Lots of new wildflower inspired fabrics at Liberty out now – a prodigious 166 in fact. The new season takes its inspiration from ‘the study of wild gardens and represents the exuberance of nature, and wildness of the un-tamed spirit.’ What we really like about Liberty here, apart from its never-ending floral pattern creation, is its …
Plant Curator was slightly disappointed that the traditional flower bouquet given to winners at medal ceremonies was absent from this year’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow: Wouldn’t a bunch that celebrated some of Scotland’s amazing native flora, such as a selection of thistle species, have been a nice touch? Still, we can’t complain as it was …
Another plant inspired poem for Sunday. Ted Hughes’s (1930-98) collection of poems about the natural world – Flowers & Insects – was published in 1986 and included this one: Sunstruck Foxglove. We follow it with a reading of the poem taken from The Ted Hughes Society website by a certain Nicholas Bland, a second year student at …
If you want to cover a wall in interesting plant material or get a chair moulded out of it or even a lampshade made from it, then look no further than this company based in Austria. ORGANOID® produces 100% biodegradable material from ‘renewable resources’ that designers can then fashion into new and exciting objects. A …
Hashtag #PlantMovies has been trending on Twitter this week. Here are Plant Curator’s Top 20. Be warned: There are lots more! Horrible Mosses #PlantMovies — Mitch Wertlieb (@mwertlieb) July 16, 2014 #PlantMovies Aloe, Dolly! — greg bernhard (@GregBernhard) July 16, 2014 There’s something about Rosemary #PlantMovies — I Carry Hodor (@Garrison80Josh) July 16, 2014 I …
If you are making a living out of photography, you must be good. If you are making a living out of wild plant photography you’re a genius. There is not much call for wild plant photographs these days, especially macro shots that offer a portrait of an individual plant. Some talented individuals have success with …
“When Great Trees Fall” was Maya Angelou’s (1928 – 2014) last poem in her fifth volume of poetry, I Shall Not Be Moved. Quoted widely at the time of her recent death it reads like a personal tribute, speaking of the loss and mourning of something far-reaching and influential; a ‘great soul’. The poem gracefully …
Etsy is an e-commerce website for buying handmade and vintage items from micro-producers. Started in Brooklyn, New York in 2005 by college dropout Rob Kalin and his friends, by 2008 there were 1.3 million users. If Wikipedia is to be believed, as of 2013, that number has risen to 30 million. There are other sites …
There is only one thing better than a postage stamp rendered with a plant-inspired design, and that is a complete collection of postage stamps ever issued within a specific plant area. Thematically ‘plants’ is too wide an area to begin a foray into the most interesting OCD activity ever invented. It needs to be narrowed down a little. This can be done …
Dr Jonathan Mitchley is a Lecturer in Plant Community Ecology at the University of Reading. This means he teaches about wild plants, how to identify them and their importance in the different habitats of the UK. Like all the best lecturers he is slightly bonkers. But that, in addition to his dedication, generosity and indefatigable spirit, …