Londonpride

London pride is tolerant of dry, shady conditions. It grows to a height of 15–30 cm (6–12 in) and provides rapid ground cover without being aggressively invasive, and in late spring produces a mass of small pale pink rosette flowers growing from succulent stems. It will grow well in neglected or unfavourable urban spaces where few other flowers flourish, and is a common garden escapee.

This plant has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.

Bishop Walsham How (1823–1897) wrote a poem to the flower rebuking it for having the sin of pride. When told the flower had the name because Londoners were proud of it, he wrote another poem apologising to it. Tradition holds that Saxifraga × urbium rapidly colonised the bombed sites left by the London Blitz of the early 1940s. As such it is symbolic of the resilience of London and ordinary Londoners, and of the futility of seeking to bomb them into submission. A song by Noël Coward, celebrating London and the flower, achieved great popularity during the World War II years. In the language of flowers, London Pride is held to stand for frivolity, and its day is 27 July.