Plants for Rain
Something lovely from Christmas in Suffolk:
Once (years ago, of course) in a feature about plants that are attractive to bees, I mistakenly referred to umbellifers as umbrellifers. The error dawned on me the night after I’d submitted the piece. In mild panic I rang the editor the next morning but it was too late. The piece was for a weekend paper and it had already gone off to press.
Still, looking at these woody spokes revealed by wind and ice, it’s not a wholly inaccurate term, is it?
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I suppose if you tried folding the stalks downwards they would break, alas! It can happen to umbrellas too.
Did you eat ‘umbel’ pie?
) I’ve just been and read about umbels so you’ve educated me, thank you. Wikipedia even likens them to umbrella spokes. But which plant is pictured … is it cow parsley or hog weed? I tend to only be in England when things have dried up in winter so tend not to see what was there before.
I did eat umbel pie, Marina! Fortunately it wasn’t a specialist readership but that’s not to say no-one noticed. More on, er, umbellifers, soon.
A parasol for a Borrower, perhaps, Maureen?