WANTED - Dead or Alive!

So, okay why do I want to write about dead flowers? – just because sometimes they can be beautiful, much as leaves can be in skeleton form. I am thinking at this moment about flowers as they fade rather than seed heads, although I totally agree with Piet Oudolf “A plant is only worth growing if it looks good when it’s dead”. One has only to look at the effect at the ‘Oudolf Field’ a 1.5 acre perennial meadow style garden, which is in the grounds of the contemporary art gallery Hauser & Wirth at Durslade Farm in Somerset. The garden is designed to have year-round interest and is a joy to see in every season and seed heads make a dramatic contribution in the autumn and even winter months. It is certainly an inspiration.

I am thinking about flowers as they fade for example camellia flowers which are stunning when in bloom but dare I say it I prefer them as they are creeping into decay. Often, but not always camellia flowers are pink which I think is greatly enhanced by the gradual fade into creamy brown. Also, the pattern that the fallen flowers can make on the ground. There is no need to think about under planting to give an extra bit of colour and or interest, nature does it for us. Some of the large magnolia flowers can take on a distinctive air seem to transform into an impressionist flower, all floppy and relaxed with the world. Against, a blue sky they really are so completely different to the more formal buds, goblet shaped flowers of a traditional magnolia.

Roses are another flower than can take on beauty in decay – they are not one of my favourite flowers, for years I wouldn’t plant them, in fact I have been known to say I hate roses. But having seen the rambling roses tumbling over the iconic Cotswold stone walls at Moor Wood in such a natural way, I have become converted – just a little!

So do other flowers hold the same fascination as they fade? Certainly hydrangeas’ work for me in the same way, to me they are more interesting and even thought provoking, not quite brown but on the turn – perfect! Texture and form take on a different element and bring a new dimension to a border as the hydrangea’s change but of course, you do need to observe with an open mind and think outside the box of a traditional view of flowers. Having an appreciation of plants, throughout their entire lifecycle, where the focus is not solely on their flowers in pristine condition brings an added element to a garden.

To me, the essence of a garden is that it changes, if it becomes stagnant then it will become boring and flowers fading in an artistic way add to the changing scenes of the garden.