Flowers on the Fringes

This week my mom asked me about the flowers of Oxford, and I found myself stymied. 

"Oxford doesn't really have flowers. It's very urban. Except I guess there are some in the quad at school. And on my walk through University Park. And..." And, as it turns out, in the Christchurch gardens, the Botanical Gardens, the yards of the elite North Oxford residents, and the occasional hanging basket.

Once I realized that most of Oxford is covered in Cobblestones and seven hundred year old universities, I started my search for places where the dirt has seen the sun sometime in the last century. Though I'd be lying if I said I suddenly saw gardens down every secret lane, I did find enough unique flora that the blogger limit of uploading five photos to each blog entry is irritating. But I chose some favorites for you to see, all but the last from my walk to class. Most importantly, check out the size of that slug in picture number four. Have you ever seen anything like it?  I hadn't, and neither had the peppy black and white dog that stopped to sniffle it while I was taking the picture! Don't worry, I didn't actually let it crawl onto my hand; I just wanted to provide a size comparison.