Sunday 13 November 2022

GPE #5 : Savvy's Spare Sophistication


This was part of a really gorgeous peony bouquet. It was store-bought because I tried to grow a plant, but it wasn't to be! I'll be sending another photo for Halloween.

S A V V Y
 
Makes Me Work...

... just like last year!  Still, it rained pretty much all day when I put this post together, so at least working on Savvy's Garden Photos Event post has kept me warm and dry.
 
 As the peony photo above was all Savvy sent in - except for her two Terrifying Triffids, which we'll get to in a bit - and no one else was spare enough with their photos that they and Savvy could share a post (like back in 2020), I have taken it upon myself to pad this out a bit.  Again.  I scoured her blog posts from the last year, sure that I would find loads of greenery, but it seems my memory must have been playing tricks on me, as I could only find two - yes, two! - photos which may possibly have been taken in Savvy's house, and which contain chlorophyll-based lifeforms.  (Yes, I know that's not a scientifically accurate description of plantlife, but I'm tired, okay?!)

A weeping fig (Ficus benjamina) from mid-February - click here for the full,
gorgeously lit photo [I just love that chess set!].


You might think I'm reaching with this particular photo, but look on the left beyond the banana-leaf print drape - there's some sort of trailing plant!  (The full photo from October can be found here)

☙❧

Now.  On to the Terrifying Triffidery - an area in which Savvy's class and sophistication shines through!

Day of the Dead 
[I suspect this is some type of papyrus grass?]


Winter is Coming 
[recently trimmed mulberry trees]

 These triffid photos put me in mind of stills from one of those inscrutable black-and-white angst-ridden Nordic horror/drama films.  Or, maybe, a Hitchcock film?

☙❧
 
 Oh, one more pic, but this one from a few years back in an attempt to cover the 'Gardens Past' theme:
 
Savvy's front yard back in Savannah during an unprecedented snow fall in January 2018
(You can see more here - including a video of her back yard)

☙❧

STOP PRESS!
 
 Savvy says: "I still have my Christmas cactus from last year and I wish I had taken some photos of the blooms for you and all the real gardeners here!" 
 Well, I don't have a gorgeous gold urn, or a Monterey Bay Aquarium coaster, or a lovely wooden floor, but I do have a flowering Christmas cactus, so here is my dramatic interpretation, Savvy:
 
[The 'gold urn' is made up of three coffee jar lids, the 'coaster' is a Star Trek: Lower Decks Cetacean Ops towel (because the logo's very similar), and the 'wood floor' is faux oak kitchen counter top.]
 

EDIT 21:40 - Okay, ignore my pitiful effort above.  Savvy has only gone and found a photo of her cactus with a couple of flower buds on it!  You can see the photo in glorious full size at her blog, and slighty debigulated below:



☙❧
 
 And there we have it.  Thank you, dear Savvy!

 The next stop on the tour will be up Jon's back passage.  So, come one, come all, as Jon's rear is deceptively capacious - I'm sure he'll squeeze us all in!

22 comments:

  1. Oh, my - you are the consummate researcher, Mr DeVice! To find those snippets from Savvy's blog took some doing. The peony's lovely, though (and no, we can't grow them either, as we're confined to a pot-garden), and I love the "Triffids"!

    Snow. Oh, lordy - how I hate winter... Jx

    PS The Extensive Gardens here at Dolores Delargo Towers are next?! Heavens...

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    1. Finding the trailing plant behind the leaf print was a happy accident - I clocked the print and only noticed the actual plant when I was cropping the photo!

      I'm hoping for another snow-free winter...

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  2. IDV!!! WOW, sweetpea! you really searched for those! You make me blush with gratitude that you rounded out my solo entry with past photos. I still have my Christmas cactus from last year and I wish I had taken some photos of the blooms for you and all the real gardeners here! xoxo

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    1. It was a pleasure, dear Savvy! And, I came across some posts of yours that I had missed the first time around, so thank you for the inadvertant catch-up.
      As for your Christmas cactus, I might be able to do something about that. Stay tuned...

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  3. I love Peonies! I remember my mum saying that they have to be planted shallow - and never try to move them once established or they'll probably die.
    Meanwhile, I am terribly jealous of Savvy's classy triffid pics - and admitting to that is the biggest compliment I will give!!
    Sx

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    1. Savvy's triffid photos look like stills from one of those inscrutable black-and-white angst-ridden Nordic horror/drama films. I meant to write that in the post, but forgot. Although, I'm adding another photo to it in a mo, so perhaps I'll include it then?

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  4. Beautiful peony bouquet, Savvy. Did you manage to bring it indoors without the ants tagging along?

    Mr. DeVice, when you were conducting extensive research into Savvy's plant life, did you notice any ducks?

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    1. I didn't, I'm afraid. At my first glance of that chess set, I thought it was Peter Rabbit and friends - in which case, Jemima Puddleduck may have been a queen or bishop or something. But, a closer look revealed that it was an Alice in Wonderland set with no ducks in sight.

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  5. Lovely peonies and Christmas cactus, Savvy! Your Day of the Dead grass is fabulous as well!

    I shall feel appropriately forewarned now that if I don't provide enough pictures for IDV, he'll go searching in the pantry drawers. Careful where you snoop IDV, I've got some very hungry ghosts with me.

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    1. Fortunately for me (as I don't like cooking for ghosts - they're so pernickety!), I didn't have to resort to rooting through your pantry drawers, Melanie, as you provided just enough photos to sate our desire.
      But, yes, keep it in mind for next year...

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  6. Oh, Savvy! All these years you've been fobbing us off with tales of your less-than-green fingers. You wee fibber! I ADORE peonies, but can't grow them here and think, if you're still in LA, you should forget them, too.

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    Replies
    1. Yes, forget growing peonies, Savvy (that's what florists are for) - next year we want to see all your house plants! And all your crew's houseplants too!

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  7. Garden photos, or not, that Savvy even submitted on time is a feat in itself!!!! And I adore me some Savvy. I'm a huge lover of peonies. We have four bushes, but this fall, planted the first new peonies we've had in years,,,another 15 plants went in the ground along a brick wall we have to complete the garden they live in.. Fingers crossed they take.

    But I love Savvy's triffid submissions. Among my favorites.

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    1. You can just hear the wind rustling that papyrus grass, can't you?!

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  8. Replies
    1. They also hate being in the shade and swamped by larger plants - Mine didn't flower this year, so I'm going to have to try moving them to a more suitable spot...

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    2. According to this chap, it's quite the opposite. They love shade, but they hate being nipped by frost, and they're picky bastards about when they should be pruned. Apparently H. paniculata is much less fussy. If we had a proper garden, with soil and all, I'd grow that. Jx

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  9. Love the Christmas flowering cactus or dog's lippy as I like to call them. I had an Easter flowering cacti that survived the 2018 Beast from the East!

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    1. "Dog's lippy"?!? Right. Mine's going in the compost bin!

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  10. Peonies are among my favorites. Asters, too. I think it has something to do with how similar sounding they are to certain aspects of the human anatomy. Lovely garden. You're doing a marvelous job with this, dear. Such a lot of work!

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    1. So, I take it you liked all of Mitzi's Delaspermums and Lophospermums too, Mr Tonking?

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  11. The Christmas flowering cactus is a delight.
    We have 2 weeping figs which are now outside but will have to come in for the Winter soon. Peonies are always a joy where ever they come from.
    Well done on the padding Mr De.

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Tickle my fancy, why don't you?