Beloved Plants

On these pages I hope to create a record  of native and ornamental species. Nature is the source of endless inspiration.  I like to focus down, to get into the microscopic detail . I love to see how the petals of a primrose glisten, and are not flat at all , but are rather quilted like a beloved throw.

woodland plants

Our common Ivy,  Hedera hibernica.

I love this plant  Herb Robert.

Below here, opposite leaved golden saxifrage.  Note the contrasting leaf of  Dandelion – Dent – de – Lion,  see the teeth ?

Dandelion

One of our most usefull medicinal/edible plants.  Many  parts are edible. Use the leaves now in salads, just a leaf or two chopped up.  Make wine from the flowers.  Come back in Autumm and dig up the roots to make coffee. Use the white sap in the stems to treat warts.’

Auricula primulas

The only plants I choose to collect.  Why ? Divine fragrance, old world patterns, ease of maintainance and propagation. This one is my oldest  ‘ Dusty Miller’, has characteristic ‘ farine ‘, on the leaves.

Callicarpa. Kallos, from the Greek , meaning beautiful.

bodiniere – after Emile Marie Bodinieri (1842-1901), French missionary and plant collector in China.

Callicarpa likes neutral to Acid soil. I have been waiting many years for it to fruit like this. Definitly worth waiting for. I fell in love with this plant when I first saw it in Kew Gardens , London.