Dear Readers, if there was a prize for the most splendid wisteria on the County Roads in East Finchley, I would give it to this splendid  example on Huntingdon Road. The racemes (sprays of flowers) must be a good fourteen inches long, and it is at a peak of perfection. I have written about wisteria before, but I have been so busy during this past few weeks that I haven’t had a chance to go hunting. I’m sure that this plant cheers up everyone who passes it.

On Twyford Avenue I found these two wisteria shrubs, with pink flowers. When I look closely at the flowers, it’s evident that they’re a member of the pea family (Fabaceae). What a boon this family has been, not only providing us with everything from broad beans to runner beans to garden peas, but cheerfully fixing nitrogen from the air (with the assistance of some handy bacteria) and converting it into a form that other plants can use.

And finally, also on Twyford Road there was this one, also splendid, and I love it with the deep blue Ceanothus and that pale blue garage door.

It’s not just the wisteria that’s out at the moment though, and there are other pleasures of a more subtle kind. This Japanese maple with its red leaves looked lovely against the sky.

I was rather fond of the modest pleasures of wild plants too, like this little patch of Herb Robert close to All Saints Church.

Herb Robert

And then there was this Ivy-leaved Toadflax growing in the crevices in a wall.

At first glance, I thought that the small shrub in the photo below was a Euphorbia, but now I’m wondering if it’s something else. Opinions, please! I’m still leaning towards Euphorbia but am happy to be persuaded otherwise. It was a quite striking mixture of yellow and green.

The Photinia is in flower….

And this tree is a slight puzzle – I think it’s an Eastern Redbud (Cercis canadensis) but it could possibly be a Judas Tree (Cercis silaquastrum) – I shall have to wait until the leaves come to make up my mind. Whichever it is, it’s absolutely splendid. I love the way that the flowers come right out of the bark on these trees. And looking at them, wouldn’t you know that this is yet another member of the pea family? It’s something else to be grateful for.