Celebrating gardens, photography and a creative life
Q: When is a Magnolia not a Magnolia?
A: When it’s a Calycanthus.
Calycanthus is an ornamental, multi-stemmed shrub that caught my eye last year at one of the flower shows. Large, creamy flower buds open out to fragrant blooms held above the foliage. The fleshy flowers are often compared to a magnolia, although the petals are slim, curly and more plentiful. Continue reading “Calycanthus ‘Venus’ | Carolina Allspice Hybrid”
I loved these petals with their soft, complimentary colours and mix of light and shade. I took the picture at Farmer’s Branch, Texas a couple of years ago and know that someone is going to ask me which rose it is, which gives me a problem. The form reminds me of Rosa ‘Lady Emma Hamilton’, and the colour of Rosa ‘Jubilee Celebration’, but I believe it’s Rosa ‘Lady Of Shalott’, which was looking so good during our visit that I later persuaded my sweetheart to plant one in his garden. Continue reading “Sheeny Petals”
This lovely work of stained glass is part of the centrepiece of a triptych in the cloisters at Gloucester Cathedral showing St Agnes, St Mary and St Dorothy, by Morris & Co, 1924. Continue reading “Two Stained Glass Panels From Gloucester and Glasgow Cathedrals”
Fritillaria imperialis are very attractive in flower, although they are decidedly pongy when grown in a big group. Folk names for them include Crown imperial and imperial fritillary.
Walking around a woodland garden last spring, my nose picked up something foxy in the air. I thought I knew what it was, but not where it was coming from. By following my nose, I eventually tracked down this clump of flowering bulbs, a bit deeper in the woodland. Continue reading “Fritillaria Imperialis – The Crown Imperial Fritillary”
My sweetheart calls Azaleas ‘party girls’, because they burst into flower, divert our attention from everything around them, drop their flowers and then leave things looking a bit boring. His words, not mine! But while they last… Continue reading “Azaleas In Flower”
Venus gazes out of the picture, wearing the draped fabric and heavy curls we associate with the Pre-Raphaelite style. Rossetti, her painter, has chosen a pose that reminds us of Botticelli’s famous image of Venus on the shell. The painting’s title associates the Roman goddess with the older Astarte.
In the background, winged spirits carry torches, and the evening star, Venus, is shown between the setting sun and rising moon.
Watching in turn, I was struck by the synergy between the figure in the painting and the onlooker who seemed to be communing with her. Continue reading “Life And Art: Astarte Syriaca With Onlooker”
You might claim this is just on the edge of too much – too bright, too packed, too flowery, if there is such a thing.
It’s the latest in my series of pictures for dreaming. You may need to rein in your imaginations to prevent your senses overloading, especially if you were thinking of adding in bees hovering and humming and birds flying overhead. Continue reading “Flower Fantasia”
Susan Rushton 