Category Archives: Gardens

Ghostly Vegetables (Part 3)

Posted on 18/11/2015 by carolinemmurray

Returning to Charles Jones, and the continuing existence (or not) of the varieties he chose to photograph, we have now arrived at flowers and fruit. Of the images selected to be shown in the book, there are twenty flowers and … Continue reading →

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Dried Flowers

Posted on 12/11/2015 by carolinemmurray

Just back from a brilliant tour of the Cambridge University Herbarium, in the Sainsbury Laboratory next to, but not formally connected to, the Cambridge University Botanic Garden. Many thanks to Christine Bartram, the Chief Herbarium Technician, for making us so … Continue reading →

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Ghostly Vegetables (Part 2)

Posted on 09/11/2015 by carolinemmurray

Returning to the remarkable plant portraits of late Victorian gardener Charles Jones, I thought I would look at the varieties he photographed, and see whether any of those that he named still exist. (There are some generic labels, such as … Continue reading →

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Ghostly Vegetables (Part 1)

Posted on 03/11/2015 by carolinemmurray

The botanical theme continues, because I have just acquired a lovely book, The Plant Kingdoms of Charles Jones, by Sean Sexton and Robert Flynn Johnson, on the recommendation of the estimable Gentle Author, on whose blog you can see some … Continue reading →

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Apples

Posted on 26/10/2015 by carolinemmurray

Upon St Crispin’s Day, what better way to celebrate England than to go to the Apple Day at Cambridge University Botanic Garden? For the second time, I had the fun of being a helper, slicing fruit for tasting, and bagging … Continue reading →

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Plant of the Month: October

Posted on 23/10/2015 by carolinemmurray

No difficulty in choice this month: the cyclamen, in all its varieties, is the outstanding plant of October. If asked to choose my own favourite flowering plant, I’d be torn between the cyclamen or the clematis (in all its varieties … Continue reading →

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St Helena

Posted on 06/10/2015 by carolinemmurray

I say St Helena, you say Napoleon, or possibly vice versa. It’s undoubtedly the case that this tiny and remote island is most famous because of its reluctant and ex-imperial guest between 1815 and his death in 1821. Large numbers … Continue reading →

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Plant of the Month: September

Posted on 26/09/2015 by carolinemmurray

Decisions, decisions: the autumn equinox is producing such wonderful sights that I’m spoiled for choice for September’s plant of the month. Sedums, rudbeckias, penstemons, cyclamen, colchicums, and of course Michaelmas daisies – which I’m alarmed to see are undergoing a … Continue reading →

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We Close in Venice (Part 3: Why Venice AGAIN?)

Posted on 14/09/2015 by carolinemmurray

As our holiday draws to an end, and we contemplate our return – to autumn, to cleansing of the liver, to new challenges, and to a totally pissed-off Max the Cat, who started getting antsy when we brought out the … Continue reading →

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We Close in Venice (Part 2: Mantua me genuit)

Posted on 10/09/2015 by carolinemmurray

I would assert that there is unlikely to be any greater, more playful or more evocative epitaph in any language than the one (dubiously) ascribed to Virgil: Mantua me genuit, Calabri rapuere, tenet nunc Parthenope; cecini pascua, rura, duces, with … Continue reading →

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