Facts and Froth with Jill Lowe Equinox to Solstice A Neighborhood “florilegium”
Any resemblance of this “florilegium” (a collection of flowers), to the scholarly, skilled, documentation of plants, flowers and foliage, by esteemed botanical artists is in name only. Traditionally, a florilegium is any group of botanical paintings depicting a particular collection whether an exploration, such a Captain Cook’s voyage to Australia (Banks Florilegium), a 16th century herb garden (The Besler Florilegium) or perhaps a plant family (Redouté’s Les lilacées). The superb work of artists such as Margaret Mee and her plant portraits from the Amazon, Marianne North at Kew Gardens, with more than 800 paintings, are a privilege to see. More recently Prince Charles has documented plants at Highgrove in the Highgrove Florilegium. These works often become limited edition books of engravings, to share among scientists and herbaria. So, with the backdrop of these clever, skilled, professional botanical artists, I present here a florilegium of sorts, from Gold Coast & Lincoln Park in Chicago, as a cousin only, of the above.