Monday 28 March 2011

succulent thoughts

succulent blossoms

The end of summer is a funny thing. The garden starts changing, mornings are darker, the birds get up later (a good thing as we have some noisy ones around here), even the cat sleeps in :) And the season of serious chai drinking begins!

I rescued these succulent blossoms as they were beginning to wither and dry out on their plants a few days ago. When they're fresh they have a beautiful orange colour, but when dry as you can see here, quite pink. Am I a bit of crazy woman for having dried out succulent blossoms, old seed pods, and driftwood all over the house? Other people have fresh flowers, me the deader and more dried out the better. I love the way their stems go a boney-white, a bit like Georgia Okeefe's paintings of cow bones dried out in the New Mexico desert sun. I just love that washed out look.
Cow's Skull with Calico Roses, Georgia O'Keefe

I quite like pressed leaves and flowers too. Here's a quick wikihow link to flower pressing in case you're keen.

Are you a fresh or dried flower person? And are you a collector of things?

4 comments:

  1. Those dried succulent blossoms are amazing! Which plant are they from? My succulents never flower. I treat them very mean.

    I'm also a nature collector - driftwood, flowers, shells, seed pods, leaves, stones, bones, feathers, sea glass - whatever I see that is beautiful. My partner calls it my 'Blair Witch' collection! I have a particular love for dried gum leaves. Sometimes they are incredibly colourful. And they smell great too.

    I'm glad to know that I am not the only crazy collector around here!

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  2. I still have all the pressed and dried leaves and seedpods that I brought from Oz over a decade ago. They are so beautiful.
    I am really happy to see this succulent blossom. It is stunning.
    You've probably seen my pressed flower/leaf collection but here is the link anyway:
    http://theplumtree2.blogspot.com/2010/06/between-pages.html

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  3. Glad to see I'm in good 'dead things' collector company you 2! Those pressed leaves and flowers of yours P are divine!

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  4. I'd always wondered what they looked like in the "flesh", so to speak. Your prints capture them well.

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