I guess there's a reason we have the saying "flaming June" and the weather for *most* of the month demonstrated why. Blue skies, sunny days, in fact extremely sunny days meant warm, sunny and tranquil mornings for my daily wander through the park.
And with skies as blue as this, it really was glorious.
It's been a month where I've sought out shade and the cooler, tree lined avenues. I'm finding that more often I'm choosing shade over sun these days, somewhere along the way I've got all sensible and I've no idea how that happened!
The trees have been blossoming this month - I need to do more work with my tree recognition skills - as there's few I recognise right now by species. And pointing out these are big trees, really doesn't cut it, does it?
Unlike previous months I've had very little variation in my routes to work and as the month went on I realised my 'park time' had been low, especially with a few days off and so I needed to change that. With such lovely days it'd be a shame not to leave the office at lunchtimes and a plan was hatched to get out most days, whether that was just to eat lunch, or more often taking a walk like this one along the long border behind the Queen's House.
And it's pretty long as long borders goes. Initially I looked at it as one, and then more closely and I realised that the large swathes of colour and plants were in fact six or more plants planted alongside each other, and it's this block planting that gives the impact. I'd watched from a distance on my walks into Greenwich as the gardeners and landscapers filled the border with plants and flowers of all colours.
When you look more closely you see that there's not really any spectacular plants - I mean they are all beautiful, but none as individuals are striking. Their impact comes from when they're grouped together, and I think there's a useful lesson in there for all of us, even in much smaller spaces.
Having a great backdrop also helps though!
And then in the blink of an eye, it was July. I know, this year is flying past.
And with it, a milestone. July will be the twelfth month in my first year of walking to work through Greenwich Park - can you believe it, I've been in my new job for almost a year now, which I guess really should make it less new and just my job!
The park has become such a big part of my working day that it would feel odd to stop this series, so unless something drastically changes (and I'm hoping it doesn't!) I'll be carrying on with monthly posts on life in the park, as there's still so much more to observe and share.
