When Fashion and Nature Collide – Flowers September 2018.

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Written by artyplantsman

This is my September 2018 contribution to our special project: When Fashion and Nature Collide

Since the August post I have had the delight of meeting Dominique in person on a trip to Montreal and, as you can see, we had a go at a fashion shoot for fun – see the Passion Flower and Miscanthus. We were so pleased with the results that we did further shoots for next month’s post! I will share more of my adventures when I have recovered from jetlag – I only got home 14 hours ago and spent most of that in bed.

WFNC Hats & Music

These flowers and Roda’s critter photos have provided the inspiration for Dominique‘s styling and Lisa’s art this month. Please go and visit their own blogs and see their posts. Collages used here were prepared by Roda. Above cartoon and hats collage by Lisa.

Fashion Inspiration by 3C Style, Flower photography by Darren, collage compiled by Roda.

Massonia pustulata

This Massonia has a somewhat confused taxonomic history. The plant grown under this name for many decades was determined in 2012 to be an impostor. When compared with the original description the cultivated plant did not show some of the key diagnostic features in the original text – the pustules on the leaves were too big and the flowers showed neither the copious nectar nor the ‘green or blue’ throat. The true M. pustulata was rediscovered and fitted the description, the impostor was renamed M. longipes though it is often still seen mislabelled.

Whilst I have yet to draw the true M. pustulata I do have a drawing of M. longipes as you can see below.

DarrenPeculiarFlowerimg_9188-3.jpg
Massonia pustulata
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Massonia pustulata
longipes.jpg
Massonia longipes
Massonia longipes
Massonia longipes. Botanical illustration for SBA DLDC portfolio.

Fashion Inspiration by 3C Style, Flower photography by Darren, collage compiled by Roda

Spiloxene capensis

Like the Massonia above, this is a bulb from South Africa. It grows through the winter and flowers in spring before dying back to a bulb in the hot dry summer.

I used to find this hard to keep happy in cultivation. Then I took a clue from the habitat I saw it occupying in the wild. The areas where it grows are very wet in winter but very dry in summer. My problems with growing it were related to my treating it like other winter growing bulbs and not allowing for its love of moisture. Changing to a more moisture retentive substrate and watering generously cured the problem and this spring I enjoyed the flowers for the first time in several years.

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Spiloxene capensis
spiloxene.jpg

There are pictures hosted by the Pacific Bulb Society of the variations in colour of this species. As well as the form illustrated above there are yellow and pink forms, and the dark centre varies a lot also.

Fashion Inspiration by 3C Style, Flower photography and 3C Style photography by Darren, collage compiled by Roda

Passion Flower, Passiflora caerulea ‘Constance Elliott’.

This is a beautiful pure white form of the normally blue and white species. The photo was taken for reference for a future drawing but Dominique liked it and it goes well with the outfit in the collage and in her post. I had the great pleasure of also taking the fashion photos for this one during my very recent visit to Montreal.

Passiflora caerulea is one of the more cold hardy Passion Flowers and tolerant of frost down to -10C. It can be very vigorous if happy and producing climbing shoots many metres long. The fruit is not eaten, though not poisonous it is not palatable either. The culinary passion fruit is the fruit of a different species, Passiflora edulis, though there are other species with pleasant tasting fruit. P. caerulea is native to South America.

I find a distinct difference between the scent of the flowers of ‘Constance Elliott’ and those of the normal form. Constance Elliott has a stronger and nicer fragrance.

Fashion Inspiration by 3C Style, Flower photography and 3C Style photography by Darren, collage compiled by Roda

Miscanthus sinensis.

This is a very attractive and versatile grass originating in China, with many selections and cultivars. Seen here as a fairly dwarf cultivar in the Montreal Botanical Gardens in an ornamental setting. It is an invasive species in parts of North America. It is very easy to grow, even in non-ideal situations and has a tough perennial rhizome from which new shoots emerge each year. Larger cultivars, up to 4 metres tall are also used as bio-energy crops.

And an old man goes to the dogs – see my friend’s posts for details! Dominique persuaded me to model for this during my trip to Montreal. Doggy art by Lisa Lawrence, shirt design by Dominique Nancy of 3C Style. Copyright reserved.

45 Comments

  1. I am so happy you agreed to model for this edition and your photography is stunning! You look fantastic in our doggie tee! 🐕 The Passion flower and Dominique fit perfectly together. I hope someday you can draw that flower, too. I love your art, it is absolutely gorgeous! The Spiloxene capensis will make a lovely drawing as well. I really like the center of it. I’m so happy you were able to make the trip across the ocean. Such a wonderful trip and your smile is contagious. Much love and hugs to you! 💗😊

    Liked by 6 people

    Reply

    1. Thank you so much Lisa. Modelling for the tee was great fun and Dominique took great photos using my camera which she was not at all familiar with.
      The passion flower shoot was something we did for a bit of fun and turned out so well that we did loads more outfits for next month. Hopefully I will be able to fly over to do more in future.
      The smiles are genuine. I have rarely laughed so much or had so much fun😊❤️. Much love and hugs to you too my lovely friend.

      Liked by 4 people

      Reply

    1. Thank you Brigid! I love dogs so was very happy to agree to model the t-shirt. I don’t think Dominique has posted yet as she did not have a lot of time after I left and then had computer issues. Please look again later😊.

      Liked by 3 people

      Reply

  12. Hello my dear friend, it’s been awhile but never for a second did I forget about your amazing talent and big heart. Thank you for sharing another a axing issue of when fashion and nature collide. I heard you guess had a a little fun and how special it must have been. So glad this happened for you. Big big hug ❤️

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

  14. The colors! The flowers! The drawings! The t-shirt! The boots! Hehe! A wonderful post, as always. Walter and Greta were very happy to be on the shirt you modeled so well. Walter thinks he’s a star now that he’s been immortalized on a shirt! I think he’s going to start wearing sunglasses and a hat so he can avoid all of the paparazzi! It was just wonderful meeting you, my friend. I am very much looking forward to doing it again in the spring. ❤️💕❤️💕❤️

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  15. I have just looked at all the gorgeous photographs here and truly enjoyed this fashion and nature collision… Thanks for those beautiful flowers… Especially that extraordinary passion flower that looks like a gossimer fairy, as does Dominique. 😊🧚‍♂️🧚‍♂️🧚‍♂️

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  16. That’s weird, I left a comment here but can’t find it, maybe it landed in your spam? Anyway, I’ll try again.😉 Beautiful flowers again, Darren! And it’s so wonderful that you found the time to do this post what with all the sightseeing! 😄

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Thank you Sarah😊. It was a scramble. I wrote much of the text before I left for Montreal but we added the passion flower whilst I was there so I had to write that and add the collages Roda had done. I had hoped to do this on the train home from the airport the day before we posted but as usual the train wifi was not working! So I did it very early on the day of posting and cut it fine indeed.
      I will check my spam tomorrow!
      Hugs. xxx

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  18. Pingback: Behind the scenes with 3C Style! – The Arty Plantsman
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