Celebrating gardens, photography and a creative life
My last post, on the quirky terraced house gardens of Hebden Bridge did not appear in WordPress’s Reader, so if you check out posts that way, you’ll have missed it. I’ll test the power of crossing my fingers for good luck as I publish this post since that seems as likely to fix the problem as anything else. Continue reading “A Radiant Lily and a Test”
Earlier this year we seized the opportunity to visit plantswoman May Vidacovich’s fascinating and beautifully cared for private garden in Louisiana. The garden is a heady mix of plants I know well with others I’d never seen before, or only ever at flower shows.
Normally I’d avoid being out in hot sun and I was tempted to describe it as a fleeting visit. In truth I lingered for longer than it felt at the time and pretty much had to be dragged away in a sorry state of heat exposure and reluctance to leave this piece of paradise.
I’m sharing these pictures with hardly any commentary other than to note that they only skim the surface of what was flourishing there. Continue reading “May Vidacovich’s Garden, Louisiana”
Shared for Cee’s Flower of the Day.
Denzil is demanding we share our cheeriest pinks this week. If forced to pick the cheeriest from my selection, I’d go with the flowers below. They’re being true to both meanings of their name: pink in colour and pinked as in the feathery effect of the petal edges.
In horticultural circles, new varieties are released with a fanfare of publicity. But we all make mistakes, even plant breeders.
Lilies are often grown for cutting but their ample pollen has an unfortunate way (from a human-centric viewpoint) of staining paintwork and wedding dresses. In double lilies, the pollen-bearing parts (anthers) have mutated to extra petals, removing the problem. So in the last few years, several companies have been marketing double forms of Lilium orientalis as Roselilies, Lotus lilies or Double Orientals.
When I photographed Lilium ‘Roselily Samantha’ a couple of years ago, I noticed that some of the blooms had a curious blunt look before they were fully open, caused by incurved petals at the centre. I liked the effect, although it reminded me more of a bromeliad than a rose. The upper petals had a tendency to open over the tops of the previous layer rather than to overlap as a double rose would. Continue reading “Not All Plants That Glitter Are Gold”
We came across this pale yellow, typically half-toppling lily tower beside a garden seat. Had we needed further temptation to sit, the scent and colour would have amply provided it. Continue reading “Flower of the Day: Yellow Lily”
Shared as part of Cee’s Flower of the Day.
Susan Rushton 