Full-blown Tulips in Their Finery...

 

The dazzling tulips had long been full-blown by the time I got to see them. Their elegant, fading petals had been buffeted by gusts of wind typical of early Spring and curled, shrivelled and twisted by the sun. Nevertheless, all this seemed to add to their beauty...

The colours were still vivid and the flowers appeared ever-larger, a burst of flaming petals that resembled flounces of Asian silk...

Gorse and Gold....

As Winter was drawing to a close, I idly pondered over the question as to why so many early Spring flowers seem to be yellow in colour - and then asked myself why I had never wondered about this point before! Apparently this is typically down to evolutionary adaptation, since such early flowering plants need to attract as many of the few pollinators that are available in the harsher, shorter daylight hours.

Yellow offers a distinct advantage as it is clearly visible and stands out against drab vegetation and undergrowth. However, it should be remembered that the human eye is unable to detect the same colour range as insects to the point that those with compound eyes make out colouration that does not exist for us! Not only that, but the production of yellow pigments - principally carotenoids - do not deplete the limited energy reserves of plants just emerging from the Winter months thus enabling them to thrive.

Beyond that, there is naturally very little physical resemblance between the wide selection of yellowing flowering plants, but each has its unique charm that is synonymous with Spring. The clusters of Lesser Celandine border the banks and hedgerows, with heart-shaped leaves of such an incredibly vibrant green. The flowers with their bright, lacquer-tipped petals marked with the same polished finition as the Common Buttercup, are set to burst open during the sunlit hours before sealing up at dusk. 

How different is the Primrose, with its pale rounded petals surrounded by a rosette of elongated leaves whose furrowed, puckered texture reminds me of a strange cow's tongue...  

The perfume of many of these flowers - when present - also bears a strange scent that is not typically floral. Gorse flowers are said to smell of coconut, wild daffodils have a curious powdery perfume whilst primroses release a light honey tone and as for celandines, well, I will have to check those! In the meantime, it is enough just to look at all those different shades of yellow...

The Magnificent Magnolia...

Back in Cornwall, the grand magnolia tree that I have known for a large part of my life was out in bloom, its imposing saucer-sized flowers with their distinctive petals, looming out against the night sky, like exotic, ghost-like birds, roosting in the branches. Scattered on the pavement below lay the strange petals and pod-like buds that had been blown down by the relentless gusts of wind that had buffeted and beaten the boughs and branches. 

Fortunately, this enabled me to take a closer look at the curious forms of what happens to be one of the oldest and most primitive species of flowering plant on Earth. Indeed, in a sense the magnolia is a living fossil, dating back to the Cretaceous period, some 100 million years, when dinosaurs still roamed! As such, this ancient plant enables us to get insight into the evolution of the angiosperm (the flowering plant). 

The petals have a curious wax-like appearance, yet to touch are far less delicate than expected – with a certain density and an almost rubbery texture. With their somewhat robust nature, they seem more susceptible to bruise rather than break or tear under extreme weather conditions. 

Meanwhile the closed buds resemble over-sized, excessively bristly almond drupes or even elongated kiwis, but once the encased petals have burst out from their confines, the scales of these curious pods split open in a dramatic fashion.

The cupped, curving petals are in fact ‘tepals’, a distinctive feature of ancient flowering plants such as the Magnolia, wherein the petals and sepals are not clearly different. Nestled in the heart of these is the reproductive system of the flower, namely the stamens and carpels – the male and female parts respectively – spiralled around a central cone-like structure. Such a simple arrangement is relatively primitive in terms of botanical evolution and evolved to be pollinated by beetles – one the earliest pollinators – as opposed to bees and butterflies.

The leaves are large and glossy with a fuzzy underside and their dark mysterious green adds an atmospheric note that was not lost on Daphne du Maurier. The gardens depicted in one of her most famous novels  – Rebecca (1939) – feature these grand ornamental flowering trees in the de Winter estate, their presence reinforcing the rather oppressive, haunting mood that shrouds the grounds and house and proves to be inescapable to the young heroine of the plot. “Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again”. 

The fragrance of the flowers is slightly overbearing, like Rebecca’s lingering scent “a stab of perfume in the air”, again adding to the psychological unease, with elegant beauty linked to ambiguity, uncertainty and veiled threat. Hmm…. High time I went back to reading some Du Maurier!

The Last Chrysanthemum

I always think that the French custom to mark Toussaint (All Saints’ Day) with chrysanthemums is rather bittersweet, as the flower seems intrinsically linked to a sense of loss, and the sadness which accompanies that. The beautiful autumnal colours of its blooms are likewise tinted, or tainted perhaps, with this same wistful essence, so much so that for many, the flowers have become somewhat mournful or morbid even, by association.

