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Sheila on Floral clock: The scarlet pimpernel closes at 2 p.m. pat on Floral clock: The scarlet pimpernel closes at 2 p.m. To comment on any posting, click on the word 'Comments' at the end of the item. |
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« Walking tour of funky West End gardens Sunday | Main | Garden game for PC or Mac grows on you » June 26, 2007Floral clock: The scarlet pimpernel closes at 2 p.m.This The very idea of planting a garden whose flowers would tell the gardener -- and perhaps only the gardener knew the code -- that it was lunchtime or teatime reeks of Victorian order. A Swiss botanist conceived it, but the British made it their own. Linnaeus observed that certain plants opened and closed their flowers at particular times of the day, these times varying from species to species. Hence one could deduce the approximate time of day according to which species had opened or closed their flowers. Arranged in sequence of flowering over the day, they constituted a kind of floral clock. As many of the indicator plants are wildflowers and the opening and closing times depend on latitude, the complexities of planting a floral clock make it an impractical proposition. A fuller explanation (pdf) is in the section on Carl Linnaeus elsewhere on this website. The pdf is worth a look, since it includes Linneaus's list of flowers and what time they open. (Where? Which month? When the temperature is what?) Getting the plants to perform on time has to be tricky, and the selection of plants might vary widely from your house to mine. Make your own flower clock. In northern Wisconsin, The Northwoods August Activity Calendar suggests: 6 a.m. Spotted cat's ear (opens) It's a place to start, if you're at all tempted. This one in Scotland, from the Edinburgh Photo Library, even has flowers on the hands: More: Truman State University's Solar Clock Garden praises gazanias; more floral clocks at Google Images. Posted by Sheila Lennon Commentspat | June 27, 2007 11:01 PM link Pat, does it make you want to grow one? Design one? Sheila | June 28, 2007 10:32 PM link Post a commentPlease be civil. Vicious comments, personal attacks and profanity won't be published. |
seems another remnant of eras where people invented their own pastimes.
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CATEGORIES Beauty/oddities in nature
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Sheila,
Greetings from Bangkok, Thailand.
Those Floral Clocks are just amazing, beyond words. I am a clock collector. The pictures and conceived ideas are most fascinating.
Pat