Nature notes: scenes from a secret wild garden in the heart of Harringay

The oxeye daisies are dancing, purple knapweed blazes, huge heads of yarrow push up through the grasses and the daisies, mauve tufted vetch and bright pink cranesbill rub up against each other and, everywhere, their flowers full with bees, are great clumps of St John’s Wort.

As I wander through this secret meadow, I’m stunned at the variety and beauty of the wildflowers blooming here. Dotted amongst the grasses and flowers are herbs and great thrusting spears of bear’s breeches holding their own in this riot of wild colour. I aim my camera but the breeze here makes it difficult to capture close ups.

The oxeye daisies, unlike their small cousins in the lawn, don’t close up at night and, in ages past, they were known as moon daisies. With their yellow centres and white petals, they look like children’s first drawings of flowers which seems apt because this pretty wilderness is on the top of a school.

North Harringay have great plans to renovate the garden, but for a weed lover like me this place in summer is an absolute joy, and I would hope they would try and preserve some of its wild charm. Sure, some of the grasses need to be weeded out, it would be nice to get the herbs out from under the more thuggish of the flowers and rescue the little trees, but the way Nature has chosen to decorate this living roof shows just how ideal this space is for growing wild.

Many thanks to Matt for letting me view and take pictures of the garden.