Seed Heads — New Series
Today I would like to announce the publication of a new series entitled Seed Heads.
Seed heads are a miraculous story of life and death. A seed head is the dried flowering or fruiting part of a plant, which contains the seeds. Seed heads develop in the centre of the flower. As the petals wilt, they dry.
The seeds inside the now dead parts of the plant are the ingredients of next season’s life. Dead and alive at the same time. Eventually, the seed heads will open as they disintegrate and allow the seeds to disburse.
Seed heads are beautiful autumn and winter displays, which allow us to embrace the seasonality of gardens. In the past it was considered good practice to tidy the garden before the winter. Fortunately, increasingly more gardeners realise that it is better not to be too tidy. By leaving seed heads and other dead matter we can provide shelter and food for the wildlife. What is good for the wildlife helps the survival of our planet. This is particularly important in our times of climate crisis.
For this series I was inspired by the delicate and beautifully detailed hand painted illustrations in old botanical and horticultural books. The images represent a harmonious blend with my ongoing work discovering the wabi sabi of my garden. I harvested all the seed heads depicted in this series from plants in my own garden.
Hand-crafted limited edition prints on Japanese Kozo paper will be available to buy shortly.