The MGS Forum
Miscellaneous => Miscellaneous => Topic started by: John J on May 01, 2013, 11:24:08 AM
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This year's May wreath made by my wife with assistance from 2 year old granddaughter, she helped collect the flowers.
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Beautiful John. We don't seem to have that tradition here - perhaps I should try to start it? Plenty of lovely flowers at the moment to use.
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Lovely May wreath.
I noticed some already on the doors last week in Sparta.
Now it is too hot to go out to make ours.
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Thats a lovely tradition you have in your part of the world! I remember seeing a photo of one some years ago made (I think) by Cali Doxiadis! This is just as beautiful!
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Really lovely, John. Your wife must be very talented. Do you provide the flowers?
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The composition of the wreath each year depends on what is in flower in the garden on May 1st, Alice.
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Better late than never.
Our May Wreath.
Also collected enough Sea lavender from Posidonia, where it grows in abundance, to make this ball.
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This year's May wreath. Due to the very dry winter we've had the majority of the usual spring flowers have been and gone leaving little to choose from. That's why it consists mostly of Bauhinia variegata.
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"Little to choose from" indeed - what a glorious mix, I wish we had anything like that rich choice here in (damp and grey today) Sussex, England!
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Mostly wild flowers collected at the Isthmus, Corinthia
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On the gate of the archeological site of Nemea
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May wreath time again. All flowers from the garden.
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Our somewhat lopsided May Wreath.
All flowers from near the sea and the Ancient Port of Lechaion
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And a slightly messy one made from wildflowers picked under our olive trees
(https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8868/16707789354_542eb7b017_n.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/rspMFG)
P5010790 Πρωτομαγιά_1 of May.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/rspMFG) by JorunT (https://www.flickr.com/people/46063510@N03/), on Flickr
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My wife says I should have provided a list of the flowers used in her May wreath, but as I have a rather more devious nature I thought that maybe it could be made into a sort of quiz to see who is able to identify the most. The only clue I will give is that I have counted 23.
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It is beautiful!
Here are a few guesses:
Bauhinia variegata
Limonium vulgare
Pittosporum tobira
Chrysanthemum coronarium
Matthiola incana
Bougainvillea spectabilis
Lavandula dentata
Rosa banksiae lutea
Nigella damascena
Mesembryanthemum
Iris
Genista
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Well done, Alice, you have about half of them.
Bauhinia variegata, yes, plus the large white flowers to the right are B. variegata 'Candida'.
Limonium, yes, but it is L. perezii.
Pittosporum tobira, Matthiola incana, Bougainvillea, Lavandula dentata, Mesembryanthemum and Iris, yes.
Rosa banksiae, yes, plus R. banksiae 'Alba plena'.
Nigella, yes, but it's N. arvensis.
A couple more days and I'll fill in the gaps.
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John,
What you should do now is to draw a chart of your May wreath
Number each flower
Then add the name when someone identifies the flower
I have set your photo as today's screen saver
beautiful.
Alice,
Now I am wondering which ones you have not identified.
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Just looked at Facebook
I suppose the yellow flowers must be Pallensis maritima
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Hilary, I didn't identify most of the daisy-like ones (Asteraceae/Compositae family).
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Hi John,
Looks like there is Senecio confusus in there. Mine doesn't flower until much later in the year but then again it does get severely cut back in the winter here. Lovely wreath and a lovely tradition :)
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I believe I see some pink/mauve geranium flowers, and maybe a singe Calendula?
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Jasminum officinale or polyanthum
Argyrocytisus battandieri
Bright pink on top left: Nerium oleander (double) or Eustoma?
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OK let's try to sort this out.
Well spotted, Hilary, they are indeed Pallenis maritima.
Correct, David, the orange flowers are Senecio confusus.
Sharp eyes, Jorun, there is a Calendula tucked in there, and Pelargoniums dotted about.
I have to reduce the number I first quoted by one as I see from a closer look at the photo that the wild Anchusa is not visible. I made my list from the actual thing.
Almost forgot that there is an Aster in there among the other 'daisies'.
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Your post came in as I was sending mine, Alice. Good spot on the Jasminum polyanthum. No to the Nerium or Eustoma and I wish to the Argyrocytisus battandieri, it's been on my WANT ONE list for years.
Right, by my reckoning we've got it down to 4 left.
On the left of the picture, just below the orange Senecio and next to the pelargonium there is a single flower peeking out.
Just below that there are 2 tight little bunches of flowers, one pink, one white.
Top left a single, rather crinkled pink flower.
Bottom left the bunch of yellow flowers that Alice has tried as Genista and Argyrocytisus.
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The yellow one must be one of the brooms - Spartium junceum?
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You got it, just 3 rather difficult ones to go.
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The purple/pink one might be Osteospermum
The yellow one looks like Phlomis fruticosa
The squashed pink flower might be a Hibiscus flower
Still working on the small bunches.
I was surprised you didn't have any flowers from olive tree or citrus trees.
They both must be in bloom now
I hope you all saw the wonderful sunset we had this evening
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Could the flowers which are in bunches be Bouvardia?
I was looking for the name of something else and came across this plant which I have never heard of or knowingly seen
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Hilary, the purple/pink one certainly is Osteospermum. The yellow one has been identified by Alice as Spartium junceum. The squashed pink flower is difficult, purely because it is squashed, and is a Rosa damascena. Bouvardia I had to look up, so no the bunches are not that. In fact they are much more common, self seed themselves around and come in white, red and pink. Mediterranean native but has naturalised in other parts of the world, even being classed as invasive.
