pollinators

"knitted bowl" made by Lucie Rie


Oh the weather outside is frightful,
But the fire is so delightful,
And since we've no place to go,
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

It's not snowing (seeing as I live in the subtropics) but it is darned cold. Our house is full of warm, woolly knitted things made by my Mum.

It's funny in the sub-tropics that the cold weather brings plants to life, once again the magnolia's are flowering. What do these blossoms achieve flowering in mid-winter? In their natural homelands they would be flowering in spring and attracting pollinators. In thousands of years I wonder if some evolutionary change will occur in these imported Magnolia's where they will form a relationship with some native pollinator that flies around in the subtropical winter. Maybe they will develop a relationship with humans and the humans of the future will be pressed into unwitting service of the flowers.

Magnolia Project

DSCF0966, originally uploaded by shannongarson.

I have started a new project. It is based around an amazing garden with a magnolia orchard. This morning I packed Sweet Pea , a pram , my camera, sunhat, notebook and assorted bits a fabric which the well- prepared mother should never travel without for wiping up unexplained and inexplicable messes, into the car and drove to the lovely secret garden. It has been planted for the future when all the magnolia will grow in to wood and ther branches will combine creating a dappled , twisted canopy of blossom.