.
Comments
Comment by sara on the November 1, 2009, 3:25 am (link)
beautiful—you should send this to Resurgence mag!!
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