Eye Candy

To celebrate finishing my final chapter, which is the one I'm currently rewriting from scratch because I kind of sucked the last time around, I was going to buy the bird postcard to which I linked in my last post. For some reason, I decided against it and opted for Flora: An Illustrated History of the Garden Flower by Brent Elliott. To the right is a picture of the common English daisy from Anthologia Magna by Theodor de Bry (1626). Below the fold are some more of my favourite illustrations from the book.


This illustration is from the Florist's Journal from 1841. Incidentally that's the year in which Lermontov bit it in a duel. Trust me, I'll be happier than you when I can forget facts like these. Back to the flowers. These are calceolarias. I love these. When I finally took an interest in the decorative bits of my mom's gardening in high school, we discovered these at a greenhouse and bought some. I love the shape, the delicacy, the pillowiness of them. I think that they kind of freak Ptichka out.

I think that this may be my favourite illustration in the entire book. It reminds me of Jill Bliss. The illustration is of an anemone. The drawing is by Ruth Collingridge.

Last, we have what I think may be my favourite garden flower, ever: pansies/violas! Every year we have a tub of them by the front door that I obsessively dead-head. The illustration is by A. J. Wendel.

This weekend, besides the great button expedition, I'll be in the garden and writing writing writing. My goal is to finish this chapter rewrite by Sunday evening. Fingers crossed that I make it. Fingers also crossed that I snap out of this weird mood in which I want to spend money but don't actually want to buy anything. It could seriously upset the button acquisition tomorrow.