Miss Elaineous: MISS ELAINEOUS VISITS CHELSEA PHYSIC GARDEN...

I visited Chelsea Physic Garden as part of London's Open House Festival, whereby certain tourist attractions and buildings are free to enter.

Situated on the River Thames Embankment, and close to the Royal Hospital Chelsea- home to the Chelsea Pensioners (retired British Army veterans)- it was my first time stepping foot inside these high walls.

Founded in 1673 by the Worshipful Societies of Apothecaries of London for its apprentices to study botany and its uses, it is the oldest botanical garden in London; focusing on medicinal, herbal and useful plants.

This spiral sculpture, standing by the Main Lawn is a double helix, representing DNA). It celebrates the garden's 350th anniversary, and contains the names of head gardeners and curators from the last 350 years.

It's practical as well as decorative (like all of the plants here) and inside the sculpture is a Himalayan musk rose in need of support.

This statue is of Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753) and is fairly new, dating from 2014. The original statue of him sits in the British Museum. He was an Irish physician and naturalist, and he bequeathed his collection of 71,000 items- including books, plant specimens, drawings and coins- to the British nation.

I crossed the Main Lawn and skirted around this 4 acre site (it's small enough for you to be able to get a good central view from the peripherals).

This is the Community Kitchen Garden.

The Learning Centre, and the garden was initially established on a leased site from Sir John Danvers' garden (he was an English courtier and politician), which adjoined what had once been the home of Sir Thomas More; a Lord Chancellor who was convicted of treason during the reign of Henry VIII.

Danvers House was destroyed in 1696, and the area is now Danvers Street.

There was a seasonal exhibition of squashes going on around the Miller Beds...

...Including this pumpkin. Well, Halloween is imminent!

A marrow in its bed...

It was Sir Hans Sloane who leased Chelsea Physic Garden's current site to the Society of Apothecaries, in 1722, for £5 a year in perpetuity. The proviso was that the garden supply the Royal Society, of which he was principal, herbarium samples.

Other, hanging squashes, with a reminder to appreciate them with your eyes and not your hands!

Oceania Beds...

You have to duck to navigate this tree!

Cool Fernery...

The Cool Fernery contains atmospheric ponds...

In England, these gardens are only surpassed in age by the University of Oxford Botanic Garden.

This garden is truly unique, as it's the only botanic garden focused on medicinal, herbal and useful plants.

On the Lower Lawn is a Chilean wine palm...

The Lower Lawn and Woodland Walk sit adjacent to one another...

Wooden walkway in the Woodland Walk...

Rustic grille- I'm not sure if this was meant for protection or nurturing climbers...

The garden contains trees and plants of varying sizes; like this giant creeping out through the wilderness...

A closer view, and some of these trees are positively tropical, with the high walls of the garden creating a micro-climate.

The Embankment Gate serves as a reminder that you're not far away from the bustle of London...

Skinny tree near the gate...

Ginkgo Biloba.

Walking through the twisty branches of the Ginkgo Biloba made me feel like I was entering an enchantment!

Dicotyledon Order Beds...

Dicotyledon means a flowering plant with an embryo that bears two seed leaves.

Steps down to the Pond...

There was an interactive session for children going on by the Pond. Here is a welcoming frog!

British Natives section by the pond...

Stoneware in the Garden of Useful Plants...

The Physic Garden is one of the most important centres for botany and plant exchange in the world, and the Wardian Case offers protective transportation.

I believe this is a pomegranate bush...

Centre circular display...

There is a Latin America Bed in this area, so that explains these jungle-like vines...

Colour intersperses the abundant greenery...

Rain barrel and a beehive...

Compost heap...

The cardoon is also known as the artichoke thistle, and is purple/pink in colour when in bloom. These are moribund, and looked a tad scary- shades of Blair Witch, methinks!

Garden of Edible Plants...

A grapevine, and this appears to have been harvested...

Back through the Dicotyledon Order Beds...

These ordered beds are a riot of textures, with pops of colour...

Tidy, lower-level plants...

And wilder species, forming their own arch. Expect to be bitten by flying things when you come here!

A crimson bromeliad. I remember seeing these in Penzance- the climate is quite temperate in south west England.

The Atlantic Islands Border and a skinny tree...

Fun fact: when I was 8 I did a school project about trees. My father, who had studied botany, told me all their Latin names (shame I can't remember them!)