The water lilies in the pond are oblivious to the continuing drought. Any rain forecast is determined to by-pass us. Hopes were high on Sunday but they were not to be. In fact I was driving back home from Gedney Hill late afternoon and when I reached the Denver Sluice near Little Downham there was a heavy downpour, but when I reached home thirty minutes later not a drop had fallen where we live.
Back to the water lilies. They are only in their second full Summer and up to now there have been flowers but only in solitary succession. Today there were four flowers in full bloom simultaneously. They have such an elegant but geometric look which, along with their colouring, can't fail to catch the eye.
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| Water lily Nymphaea 'Charles De Meurville' |
Incidentally, I have not been able to discover who Charles De Meurville was but do know that the particular lily cultivar named after him was developed in 1931 at the renowned Latour-Marliac nursery in France. It was founded in 1876 by Joseph Latour-Marliac (1830-1911). He was good friends with Claude Monet and it was from Latour-Marliac that Monet purchased a large supply of water lilies (and other plants) when he had his lake at Giverny built. This, of course, became the subject of his famous series of water lily paintings.
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| Claude Monet water lilies at Giverny |
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