Photograph Works

For A Winter’s Day

Something To Brighten Up A Winter’s Day

It’s miserable today, with a fine drizzle and heavy cloud. Couple that with the short days as we approach the winter solstice here at 56° north – and it’s a recipe for emotional gloom.

Pansies and Violas

So with that in mind, here are some pansies that I photographed here in Edinburgh a couple of days ago when it was sunny.

Perhaps you knew that pansies are ‘made’ by hybridising various viola species.

Is ‘made’ the right word? I guess it is, because without human intervention it’s likely pansies would not have been come into being spontaneously because someone had to bring the various viola species together.

The strange thing is that pansies have four petals pointing upwards, and only one pointing down, whereas violas have three petals pointing up and two pointing down.

So you can see that the flowers in this photo are pansies.

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Comments

5 responses to “For A Winter’s Day”

  1. Madhu

    Oh, I thought pansies had darker markings on the petals! Thanks for enlightening me 🙂

    Reply
  2. colderweather

    Nevertheless …they’re quite beautiful.

    We’ve had flowers on the balcony until just the other day, when there was a real frost overnight.

    Reply
    1. David Bennett

      I hadn’t thought about the frost. I wonder whether the owners put straw or sacking on the flowers – that’s what we used to do.

      Writing that has brought back a memory of when I was in Japan and the trees and bushes would be bound with straw to protect them from the cold. What struck me was how skilfully the gardeners wrapped them up – each one an example of perfect craftsmanship.

      Reply
      1. colderweather

        Pansies, I think is one of the few flowers that can stand very low temperatures.

        They did something to trees along highways in Quebec before the winter set in — to protect them from all the salt on the roads, I guess. They tied some type of white ‘fabric’ around them and they always reminded me of angels, lined up 🙂

        Reply
        1. David Bennett

          🙂

          Reply

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