Thursday, April 21, 2011

Pink and flowery

I have never been a particularly pink girly, as you may imagine. However, there are some flowers which I think are best in pink (- and some I don't: Japanese anemones, which we only have in pink, are better in white, I believe.  Pink forget-me-nots are verging on an abomination...).

Camellias, or camelias as we like to call them, favouring the orthography and pronunciation of Dumas, I like best in light pink, preferably shaded.  The red make me think rather of Edam cheese rind or tired Christmas candles and look tawdry when they fade and brown.  We only acquired our first camelia this year, it's called Nuccio's Pearl.


It was small but had a couple of flower buds when it came from the nursery, though these have faded and dropped quickly in this strange April drought and heat wave we've been having (I've enjoyed the suhshine and warmth, but now have a sense that enough is enough...).  Last week we went to La Roche-Jagu ( that link is to Brittany Tourism's English translation, partly because it has some quite amusing language in it, such as a haughty castle... the one main wing left standing has severe good looks...) which is famed for its camelias and rhododendrons.  Needless to say we were rather between the two, but some of the former were still in good shape.  I tried not to get too caught up with photographing them, or there's have been no end to it...




There was one very pink rhodo out too, which invited a pic, especially as it had a bee on it.


The other pink flowers which delight me are blossom trees.  Blossom trees are just one of those horticultural miracles of impossible generosity, I think.  In some ways it seems absurd that we grovel about trying to coax a few flowers out at ground level, when you can have a whole treeful of the things to all the depth and breadth and height which that affords, for really no effort at all - except for waiting for them to grow, of course.  We have four blossom trees in a row, two prunus and two malus, and they even have all different colour leaves as well, and fruit in the case of the malus, far more than I can ever use for crab apple jelly.



 They go from white with a touch of pink,



to almost red,


and I love them all, but the most photogenic for me this year was the pink prunus with the sprays of flowers.


(Don't ask me what the variety is, I can't remember)

Anyway, no apologies ( which is actually a way of apologising isn't it?  I'm sure there's a term for that...) for the effete and sugary nature of this post.  Not everything in the garden is rosy of course, but some things are.

 

14 comments:

NT said...

I'm all about the pink today, too! (GMTA, right?)

Found your blog via Dale of "mole" and am glad I did.

Fire Bird said...

that blossom collage is gorgeous

Nimble said...

yum

Zhoen said...

For all my general dislike of pink, flowers in nature always seemed outside this preference. They are themselves, with their own reasons for their color, to be taken entirely on their own terms.

HLiza said...

Beautiful! I've never liked pink until I get my youngest child, Najla, who's currently obsessed with everything pink. I'm infected now.

YourFireAnt said...

I'm with you on the pink, and think echinacea, zinnia, and cosmos also look best in pink.

Lovely photography here.

T.

Roderick Robinson said...

Girly, girly, etc. You keep on foisting on your readers the hint that you are a tomboy - to the point where it stuck in my mind and I was able to use the idea (completely divorced from you, of course) in my current novel based in France. The translation is something you may not care for garcon manqué but provided me with a riot of opportunity. I mention this just in case the novel gets published and you decide to sue me. As you can see the phrase is rich with innuendo. But then you knew all that anyway.

earlybird said...

Just lovely! Really beautiful photos. Unfortunately the 'scent' button on your blog doesn't seem to be working! :)

We spent a week near Lézardrieux last summer but somehow never made it to La Roche-Jagu... shame.

Crafty Green Poet said...

I love pink blossom trees too! I've never been a fan of camellias for some reason, though i do prefer pink to red....

Anil P said...

The pink sits on them just right, the right shade of features so near perfect and beautifully formed.

What a nice beginning to my Sunday morning.

Bee said...

There is almost nothing that makes me happier than flowering trees. These pictures are glorious.

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@ bee - yes you are also right...

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