“I always thought of foxglove as a flower of the woods — deep in the shade, beloved of the bumble bee and little people. But the foxgloves of the Ness are a quite different breed. Strident purple in the yellow broom, they stand exposed to wind and blistering sunshine, as rigid as guardsmen on parade.
There they are at the edge of the lakeside, standing to attention, making a splash — no blushing violets these, and not in ones or twos but hundreds, proud regiments marching in the summer, with clash of cymbals and rolling drums. Here comes June. Glorious, colourful June.
I have two books on the go at the moment 'Thin Air' by Ann Cleeves and of course Derek Garman's 'Modern Nature' which I am thoroughly enjoying.
A meditative and inspiring diary of Derek Jarman's famous garden at Dungeness.
So says the blurb. It is not just about the garden of course, his work comes into it, the sad grinding of death as friends die from the AIDS epidemic but also there is love for his surroundings. The sea, the wild plants and the woods. He is well grounded in the history of the Roman Gods as well as the natural history which so often accompanies herbs and wild plants. Very visceral in his descriptions of sex, though you would see it as an honest appraisal of that which he enjoyed. An excellent book of a man coming to the end of his life in full knowledge.
You can see some excellent photos on this site of the garden.
As for Ann Cleeves. I listened to her latest book 'Raging Storm' and it was good, the subject matter well studied. Someone said on the radio the other day, that most crime writers wrote their books so that they could be picked up for television dramas or films. This is so true, the book becomes a 'construct'. Laid out neatly the characters, subject matter and obviously the backdrop of the landscape. And boy has Shetland been overdone in all this, with Londoners trotting up to take in the exquisite vistas of these islands, only to be murdered there!
So yes I am beginning to get bored with crime fiction, which having created the pattern of writing fiction, then follows it through tediously.
A glimpse of Andrew's father 'Jungle Garden' set in a quarry which gives it a protected damp environment for the plants.
I
Somewhere on the radio I heard an author say that he planned out a book in six chapters, each ending in a cliff-hanger, so that it could be easily adapted for a TV series. Of course many of Dickens' s and Conan Doyle's novels were written in episodes and originally published in magazines so nothing is new.
ReplyDeletePerhaps there is just too many people writing fictional books John, and the plots are used over and over again.
ReplyDeleteFoxgloves - one of my favourites too. They arrived uninvited in my garden, along with Valerian, a couple of years ago. I welcomed them both with open arms and they flowered in abundance. This year they have given me so much pleasure - mostly the 'wild' [onk - one or two white. But I see that Claire Austin has Digitalis Lutea for sale - a pale lemon. I intend to buy it - the bees are wonderful at cross pollination - who knows what I might get. It certainly worked for my Aquelegia - but am not sure about bees getting right inside foxglove flowers. After having to wash his hair after weeding my garden a fortnight ago - to get the foxglove seeds out of his hair, my gardener is not at all keen. I have just ordered the Derek Jarman book.
ReplyDeleteSorry. Obviously I mean wild PINK!
ReplyDeleteThere is also an apricot in the Lutea range Pat. Years ago there was a nursery outside Bath that only bred foxgloves. I went up one day for a yellow foxglove but he refused to sell me any as he was going up to the Chelsea Flower Show.
ReplyDeleteBees can easily get inside the foxglove, they fall asleep in the flower sometime.