Indigenous colours of Rottingdean Beach Huts

Brighton Chalk Cliffs remind me of Ma Jolie Pablo Picasso 1912

Limpets dissolve the chalk with an acidic secretion.

limpits nibble away at the rocks with their radial tongues and cause damage

Early Spring flowers seen on Brighton Seafront 10 March 2014

Euphorbia characias
Glaucous leaves and topped with huge heads of chartreuse-green flowers with bronze ‘eyes’ from March to May. The Edwardian garden designer Gertrude Jekyll described this sun-loving, evergreen shrub as ‘one of the grandest of plants’. found on dry rocky slopes and scrubland, in the med so it is very tolerant of drought

Wall flower. Erysimum cheiri

Red Deadnettle. Lamium purpureum

Viola reichenbachiana

Ceanothus

Euphorbia characias

Ulex europaeus. Gorse

Osteospermum ‘Hopleys’

Spring time blooms at Nymans Gardens, Handcross, near Haywards Heath, West Sussex, RH17 6EB

There were so many flowers out at Nymans today.  It was a beautiful day March 8th 2014, the first warm day of the year

Galanthus Pussy Green Tip. A wild snowdrop  originally from the banks of the Thames

I was surprised to see Rhododendron flowering in early March.

Spring hardy Camellias welcoming the bees

Pulmonaria officinalis

Pulmonaria rubra “Bowles Red”

Helleborus

Crocus

Crocus

Ladybird on a young Monkey Puzzle Tree

Araucaria araucana

Any one know what this is?

Pinus

Cryptomeria japoonica “Monstrosa”

Cephalotaxus harringtonia var. drupacea. Cow’s tail Pine

Is it fire works? Is it cheerleaders pom poms? No its Pinus Hatwegii, Stunning.

Alnus rubra catkins and shoots

Winter Aconites under the Preston Twins, Elm trees

Winter Aconites  (Eranthis hyemalis)- what a joy! a glimmer of hope that Spring is around the corner! Taken 22 January 2014

Brighton & Hove has always had a high population of Elm trees  and currently has over 17,000.  The Victorians and Edwardians planted loads of them because of their tolerance to the thin chalk soil and salty winds.

 I pass the The ‘Preston Twins’ in Preston Park are on my walk  to work they are considered  to be the largest and oldest surviving English Elms in Europe. Home  to  the endangered species the White -letter hairstreak butterfly  –  on the decline in areas that have suffered with Elm Disease.

Eranthis hyemalis

One of the Preston Twins with a blanket of winter aconite 22 January 2014