APPRECIATING SEEDHEADS IN AUTUMN GARDENS.

APPRECIATING SEEDHEADS IN AUTUMN GARDENS. I value art that makes me see the world differently. Hazel Silver had an article in last weekend’s Financial Times that will change how I look at the world in autumn and winter. She writes of how some garden designers today are fascinated by the skeletal forms of flowers at this time of year. Seedheads are valued. Silver quotes a garden-designer who is influential in a movement to “prairie gardens” as saying that a “plant is only worth growing if it looks good when it’s dead.” Silver herself writes favorably of how “a deathly palette of white, fawn, brown and black…is brought to life by the autumnal weather.” The article describes varieties of plants which look good when dusted with frost. Grasses are described as the backbone of a prairie look. Pink hydrangeas are also praised for the way they fade to a “cream and muted pink.” We have been noticing the few roses that are still hanging on (in December!), but now there are stalks in every garden to linger over.