Seeing the artist’s way
Backyard Botanics
by Backyard Botanics
5M ago
One of the (many) things I love about botany (in particular plant taxonomy – the naming and classifying plants) is that of all branches of science, it is perhaps the one where art and science, often thought of as opposites, are most closely bound together. Accurate botanical illustration has always been central to recording, understanding and communicating the morphological characteristics of plants and, even today, of the 2,000 or so new species of plant described each year, most are accompanied by an artist’s drawing as well as the formal written description. Native Calanthe in Korea by Kea ..read more
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Aeschynanthus buxifolius
Backyard Botanics
by Backyard Botanics
3y ago
A surprisingly hardy plant from southeast Asia. Aeschynanthus: tropical ‘lipstick plants’ A number of years ago I worked in the Southeast Asia section at Kew Gardens, and took part in several field trips to Borneo. In 1848, the Victorian colonial administrator and naturalist Hugh Low said of the flowers of Borneo “the woods abound in shrubs and flowers, which delight the eye and attract curiosity by their rich and gaudy colours, or their delicate and beautiful forms”. One particular climbing plant he said, “yields to none in beauty”. That plant was Aeschynanthus, and having seen it myself grow ..read more
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Botanists’ gardens: Maarten Christenhusz
Backyard Botanics
by Backyard Botanics
3y ago
Join me for a tour of the private London garden of botanist Maarten Christenhusz Botanists gardens What is it about some gardens that makes them particularly special and memorable? A sophisticated or original colour combination? A masterly display of contrasting shapes and textures? A clever design, leading you on a journey which hints at unexplored delights hidden around the next corner? Or perhaps a garden which conjures up feelings of tranquillity and wellbeing? For me, all these elements are important. But what really gets my pulse racing are the plants: gardens crammed full of rare, unusu ..read more
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Penthorum sedoides
Backyard Botanics
by Backyard Botanics
3y ago
A marginal pond plant from North America, with pretty red fruits and autumn foliage. Penthorum sedoides is a perennial herb native to the eastern United States where it grows in wet soils or shallow water on river banks, marshes, ditches and the margins of pools. Plants from this part of the world were some of the first non-European plants to be grown in UK gardens, as seeds and specimens were sent to keen English gardeners and botanists such as Peter Collinson from their counterparts in the eastern American colonies such as John Clayton and Mark Catesby in Virginia and John Bartram in Pennsyl ..read more
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Bomarea edulis
Backyard Botanics
by Backyard Botanics
3y ago
A hardy, tropical climber from South America Plant collecting in Rio On the 14th November 1768, 79 days after the Endeavour set sail from Plymouth on Captain Cook’s first voyage around the world (the story of which is told in a previous blog post – 250 years of Endeavour), the botanists Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander arrived at Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.  It was their first encounter with the tropical forest, full of tantalising plants then largely unknown to science. Unfortunately, the Portugese governor was suspicious of the motives of the English ship and wouldn’t allow them to land ..read more
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250 years of Endeavour
Backyard Botanics
by Backyard Botanics
3y ago
Captain Cook’s first voyage. Exactly 250 years ago today, on August 26th 1768, the Endeavour departed from Plymouth on Captain Cook’s first voyage around the world, with the botanists Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander on board to document the natural history they encountered on route. A few days ago, Rob and I went to a superb exhibition at the British Library which brings together the journals, log books, charts and sketches produced by those on board to tell the story of a hugely important expedition which ushered in an age of empire building and scientific discovery, led to the founding of m ..read more
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Anemopsis californica
Backyard Botanics
by Backyard Botanics
3y ago
An ancient and unusual plant from North America The flowers of this unusual aquatic plant, which seems to have become more popular in cultivation in recent years, are held in an inflorescence (flower head) that is said by some to resemble a single anemone flower. I can’t see it myself, and suspect that this is based on an assumption as to the origin of the name Anemopsis, when in fact the name has nothing to do with anemones.  The genus was initially named Anemia until it was pointed out that this name was already taken by a group of ferns, and so it was later changed to Anemopsis. Anemop ..read more
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How low does it go? The Beast from the East and minimum temperatures in the UK.
Backyard Botanics
by Backyard Botanics
3y ago
The coldest winter in London for 8 years. Just when we all thought we’d got away with another relatively mild winter and spring was on its way, the temperature in the garden plummeted to -4C as freezing cold air and snow direct from Siberia was blasted across the country by what the media dubbed “the Beast from the East”. It felt like the coldest winter UK temperatures for years, but was it? Although most plants in the garden should, according to the books at least, survive down to -5C, this was certainly the coldest winter in the garden since most plants have been in the ground, and the first ..read more
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Creating Paradise in Camberwell
Backyard Botanics
by Backyard Botanics
3y ago
Reflections on Monty Don’s Paradise Gardens. I greatly enjoyed the first episode of the new BBC series Monty Don’s Paradise Gardens, charting the history, design and symbolism of the beautiful and tranquil Islamic garden style. The programme reminded me of how these gardens influenced the design of my own garden when I started planning it five years ago. Having had to content myself with being an armchair gardener up to this point in my life, I now found myself in possession of my own plot, a blank canvass, and had to decide how to make the most of it to create my own dream garden. Aiming to c ..read more
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The Paradise Gardens of Uzbekistan
Backyard Botanics
by Backyard Botanics
3y ago
The story of how the Mughal gardens were born in Uzbekistan. In his recent TV series Monty Don’s Paradise Gardens, Monty showed us the great Islamic gardens of Iran, Spain, Turkey and India, but you may have been left wondering how a Persian style of gardens found its way to India. I was lucky enough to visit the beautiful country of Uzbekistan ten years ago, and was delighted to discover that the country was the setting for the refinement of Paradise gardens and their development into the famous Mughal garden style surviving today at the Taj Mahal and other sites in India, visited b ..read more
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