Certainly the chrysanthemum in its varied shapes and forms is sold widely across the country in the weeks leading up the end of October, to the point that the sight of all the flowers en masse leads to a fatigue which means that we fail to see the beauty inherent in each. And yet these beautiful, majestic flowers are works of art in themselves, and even more striking since they are one of the rare plants that bloom as autumn gradually prepares for winter.

The almost regal elegance and the purity of its understated beauty are surely the reasons why the chrysanthemum became an integral part of the cultural heritage of many Asian countries. Initially cultivated in China more than 3,000 years ago, it there took its place as one of the four symbolic plants; the Four Noble Ones (along with plum blossom, the orchid and bamboo). It is the national flower of China and is celebrated on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month – the Double Ninth Festival. Representing longevity and the ‘virtue to withstand all adversities’, and presumably offering this to those who partake of its health-giving properties through chrysanthemum wine and edible petals, the autumnal ‘flower of the ninth moon’ is valued for its medicinal benefits.

Despite that, the white or yellow flowers are frequently taken as a symbol of death and mourning in China and other Asian countries, much as the chrysanthemum in general is linked to such imagery in France. During the Heian period (794–1185), the ornamental chrysanthemum spread from China to Japan via Korea and the end of the 17th century saw Dutch merchants introducing the flower to Europe, and the rest is history, as they say!

In Japan, the chrysanthemum has been the emblem of the imperial family since the 12th century with the emperor’s crest symbolized by the 16-petalled flower whilst the flower motive adorns Japanese passports today. In Western culture, the flower marks the autumn equinox, a time of harvest and the fading of light and life itself. As one of the ‘short day’ plants, the chrysanthemum blooms when the number of hours of daylight are reduced, following the laws of photoperiodism as opposed to a direct sensitivity to temperature and sunlight. Not only does this apparently enable the plant to benefit from the unmitigated attentions of pollinators that are no longer distracted by ‘competition’ – the other nectar-providing flowers - but also allows it to use stored energy to maximise flower and seed production rather than a continued leaf growth.

Surely it was the mystery of such laws that led Thomas Hardy to write his poem The Last Chrysanthemum in awe and wonder at the functions of Nature that roll on, regardless of our human presence or intervention, controlled by a divine force – be that God (‘the Great Face behind’), natural forces or fate?

- The Last Chrysanthemum - Why should this flower delay so long.... To show its tremulous plumes? Now is the time of plaintive robin-song.... When flowers are in their tombs. Through the slow summer, when the sun.... Called to each frond and whorl.... That all he could for flowers was being done, Why did it not uncurl? It must have felt that fervid call.... Although it took no heed.... Waking but now, when leaves like corpses fall.... And saps all retrocede. Too late its beauty, lonely thing.... The season's shine is spent.... Nothing remains for it but shivering.... In tempests turbulent. Had it a reason for delay.... Dreaming in witlessness.... That for a bloom so delicately gay.... Winter would stay its stress? - I talk as if the thing were born.... With sense to work its mind; Yet it is but one mask of many worn By the Great Face behind.

Passionflower and The Blue Bower...

I recently saw Rossettis' The Blue Bower (1865), currently on loan from the Barber Institute at the Courtauld Gallery. The artist's model and subsequent mistress - Fanny Cornforth - was but one of several such 'stunners' whose beauty was caught in the mesmerizing paintings they inspired. With her rich russet hair, tumbling down, her prominent neck and rose-bud mouth, Fanny was very much Rossetti's 'type'. However, I would say that the likenesses all of the women whom he painted seem to blend together to capture his aesthetic ideal. Although they were different from one another - these women shared a particular uniqueness or Rossetti delivered their image in such a manner so as to highlight this. The long, tumbling hair that was truly a 'crowning glory', the distinctive nose, the expressive, ever-parted lips, the pale eyelashes visible in the light, the tapering fingers that are so eloquent are all the key features in the portraits of his women.

Surrounded by exotic Chinese cherry-blossom blue tiles, and the intertwined flowers and tendrils of the passionflower, Fanny gazes out onto us as her fingers pluck the strings of a Japanese instrument, the koto. Her expression is hard to define - she appears timeless and uncompromising in all her splendour, further enhanced by the jewel-like colours typical in the rendition of Pre-Raphaelite art. Born in 1835, at thirty years old, Fanny Cornforth, is indeed stunning, as she is in Rossetti's Bocca Baciata (Lips That Have Been Kissed). Yet these richly painted images that convey an idealized, sensual beauty and untainted, other-worldly purity were far removed from the harsher, lacklustre realities of Fanny's life.

