Monet

It's hard to look at this and not be reminded of a Monet. Apparently you can actually visit his garden at Giverny in France, the site of the famous bridge and waterlilies. Interestingly, Monet suffered from cataracts towards the end of his life, which may have been reflected in his paintings, which at the time they were affecting his vision had a redder hue than previously; after he underwent surgery to remove the cataracts in 1923, the hue of his paintings changed again, and he was possibly able to see further into the ultraviolet spectrum than is normal - he even repainted some of his earlier works to give them a bluer hue. Intriguing!

Elephant Rhubarb

This is a photograph of the leaf of a giant gunnera plant (I'm guessing gunnera manicata?) taken at Trebah Gardens in Cornwall. Along with other curiosities (including a Stumpery and bamboo maze), the Gardens sport a Gunnera Passage, which winds along underneath the huge leaves of these plants. They have giant spikes on their stems, and their leaves are several foot across (there's even a picture of me pretending to sit on one). It was one of my favourite areas in the garden; it's very cool to feal like a tiny midget creature creeping along in the shade of leaves the size of umbrellas.

Even though gunnera manicata is known as Elephant's Rhubarb, it's not related to rhubarb at all and sadly isn't edible. If it were then I guess we'd be one step closer to solving the world food crisis because one stalk could probably feed you for a week - some of the stalks were as thick as my arm. Interestingly, although rhubarb is usually classed as a vegetable, it's legally a fruit in the United States. For tax purposes.

Also, rhubarb leaves are poisonous, although you'd have to eat about five kilograms for it to kill you. In news of other toxic plants, I recently discovered that wild almonds are all poisonous as well! They contain cyanide. So if you're ever wandering desolate through a forest and you're feeling peckish, avoid anything that looks almondy.

Sunshine Flower

Despite yesterday's outpouring of a single interesting fact, I'm back to wallowing in my own ignorance with today's flower. The photo was taken on a recent visit to Cornwall, where we visited several gardens, all of them absolutely gorgeous. My favourite was Trebah Gardens, which not only boasts its own private beach, but also has a bamboo maze, a shady secret passage beneath the giant leaves of huge gunnera plants (also known as "Elephant's Rhubarb") and (my new favourite word), a stumpery. Yes, even their collection of tree stumps is awesome.