When Fashion and Nature Collide – Flowers December 2018.

This is my December 2018 contribution to our special project: When Fashion and Nature Collide

I am really sorry that I was unable to take the photos of Dominique this time around but the other photographers have done a great job – she looks gorgeous!

These flowers  have provided the inspiration for Dominique‘s styling and Lisa’s art this month. Please go and visit their own blogs and see their posts. Collages used here were prepared by Dominique.

 

 

Menyanthes trifoliata – Bog Bean

Fashion Inspiration by 3C Style, Flower photography by Darren, collage compiled by 3C Style.

This is commonly (and easily) grown as a pond marginal plant in UK gardens, and is photographed here in my garden pond. The ‘bean’ name comes from the leaves which resemble those of beans, though the plants are unrelated.

It has big and thick roots which I curse when it is time to thin it out.

Here in the UK it is a widespread plant in the wild, though most abundant here in the North West – logical because it is wetter here! It is also found in North America and is a plant that all three of us on the team have growing nearby as a wild flower. It flowers in mid summer.

Historically the bitter-tasting leaves have been used instead of hops to flavour beer here in Northern England. I think this is no longer the case but I’d love to try it!

 

 

 

Hepatica japonica

Fashion Inspiration by 3C Style, 3CStyle photo by Marie-Claude Viola. General wonderfulness by 3C Style.

 

Some garden plants become trendy and the prices for rare forms inflate drastically, one only has to look at Tulips in the 17th century or, more recently, snowdrops. Eye-watering prices are paid for new snowdrop cultivars (check out ebay in feb/march). Even I, plant geek though I am, back slowly away from snowdrop cultists (‘Galanthophiles’ as they call themselves).

More recently still the Chinese have gone crazy for succulents like Conophytum and Lithops and, again, ebay prices are amazing. Most of the UK dealers in these plants have been driven to retire because they could not match demand from China.

In Japan this is no news as they have been refining cultivars of some favoured plants for centuries but this has only become common knowledge in horticultural circles since the country opened up to the west.

In the last decade there has been a influx of Japanese cultivars of their native Hepatica japonica (strictly speaking ‘Hepatica nobilis var japonica’). The newest and most beautiful cultivars are (reluctantly) traded for huge prices in Japan. But in UK nurseries such as Ashwoods and Edrom you can buy perfectly nice ones like the one in the photo for the price of a meal out.

I can do no better than link to two posts by a friend of mine:

http://www.srgc.org.uk/wisley/2008/160308/log.html

http://www.srgc.org.uk/wisley/2008/280308/log.html

Common White Wave Moth – Cabera pusaria

Unusual for me to do a critter photo but this one fitted one of Dominique’s ideas so I was happy for it to be used. Please see the posts from the rest of the team to see how inventively the picture has been used!

Fashion Inspiration and collage by 3C Style, critter photography by Darren.

I’d like to wish everybody a happy holiday season and a wonderful 2019!