Agriculture Reference
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contrast of colours and textures to the borders. Mostly, the plants that were grown
specifically for flower arranging were foliage plants, the flowers used in arrangements
would be purchased from a shop such as the one owned by James. But when I asked
Rosemary and Maud what kinds of flowers they grew and admired, Rosemary
told me, 'we don't grow anything rigid, we prefer soft forms.' Indeed, (see Figure
6.5) demonstrates the kind of soft forms they valued; note the bells of the white
campanula, the lacey delphiniums and the soft flowering shrub at the centre of the
image. Their preferences for their summer borders were for blues, pinks and whites
to be found in roses, sweet peas, penstemons, and their most prized plants - the
delphiniums. See Figure 7.1 for a close-up of the blue delphiniums, 'people come
in taxis to come and see our delphiniums,' Maud said to me. And Rosemary told
me that summer flowers were mostly pale blues, yet it would be entirely possible to
create 'hot' areas using the sharp yellows, oranges and scarlets found in the exotic
forms of summer perennials such as red hot pokers, lynchis, or achillea. Their
Figure 7.1 Rosemary and Maud's Delphiniums
tastes were organised around feminised forms and shapes: the lacey spires of the
delphiniums and the deep-throated, bell-shape of their cerise penstemons. While
these women have the cultural capital to companion plant effectively, their choices
of colour, form and texture help to display a feminised planting aesthetic. Indeed
the logic of Skeggs's argument can be seen in relation to the different investments
my respondents made in feminine cultural capital in relation to gardening tastes
according to class. Rosemary and Maud for example, had a love of 'soft forms' in the
garden and this was expressed through a penchant for feminised forms and shapes,
for example the lacey spires of delphiniums. They made a conscious will to display
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