London in Full Bloom

Is there a more beautiful place anywhere in the world than London in the spring? When the grass is emerald green after months (and months!) of showers? With bright, luscious flowers in bloom throughout the whole of the city? It's hard for me to imagine a more perfect place than London at any time of the year, but especially in the spring.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures of the many gardens (some public, some hidden, and some forbidden) in London:

One of my favorite places in all of London- the gardens of Kensington Palace (the homes of Henry James and Robert Browning are only a couple blocks away)

The private gardens of the Middle Temple. Non-Temple members are permitted to walk around the gardens, but, technically, they are closed to the public.

Inside the perfectly manicured lawns of the Middle Temple

Bold pink tulips around the Tate Britain in Pimlico (the headquarters of Random House and the Chelsea School of Design are nearby)

A mosaic of colour in the Bloomsbury Square gardens. The building where Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes spent their wedding night is nearby and so is the house that Virginia Woolf would one day inhabit. Bloomsbury is literary London at its best!

Buckingham Palace practically draped with willows

The regal lawn of Buckingham Palace, decorated with saturated rays of red and yellow. The lawn must look this perfect all summer and especially during the Trooping of the Colour ceremony in June, commemorating the Queen's birthday. I was in London for the ceremony in 2005- spectacular!

The gardens of Whitehall, another one of my favorite places in London

I couldn't tell what the brownish flower at the base of the white ones is...any ideas?

The color of this flower, a deep burgundy, is most unique. I didn't encounter a colour quite like it anywhere else in the city.

Dainty pink and white flowers

One of my favorite pictures. I love how one can be surrounded by serenely quiet gardens and also only a few feet away from the hustle of the city at the same time.