Newington Green Flora

 Newington Green Plane Trees in the glow of an Autumn Sunset

Viper's-bugloss - Echium vulgare

This beautiful flower is native to the local area and has been found growing on Newington Green.

Stinking Iris - Iris foetedissima

These colourful seed pods of the stinking iris have burst open to reveal the seeds and they can be found on Newington Green,  adding some wonderful splashes of colour to the borders in autumn. The dainty flowers, which appear from May to July, are a pale lilac colour and have a strange smell to them, hence the plant's name - some people apparently call it the 'roast beef plant'!

Mahonia

Mahonias are non-native to the UK but they are wonderfully architectural plants, with racemes of fragrant golden flowers that bloom in late autumn. These plants grow at the north end of Newington Green, in the shady border that is in front of the historic Unitarian Church.

Mahonia flowers are a valuable food source for various insects, particularly bumble bees that venture out on warmer days late into the season.

November 2010

Beech~ Fagus

The young beech tree on Newington Green is beginning to lose its autumnal golden-toned leaves but those that remain glow when the sunlight shines on and through them.

Native Fern

This young native fern is growing on the log pile on Newington Green. Behind it is a bracket fungus that survived the snowy winter and the whole area is covered with pink cherry petals.

Hawthorn ~ Crataegus monogina

Native Bluebells ~ Hyacinthoides non-scripta   

Crab Apple ~ John Downie

The young crab apple, that was planted by NGAG Volunteers with the help of Islington Urban Foresters at the Tree O'Clock Tree Planting event in 2009, is in bloom! The blossom with its delicate pink buds and white flowers has been attracting bees and hoverflies and the tree has also been creating a lovely focal point on the Eastern (school) side of Newington Green.

Flowers - Picked and Abandoned

What a waste!

These flowers may look interesting and colourful on the stonework but they have been picked on Newington Green and just left to die. Children would have had a few minutes of fun collecting them, probably trampling on other plants in the flower beds at the same time, but then lost interest, so the flowers were left totally wasted - and numerous little creatures have either lost their habitat or even their lives in the process.