In the garden, the heady scent of the Lilium regale, evokes a favourite painting of mine - Carnation, lily, lily, rose by John Singer Sargent. Painted in 1887 he exhibited it at the Royal Academy. The painting was immediately purchased by the Tate Gallery where it can still be viewed, and was his first major success. He painted the picture on site, here in the Cotswolds. The garden was in the small town of Broadway and shows two young girls lighting lanterns on a summers evening.
Lilies were one of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood's flower of choice used in many of their paintings. They symbolise purity, and were also extensively used by the great Renaissance painters too. I have mentioned the meaning of white lilies before and how they are used as the emblem of the Virgin; the white petals standing for purity and the golden stamens symbolising resurrection.
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| Some other arrivals in the July garden |
I do not recall flowers on our Sage plant before!
The striking flowers and buds of the Crocosmia lucifer
A favourite of ours, the Dierama - Angel's fishing rods. They are hard to photograph as they keep delicately swinging to and fro on their fine stems. We have another clump in a salmon pink colour.
painting courtesy wikipedia
Hello Rosemary:
ReplyDeleteWhat an attractive collage of summer flowers you delight us with today from your garden. We can imagine the glorious scent from your Lilium Regale. They are such elegant flowers and really do perfume the whole garden if the sun is kind to them.
Dierama is such a delicate looking flower and yet tough as old boots we used to find. It does add a wonderful lightness to the border and has such lovely tints and tones of pink.
We too should be reminded of the glorious Singer Sargent painting if we were fortunate enough to be enjoying the wonders of your piece of Paradise today!
Dear Jane and Lance - all of our other lilies have yet to open, the Regale is the first. I always find that lilies keep you waiting on tender hooks, the buds are there for a long time before the flowers appear. We have some turk's cap lilies that we thought we might miss whilst we were in Germany, but no, they are still keeping us waiting for their showing.
DeleteWhat a delightful painting of John Sergent.. Lily, lilly.. its beautiful and delicate and tells a story.
ReplyDeleteOn special occasions in the church the lillies are abundant.. I love them. I only had one this year, but i was so happy with it..that i will be for certainly planting at least a dozen for the next season.
Your flowers look so lovely Rosemary. A beautiful garden ..a paradise
Glad you are having some lovely days.
Happy wednesday
val x
Dear Val - how lovely to hear from you, and I do hope you are rested and relaxed from your break with the family.
DeleteLilies are such a rewarding plant, so exotic, and in such a wonderful array of colours, shapes and sizes.
I too intend to plant some more next year. There is recently introduced lily called a 'tree lily' and it grows to about 5ft tall. I am thinking of giving it a try.
Beautiful painting Rosemary and one that I have not seen before. That magical glow upon the girls faces is lovely showing them concentrating on the very special task of lighting their lanterns.
ReplyDeleteYour garden photos are always lovely and show that it must be very floriferous at the moment and beautifully scented. Love the callistemon, such an attractive flowering shrub we have tried and our does not like it here at all.
I have news that even though the flowers did not transpire a couple of my 'stinky lilies' have produced a leaf so they are still alive at least!
Dear Paul - with a bit of luck and a reasonable winter your lily will probably flower for you next year.
DeleteI thought that I had lost the callistemon a couple of winters ago, and was about to dig it out when I noticed some green shoots. It has come back as good as previously, if not better. It is quite large and has plenty of blossom.
Dear Rosemary, Oh what beautiful images! I love your Dierama, know nothing about them nor have seen them. Are they grown from a bulb? And what is the name of your light blue flower, first collage , bottom left. ox, Gina
ReplyDeleteDear Gina - the Dierama is a lovely plant, and deserves its pretty common name of angel's fishing rods, it is also known by the name of wandflower. It originates from Africa and is related to the Iris family so it grows from a corm.
DeleteThe light blue flower is a sweet pea, but it seems to have a very soft almost blue-green leaf.
Fantastic flowers.
ReplyDeleteGreetings,
Filip
Thanks Filip - glad that you enjoyed seeing them
DeleteThanks for sharing al these beautiful flowers. I see summer came in also in your country. Lovely is it not to feel the sunshine on your skin. We had to wait long for it but finaly it's here.
ReplyDeleteHave a great evening Rosemary
I do not like to complain about the sun, but it is so hot here, I cannot believe the change. Everything is drying up again so quickly. However, we needed the sun for the Olympics so hope it continues. Thanks Marijke.
