Ann Mackay: Inspired by Nature

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It’s a fascination to me to see how diverse cultivars of the same flower species can be. If you think of something like dahlias, for instance, there’s a massive variation between their flower types. But even flowers that might sound the same when described can actually look quite different.

The lily flowers here are similar enough that when I reviewed my pictures after a garden-visit, I initially thought I had two sets of photos of the same plant. As soon as I paid them proper attention, I realised that they were in fact quite unalike. They have only superficial similarities of colour and flower shape.

At first glance, both lilies have swept-back (‘recurved’) petals and an orange and white colouration to their flowers. But a second look shows that the orange of the lily below is much softer and more muted than the one above. Additionally, the top lily has dark speckles on its petals and little bumps called ‘papillae’. (I’ve read that these papillae are important, because they secrete a substance that attracts insects. They are also exploited by lily breeders to produce a different look to flowers.)

I don’t grow lilies in my own garden (because I have cats and lilies would be a danger to them), so I don’t often get the chance to look at lily flowers very closely. Seeing and photographing them in other people’s gardens feels like a little voyage of exploration – one I enjoy tremendously! 🙂

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I’ve been very busy in both house and garden recently and haven’t had so much time for photography here. (There has been a lot of change in the garden, which has created plenty of work to do. At the same time, work on the house has meant lots of rearrangement and change there too.)

But I have made time to visit a number of local gardens, so I’ve photographed flowers in them instead. That’s good, because it allows me to photograph plants I couldn’t otherwise. However, this is one that I should have been able to photograph at home. I left it a bit late, and my own agapanthus had too many flowers that were starting to go over. Happily, I’d already photographed these in someone else’s garden.

These flowers are actually a stronger colour than mine, which are a much paler blue. The individual flowers are a good size too. I find that my agapanthus can sometimes produce very small flowers and I wonder if it’s because they aren’t getting enough moisture. (I should probably water them more often!) If that’s the case, the extra rain this summer will have been a big help.

The blues of agapanthus are absolutely lovely, but they have other colours that are beautiful too. I’ve seen a fabulous deep purple that I like (‘Black Jack’), and I’m also tempted by some of the paler purples and a white tinged with blue…I would need a bigger garden to fit them all in! 🙂

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These penstemons aren’t growing in my own garden, but they do remind me of plants that I grew here until last winter. Sadly, the colder-than-usual winter killed off several penstemons that I’d had for a few years.

Penstemon ‘Raven’ is very similar to the plant above, with flowers of a fabulously deep purple that has a magenta tinge. I miss it! There will certainly be more of it in the garden again, but in future I’ll more careful to take cuttings that can be kept somewhere away from the frost.

Another of the penstemons that I lost was ‘Hidcote Pink’ – a very pretty salmon-pink that was a bit different to the other shades of pink here. (My other pinks have a bit more blue in them.) It would be welcome in the garden again. But perhaps the most missed of the lost penstemons is deep red ‘Garnet’, which I’d had for years. This one might perhaps have made it through the winter if it hadn’t already been struggling a little. (The ground level where it was growing had been disturbed a bit when building the pond. This meant that the ground around it drained much more and became a bit too dry for the plant…oops!)

I love the rich colours and the attractive markings inside the throat of penstemon flowers, so I’ll be keen to grow more of them in future. (Bees love them too, and it’s amusing to see their little furry bottoms sticking out of the bell-shaped flowers – a bonus!) At this stage of the summer, I may leave it to next spring to buy more plants though. And I will have to be more careful about protecting them from harsh winter weather. The effort will be worth it to see these beauties in my garden again.

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This is a plant I’d not seen before – Dictamnus albus (also known as dittany, burning bush, or gas plant). I photographed both the pink and white varieties in a garden I visited recently, then spent a few days trying to figure out what it was. It would have been a good idea to ask the owner of the garden, but she was busy trying to cope with the demand for her excellent coffee and cakes at the time.

Seeing new plants while visiting gardens is fascinating and often gives me ideas for things I’d like to grow. (The ‘want to grow’ list is too long for the garden to accommodate it – a common problem for gardeners!) It’s usually not too difficult to find out the names of plants by using the internet or books. But this one had me stumped for a while.

The flowers seemed like a larger version of gaura flowers, especially in the stamens having such long filaments, but the growth habit was entirely different. The stems of this plant were very upright and individual flowers were held on short stalks, unlike the long, floaty stems of the gaura.

I eventually found a photograph of the plant by doing a Google search for ‘star-shaped seed pod’. There were lots of photos of star anise to wade through before I found one of the Dictamnus. Identified at last!

My search also told me the reason for two of the plant’s common names. ‘Burning bush’ and ‘gas plant’ refer to the fact that the plant emits a volatile oil on sunny days. Apparently this can be set alight without causing any harm to the plant. But it might not be a good idea to try this if the plant is in a garden that you’re visiting!

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Peonies are amongst the flowers that seem most feminine to me. (Irises and oriental poppies are two of the others.) Peony petals, with their crinkles and ruffles, make me think of layers of silky fabric. Their colours, which range from the pale and delicate to the rich and sensuous, reinforce that impression.

The spectacular curls and swirls of the petals and the sheer flamboyance of the large flower heads make them a pleasure to photograph. The peonies in this post were photographed in gardens I visited, but hopefully I may find a bit of space to grow one or two in the garden here. (I used to grow a couple of red peonies when I lived in Scotland. They were trouble free there, but I suspect that the much drier conditions here won’t be ideal.)

While I’m still trying to figure out how I can somehow squeeze yet more plants into my garden, I’ll make the most of the plants that I have the chance to enjoy in other people’s gardens. Being able to see flowers I don’t grow (and sometimes seeing quite unexpected ones) is a large part of the reason for garden-visiting. These two beauties certainly made me smile!