From a modest background, she had to work throughout her life, as a servant, housekeeper and, of course, artist's model. Her outspoken nature and supposedly limited grasp of the social niceties deemed essential to a decent Victorian lady, meant that Fanny was never fully accepted by Rossetti's entourage. Yet what she may perhaps have lacked in education and breeding, she made up for in her looks in youth and a certain devotion to the friendship that she maintained with Rossetti until the end, when his family drove her from his home. Fanny did marry twice, but this did not lead to any long-term security so that poverty and ill-health resulted in her final years being spent in a mental asylum where she was ultimately buried in a collective grave.

Before and after death, her name was frequently sullied by rumours of immoral behaviour and inappropriate manner during her lifetime with and without Rossetti, and the last photograph of her in old age bears no ressemblance to the woman she had once been; the hair, mouth and nose are in no way distinctive features. And yet the paintings live on, in their opulence, capturing the idealized lover and muse that she had at one time incorporated, like passionflowers bursting out into the sunlight in their extravagant glory before sundown.

Silky Chiffon... Hisbiscus Syriacus.

The intense heat is beating down so I escaped to the garden centre to have the impression of cool temperatures whilst amongst the flowers, plants and shrubs. In fact, it was possibly even hotter there but all the greenery and blooms made it far more bearable!

The hibiscus flowers caught my attention with their delicate petals and pale colours that appear so refreshing and light in the blazing heat and bright light. These were not the 'dinnerplate', Tropical hibiscus (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis) and were therefore smaller in diameter and did not have the same long central staminal tube protruding from the pit of the petals in that distinctive, eye-catching fashion. I once saw a hummingbird feeding from one of these a number of years ago in South America - it was entrancing!

Incidentally, Sinensis means 'Chinese' as this type of hibiscus was considered to have originated there, with extensive cultivation of the flower. European explorers and traders brought specimens back with them in the 17th century, ultimately leading to hibiscus becoming a horticultural staple as so many other flowering plants, shrubs and trees that we hold to be quintessentially English. The one hibiscus that I would love to see one day is the 'Japanese Lantern' (Hibiscus schizopetalus) as it is like no other....

The hibiscus H. Syriacus Althea, also known as the 'Rose of Sharon' has an exotic aspect yet perhaps less extreme than some of the other hybrids. Some varieties have double petals and ruffles, referred to as 'chiffon' - how perfect! And the darker hearts of the flowers seem to seep out, and to burst out into another colour arrangement, like ink running freely.

Or then fade back again, to become soft white...

Rather like tissue paper... Pure, cool and calming, especially when it is 36 degrees outside.

Blazing Blue Skies in Bordeaux...

A very brief work trip to Bordeaux saw me, and the others attending, criss-cross this extremely large, beautiful city by tram and bus in the sweltering heat to reach the congress site.

Just as one of these trams was about to draw up to our stop, it went past a roundabout covered by a blaze of orange, yellow and red lilies and gladioli...

As this was in a less attractive area of the city, some built-up district with none of the charm of the old streets dominated by the majestic buildings of earlier centuries, these incredible flowers were a welcome sight...

Yet again, it proved that beauty is to be found where and when you least expect it. As soon as I was out of the tram, I ran back to admire the flowers, in spite of the traffic circling the roundabout and the 37 degre temperature! If only I could have captured the smell of the lilies in the sun; unbelievable!

A few Hedgerows, Walls and Walkways...

I love peering into the old hedgerows on morning walks towards Mousehole, and looking across the bay to St Michael's Mount - weather permitting, of course! Even on dizzly Spring days, everything seems bright and vibrant, set against grey skies...

Tiny wild strawberry flowers were wedged between granite blocks, as were violets, surrounded by a scattered patchwork of lichen...

The pink campion was out, set around shiny, waxy leaves in the dense hedgerows...

A blurr of delicate forget-me-nots created a hazy blue mist with their minute flowers...

Whilst banks of bluebells - wild and cultivated - burst out from their background...

The Cornish stone hedges were just as impressive with their subtle ferns, growing out from every crack...

And of course the Cornish staples, glowing nasturtiums that escalate and tumble down stonework leading into the village...

Whilst set between the breaks in the fence covered with the brambles and bracken...

Elusive passageways down to the sea, hidden in tunnels of undergrowth...

And as you make your way into the village, the exotic plants that seem typical of Cornwall today are everywhere...

Whether growing on walls, on steps or in pots...

But always set amongst the granite...

And the alleyways and tiny streets...

Sadly many of which appear to have been given over to holiday-let accommodation, but that's another story, I suppose...

And finally, even when there are no apparent plants, gentle moss wedges itself between the cobblestones!