DeleteStunning images Rosemary. I love your lilies. It is so hot here my flowers are hanging on barely. I did buy some day lilies for next year that were marked down. I hope you have cooler saner weather.
ReplyDeleteDear Olive - it is very hot here too, but I am sure it is not such a high temperature as it is with you. H is out in the garden now giving everything a good drink, something I could do with myself. Not an alcoholic drink, but a long cold glass of my elderflower cordial.
DeleteHi Rosemary,
ReplyDeleteI love your flowers and the angles that you have taken them make them look so special. I have tried to grow Angel's fishing rods but have had no success, do you have any tips?
Sarah x
Dear Sarah - the Angel's fishing rods are an African plant, and I think that they really prefer a sheltered spot but can also take full sun. I have mine to the side of the house, so they have the house wall and then a stone wall on the other side for shelter, but mine only get the early and late evening sun.
DeleteWonderful painting and great flowers. Here the Crocosmia is considered a weed but I have always liked it.
ReplyDeleteDear Susan - glad you liked the painting. Yes, some of the hybrid crocosmia are considered a weed here too, but I still like them. My lucifer is a hybrid and I believe that it was bred by the plantsman Alan Bloom - what a great name for a plantsman to have.
DeleteYour garden is so full of colour Rosemary. I had never heard of 'Angel's fishing rods'. I do see where the name comes from. You managed to photograph it beautifully in spite of the nodding flowers. That is often a problem with delicate, beautiful flowers on long, thin but nevertheless strong and flexible stems, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteLove the more sturdy stemmed Lilies too. They are sooooo very pretty! Love the painting as well. Glad you shared it.
Bye,
Marian
Dear Marian - several people have mentioned that the Angel's fishing rods are unfamiliar to them. One for you to watch out for as it is so pretty in the border. Yes, the slightest breeze and this one swings, you almost have to stop breathing whilst photographing it.
DeleteThese are the first lilies, hopefully more are on their way.
I love lilies: their form is bold, their colour a statement in itself. The light in your pictures today does my heart good, Rosemary!
ReplyDeleteThe scent of the lilies on these lovely warm evenings - what could be better Kate.
DeleteThe Sargent painting is a favorite of mine, too. It really conveys that point of dusk that I call "pink time" — and the sense of illumination — superbly!
ReplyDeleteLovely expression Mark - 'pink time' - that is just the kind of weather we have at the moment - balmy evenings for sitting outside and cooling off after the heat of the day.
DeleteI only recently discovered that he painted the picture near to where we live, which makes me think that it must have been painted at this time of the month, judging by his lilies and mine.
Lovely blog and glad to have found you via Madelief. I always think of myself as someone who doesn't like lilies, perhaps because they are not a "fit" with the planting of my wild Welsh garden, but your photos are stunning. Maybe I could have some in pots!
ReplyDeleteDear Elizabeth - thank you and welcome.
DeleteI can well understand how you feel about lilies not fitting in with a wild Welsh garden.
I have invested in some new ones this year which I am eagerly awaiting. I am trying some of the turks cap varieties which I have been meaning to buy for a long time.
Incidentally you may be interested to know that all of my lilies are in pots, the ones on this post are. I like to be able to move them around under the trees where they contrast with the dark leaves.
I love how the trumpet lilies bloom just as the air gets hot and heavy, allowing their scent to float and linger. Beautiful setup of the photo of the dierama, looks like a fuchsia teardrop.
ReplyDeleteThank you Rosemary - the Dierama was such a naughty little flower whilst I was photographing her, she would not keep still for a moment. I am surprised that the photo was reasonably successful.
Deletethat Sargent painting is so amazing in real life.... it really glows!
ReplyDeleteI am pleased that you have actually seen the painting, and I agree, he has captured the evening light beautifully. I would be delighted to have it hanging on my walls.
DeleteGreetings Rosemary!
ReplyDeleteHoping you are well. I thoroughly enjoyed this tour of your garden, so many gems thriving and looking splendid. I am extremely partial to the dieramas! I am quite familiar with Broadway, but not this beautiful painting. Thank you for sharing!
Nice to hear from you Bertie and hope all is well with you too.
DeleteGlad that you enjoyed the painting, it is rather nice to think that it was painted so near at hand.
I love the little dieramas, but it is surprising that they are not seen more often in gardens.