If you offer someone a flower, even one made of silk, the first thing they do is sniff it. Always. Weird.
And if you show someone the usual sort of hellebore they will put a finger under the flower to see inside, as if it were a shy child refusing to look up. (Not that anyone would do such a thing to a child now, of course…)
And indeed, it is one of the breeders’ great aims, to get upward looking hellebore flowers.
Hellebores are a very particular example, but this knee jerk looking for the face of a flower means we lift many of them up like that – maybe without noticing whether the back was actually worth our attention. Maybe we’re missing something here?
And then, well, what about these???
Good backs?
I love the backs of Japanese anemones.
and roses…
and Fritillaria meleagris will soon be with us. Talk about a best back.
Is it time to notice the backs now then?
Tell you something else: admiring the backs means you don’t have to bend down…..
You are quite right Anne. I love how you point out the flaming obvious things that I’d never noticed and give me pause to think more thoroughly. For what it’s worth, I’ve always loved the purple stripe on the back of regal lily blooms.
Thanks Joe! And you’re right about lilies – the pure white ones look a little bland by comparison. Xxx
wonderful insight. Thanks for that – will pay more attention in future
That’s great. Xx
I expected a post about back yards or back gardens. But what a nice twist, to consider the backs of flowers. And you are right, many are so gorgeous. The photo of the daffodil with the sun shining through to illuminate the tones of green is gorgeous.
Thanks, Pat. The sun was just amazing, and now we are back to relentless downpouring!