1st of May flowers

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Cali

  • Jr. Member
1st of May flowers
« on: May 01, 2012, 03:53:05 PM »
In Greece we make a wreath of the day's pick (garden and wild) and hang it outside our front door.
Cali Doxiadis
Former MGS President
Gardens in Corfu, Greece.

pamela

  • Sr. Member
Re: 1st of May flowers
« Reply #1 on: May 01, 2012, 05:48:15 PM »
How beautiful Cali....it reminds me of an English summer garden posy!
Jávea, Costa Blanca, Spain
Min temp 5c max temp 38c  Rainfall 550 mm 

"Who passes by sees the leaves;
 Who asks, sees the roots."
     - Charcoal Seller, Madagascar

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JTh

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Re: 1st of May flowers
« Reply #2 on: May 01, 2012, 06:56:48 PM »
Really nice, I'm impressed.
Retired veterinary surgeon by training with a PhD in parasitology,  but worked as a virologist since 1992.
Member of the MGS  since 2004. Gardening in Oslo and to a limited extent in Halkidiki, Greece.

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Alisdair

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Re: 1st of May flowers
« Reply #3 on: May 01, 2012, 06:58:14 PM »
Absolutely lovely, and almost certainly the most botanically interesting wreath anyone will have been lucky enough to see today!
Alisdair Aird
Gardens in SE England (Sussex); also coastal Southern Greece, and (in a very small way) South West France; MGS member (and former president); vice chairman RHS Lily Group, past chairman Cyclamen Society

Hilary

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Re: 1st of May flowers
« Reply #4 on: May 01, 2012, 07:10:17 PM »
Ours was mostly yellow
MGS member
Living in Korinthos, Greece.
No garden but two balconies, one facing south and the other north.
Most of my plants are succulents which need little care

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MikeHardman

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Re: 1st of May flowers
« Reply #5 on: May 02, 2012, 07:01:03 AM »
Lovely!
Mike
Geologist by Uni training, IT consultant, Referee for Viola for Botanical Society of the British Isles, commissioned author and photographer on Viola for RHS (Enc. of Perennials, The Garden, The Plantsman).
I garden near Polis, Cyprus, 100m alt., on marl, but have gardened mainly in S.England

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Cali

  • Jr. Member
Re: 1st of May flowers
« Reply #6 on: May 02, 2012, 07:16:17 AM »
About what you say, Alisdair, I had planned to post a complete list of all the flowers, but after nearly six hours spent picking, making small bouquets, and fixing them all onto a ring made of ivy, I was too tired of flowers and went for a swim in the sea instead.  Maybe I can make one in retrospect.... some of the smaller wildflowers are unrecogniseable after an unseaosanbly warm 24 hours, bun I can use an enlarged photo as an aide memoire....
« Last Edit: May 02, 2012, 07:19:43 AM by Cali »
Cali Doxiadis
Former MGS President
Gardens in Corfu, Greece.

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Fleur Pavlidis

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Re: 1st of May flowers
« Reply #7 on: May 02, 2012, 12:55:09 PM »
Go to http://www.mediterraneangardensociety.org/news-bouquet.html to see a bouquet and list of flowers blooming in her garden in New Year's Day several years ago.
MGS member, Greece. I garden in Attica, Greece and Mt Goulinas (450m) Central Greece

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MikeHardman

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    • www.mikehardman.com
Re: 1st of May flowers
« Reply #8 on: May 02, 2012, 08:38:02 PM »
Fleur - thanks for that pointer to some more of your artistry, Cali.

There's something about your compositions, perhaps also the use of the old pink and white roses, that gives your works of art a feeling of classicism, of the period of Redoute. It is strange, but I seem to have some eclectic image in my mind which I know I'll never find in reality, so I can't find a perfect example to show here. This is vaguely correct in some way http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRvxVUwC5-gHNHw0fFLqEdWLYProiTRmD12qlZ4hrUsqNyzi3oBgg and http://janeaustensworld.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/pierre-joseph-redoute.jpg?w=500
Though I cannot express it well, I find your arrangements calming and emotive. I appreciate the time and skill they embody.
« Last Edit: May 02, 2012, 08:46:21 PM by MikeHardman »
Mike
Geologist by Uni training, IT consultant, Referee for Viola for Botanical Society of the British Isles, commissioned author and photographer on Viola for RHS (Enc. of Perennials, The Garden, The Plantsman).
I garden near Polis, Cyprus, 100m alt., on marl, but have gardened mainly in S.England

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Alisdair

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Re: 1st of May flowers
« Reply #9 on: May 03, 2012, 07:49:21 AM »
Perhaps more Fantin-Latour than Redouté? And all the better for that! In earlier centuries garlands like Cali's were often painted to surround religious images - one of the most interesting is a Madonna and Child by Rubens, which he shows as if it's a painting apparently hung outside a house with a May Day or other celebratory wreath (painted in turn by Jan Brueghel the Elder) draped around it; now in the Munich Alte Pinakothek.
Alisdair Aird
Gardens in SE England (Sussex); also coastal Southern Greece, and (in a very small way) South West France; MGS member (and former president); vice chairman RHS Lily Group, past chairman Cyclamen Society

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Cali

  • Jr. Member
Re: 1st of May flowers
« Reply #10 on: May 03, 2012, 10:52:10 AM »
Why, thank you Mike and Alisdair. I'm proud that my wreath provided the occasion for a discussion of art and aesthetics on the  MGS Forum. It's an area where I feel more at home, since I'm such a dunce in botanical matters. I have been scolded in the past by more serious fellow gardeners for cutting so many flowers and removing them from their natural habitat.
Cali Doxiadis
Former MGS President
Gardens in Corfu, Greece.

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Casalima

  • Newbie
Re: 1st of May flowers
« Reply #11 on: May 03, 2012, 01:48:15 PM »
In (north) Portugal there are some wreathes, but the classic May Day colour is a bit of broom - fixed to your front door or your car radiator!
Chloe, Ponte de Lima, North Portugal, zone 9+

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JTh

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Re: 1st of May flowers
« Reply #12 on: May 03, 2012, 02:19:45 PM »
Different countries, different traditions. In Norway you either put on your Sunday clothing and go downtown to participate in or to watch the political demonstrations, or you put on your working clothing and wash your car in front of the house to demonstrate that you are not taking part in the celebrations. I prefer the Greek traditions!
Retired veterinary surgeon by training with a PhD in parasitology,  but worked as a virologist since 1992.
Member of the MGS  since 2004. Gardening in Oslo and to a limited extent in Halkidiki, Greece.

Hilary

  • Hero Member
Re: 1st of May flowers
« Reply #13 on: May 01, 2017, 03:29:38 PM »
This year's May Wreath.
We had intended to add thistles to give it more colour but blood was drawn so we gave up that idea.

Did anyone else make a wreath?
MGS member
Living in Korinthos, Greece.
No garden but two balconies, one facing south and the other north.
Most of my plants are succulents which need little care

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JTh

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Re: 1st of May flowers
« Reply #14 on: May 01, 2017, 07:31:23 PM »
Yea, Hilary, I made one this morning. It has been dry here and the flowers stems are short, so I had to make the base with laurel branches


P4306211.jpg Πρωτομαγιά
by Jorun Tharaldsen, on Flickr
« Last Edit: May 02, 2017, 10:51:37 AM by JTh »
Retired veterinary surgeon by training with a PhD in parasitology,  but worked as a virologist since 1992.
Member of the MGS  since 2004. Gardening in Oslo and to a limited extent in Halkidiki, Greece.