Olive and citrus are not easy to work with, citrus flowers especially being very fragile and prone to falling apart before the wreath is finished.
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Centranthus ruber.
I woke in the middle of the night remembering this red plant which grew on the top of a wall in a windy garden in the north east of the UK.
Could it be the in your May Wreath?
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It certainly could be, Hilary. I am now feeling rather guilty about being the possible cause of you having an interrupted night's sleep!
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Brilliant, Hilary! The centranthus had me completely flummoxed. And we do have it growing in the garden.
John, as well as looking lovely, your wreath would have smelled heavenly with the tobira, roses, lavender, jasmine...
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This year's May wreath. Another rather difficult year as the weather has sort of upset the flowering times of a lot of spring plants.
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Gorgeous, John and Thea!
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Inspiring
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All I did was take the photo. :D
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Just for a bit of fun perhaps we should do the same as last year and see how many of the flowers forumers can identify. Some are rather difficult as they are not easy to see but I have counted 20.
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Let me ask a more mundane but important question - what does Thea use as a basis for the wreath? I've tried olive branches and wire but the flowers just fall out very quickly.
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Just what I was wondering
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Fleur and Hilary, I have been instructed to inform you that the base of the wreath is made using the whippy, new young growth from a pomegranate bush. This is held in a circle by being wrapped in thin, green-coated wire. Then it is bulked out by threading in lavender foliage stems. The flowers are added and held in place by green sewing thread.
I have also been corrected on the number of flowers, apparently there are 21. If I can miss 1 when standing next to it I don't hold out much hope for your chances of finding it. ???
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We couldn't go far to look for wild flowers this year and most of the ones in Corinth have already dried up.
However, we were lucky enough to pass a low Melia azedarach Αγριοπασχαλιά near the disused railway lines and managed to make a wreath
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Hilary your May wreath must have the most wonderful scent. I love the blueish flowers of the Melia azedarach as much as the bees do. I await the reawakening of this tree as much as the Eleagnus angustifolia as both perfume the morning air. Lucky for us they are both 'blooming' now. Walking around the garden is such a pleasure.
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Yes they do,
I have a vase full in the kitchen and the wreath is in a semi closed area outside the frontdoor.
Both places now scented
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What a beauty Hilary! I love the May wreaths.....
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My May wreath can't compete with the Charitea's and Hillary's, but I still think it's a nice idea to use what you have. Mine is made from wild flowers picked under our olive trees.
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1668/26149182263_c396719343.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/FQHoS4)
P5012083 May wreath.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/FQHoS4) by Jorun Tharaldsen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/46063510@N03/), on Flickr
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Jorun your wreath is lovely. A long time ago before 'florist shops' appeared in Limassol most of the villagers here used any flowers they could find to make their May wreath. My mother and aunts being a farmer's daughters always welcomed May with wreaths and flowers. I am trying to instil this tradition to my daughter and granddaughter.
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You seem to appreciate perfume as much as I do Charithea, my Eleagnus angustifolia is also dominating in one area at the moment whilst Pittosporum truncatum situated close to the table where I eat my lunch makes that short break a scented pleasure.
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Yes Carol. The scent of flowers is very important to me. I became aware of the scent of bitter orange trees and Eleagnus angustifolia from a very early age as both trees grew in my mother's garden and in general in a lot of the village gardens. I came across Melia azedarach in my late teens and it was 'love' from the very first 'sniff'. The Melia was the first to be planted in our garden and John grew more from its seeds. We now have three mature trees. The tallest/highest of them is situated at the end of the garden and it has been playing host to the Golden Orioles all this week. They sit at the top of its branches and call out. I stand under the other tree not far from the kitchen and watch them as the sunlight plays on their 'orange-yellow' feathers. The Eleagnus angustifolia was harder to find as it was out of fashion having been replaced by palms and rubber trees. We found one stick in the back of a nursery and it is now a tree full of tiny grey- yellow perfumed flowers.
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Scents do indeed being back memories - my first ones are of a large Philadelphus coronariusthat grew in the narrow back garden of the house I spent my early years in. I remember taking bunches of it,when in flower, to school. The overriding scent from those years however is of Chrysanthemums- everybody in the adjoining, terraced houses seems to grow some and their pungent scent would fill the air on damp autumn days.
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We seem to have skipped a couple of years on this subject, unless they have been posted somewhere else and I can't find them. Anyway, here is this year's May wreath.
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Very pretty and lovely colours
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Mine is not quite as elegant as Charitea's and it looks more or less the same as every year, but here it is, As usual, it's made with wild flowers growing under our olive trees and along the fence.
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Jorun your wreath is lovely and I like the colour combination. Due to the pleantiful rain we have a garden full of flowers so it was easy to make the wreath.
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MAY WREATH by the Gulf of Corinth
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Yesterday, May 1st we went out for a drive and ultimately to make this year’s May Wreath. The wreath which we make of wild flowers requires many Crown daisies as a base then different wild flowers added. Fields which had been overgrown and full of flowers a few weeks ago were suddenly all tidied up and either ploughed or the tall grass and flowers cut down. Here is this year’s effort