Love at First Sight

Astrantia major and poppy seedheads in Susan's garden

First times are special. There's nothing quite like that moment when you see a flower for the first time and you fall in love with it. One of the flowers that I fell in love with last year is Astrantia major, as seen above in Susan's garden at 615 Green in early June 2010. This fantastic flower is captured quite spectactularly on a visit to Battery Park Conservancy gardens by Marie Viljoen on her blog 66 Square Feet . The lovely papery bracts of the Astrantia remind me (in coloring at least) of the bracts of the Acanthus hungaricus we studied in the Perennial border at Brooklyn Botanic last year. It's a cold winter's day and I'm thinking about plants I can't wait to meet again.































Acanthus hungaricus, Bear's Breeches, in the Perennial border at Brooklyn Botanic