Celebrating gardens, photography and a creative life
I’m setting a little challenge today: how many of these buds can you identify? My selection contains hairy buds, arching, clustered, leafy, capped and felted ones. (I’m having to write more text than I want to here so that WordPress doesn’t ‘helpfully’ include the answers in the preview in The Reader. I think that should do it!) Continue reading “Seven Flower Buds (A Quiz)”
Some of you may remember seeing the Santa Rita ‘Living La Vida 120’ Garden at RHS Hampton Court Flower Show a few years ago. Alan Rudden’s design won a Gold medal and Best World Garden. Boldly coloured burnt-yellow steel feature walls, chunky gabion walls of bright rough stone and seven pollarded strawberry trees (Arbutus unedo) were memorable features. Continue reading “Santa Rita Garden, Painting With Wine and Just Asking”
If I suddenly had to survive by foraging alone, though I have some knowledge of plants, I’m not sure I’d last long, especially if the whole of the country was foraging too. While one man’s meat is another man’s poison, anyone with an apple tree would surely be thinking themselves lucky. Continue reading “Edible Plants”
The first made me smile because the snow is adding an extra layer of variegation to the reddish and cream edges of these green leaves. Continue reading “Snowy Plants and Places”
I’m turning to the world of plants to help HeyJude celebrate the colour brown.
Brown flowers are unusual, but Primula auricula breeders have had centuries to push the boundaries. (See my post from the Cheadle Auricula Show) Continue reading “Life in Colour: Brown in Plants, Plus Sourdough Crackers”
The most widely grown hardy (or heritage) mum is Chrysanthemum x rubellum ‘Clara Curtis’. It was discovered by Amos Perry in 1929 at Happy Valley Gardens in Llandudno, Wales, where my sister and I often played as children. (Not in 1929, I should add.)
Despite its roots, I see Chrysanthemum ‘Clara Curtis’ far more often in Mississippi than I do here in the UK. It’s a very distinctive variety with luminous pale pink flowers with a touch of lilac. Continue reading “Hardy Chrysanthemums (Chrysanthemum x rubellum)”
