Purple in the Parks...

Way back in May, I admired the beautiful flowers in Hyde Park - especially the arrangements with all the delicate shades of pink and, above all, purple. I always make a beeline to the London parks whenever I can, as they are fairly near the coach station. Some of the springtime beds were like wild hedgerows, with sprigs of cowparsley...

Or sprigs of butterfly or 'French' lavender, just in front of the Serpentine in this case...

Delicate, elegant irises, with raindrops... It had poured with rain shortly before my visit!

And pale, speckled foxgloves...

When I returned last week for the end of the summer, the flower beds were still stunning, needless to say... And all the greenery too, which was more surprising perhaps, in view of the incredibly hot weather, and high temperatures.

Pigeons were splashing around in the fountains in the Rose Garden. This particular one bears the statue of Diana the Huntress, part of Hyde Park scenery since the beginning of the 1900s, although the Rose Garden itself, with its pergola, draped with swathes of clematis and swags of roses was designed in 1994.

Funnily enough, the colour themes in Hyde Park were rather like the ones in Le Jardin des Plantes, Paris, which is conveniently close to the capital's coach station too. However, the French parks are far more linear, with aesthetics based on symmetry and order.

These parks are such a pleasure to stroll through at any time of the day, with their flowers and foliage, wildlife and human activity.

In Paris, the sun was blinding and the flowers were glorious in the brightness which gave way to haziness towards the end of the afternoon...

The light looked like scattered powder against the petals and created a restful atmosphere that was, as always, magical.