Dear Readers, as the proud writer of over ten years of the Wednesday Weed, I can’t tell you how excited I am about ‘Urban Plants’ by Trevor Dines. It’s in the British Wildlife Collection, which is a gorgeous series of books about different habitats and groups of plants and animals – the books are not just informative, but are also surprisingly readable.  Just leafing through this book gives me all kinds of ideas for blog posts, but also invites me to look more closely at my local flora.

Different urban environments, from pavements to walls to waste land to ‘the grassy bits’ are covered. Look at the page below! I’ve never read anything on the ecology of pavements before.

There’s even a spread on urban orchids.

So, I am very much looking forward to getting stuck in and sharing what I find. I am so glad that so many people are now paying attention to ‘the urban commons’, and becoming interested in the vast range of plants that have made their home with us.

If you have a few bob burning a hole in your pocket, the book is currently on special offer at the NHBS website.