A Writer's Life - Pretty Flowers

I research too much. I mean, seriously too much. I feel that the devil's in the detail and that I want a reader to sink dreamily into my story. I don't want them to be jerked out of the flow because I've got a detail wrong. This extends to flowers.

This and other pics on this post are the rather inexpert pics of flowers taken from my phone.

I read somewhere that there was a passage in a Jane Austen book that mentioned a flower that shouldn't have been in bloom at that time of year, but it was written in 1816, the year without a summer, when the weather was off due to a climate event. The amazing Jane Austen had written about something in front of her, but it had been jarring gardeners ever after. I can't find the reference anymore (I may obsess about research but I fail at record keeping), so I can't remember the details, but it stuck with me.

As a writer, you can give a hint of the weather and time of year by dropping a reference to the flowers around. If I describe a walled garden, filled with roses planted in intricate knots, their scent heavy on the evening air, you are going to think that it's June, or at least definitely summer. The modern roses in my garden have hung on to flower up until December before now, only giving in to the first frosts.

Image actually taken 10 January 2022

And from what I have seen, gardeners in the USA are keenly aware of differences in growing zones, but I'm not sure how widespread that knowledge is out there.

Wild roses taken in August on a walk past an Industrial Estate

I've been reminded that blossoms can vary this year because half of my garden is late in flowering, some of it is early and some of it is bang on schedule. As I fail at gardening, I'm not too stressed, but it's only a few years ago that I saw a keen horticulturalist have their garden absolutely flattened by a series of late frosts. My approach of 'buy a plant from the supermarket and bung it in' seemed to go a lot better than their carefuly nurturing and coaxing of seeds and seedlings, at least until they caught up in July.

As a writer, plants and flowers are a great way of adding atmosphere and the sort of detail that can sink into the subconscious. If your weary hero sinks down to rest, do they lean back against a tree, an oak, a pine or a palm? Saying 'tree' isn't wrong, but saying 'oak' gives a feel of a broadleaf forest that you see in Robin Hood films whereas a pine is more highlands and mountains and a palm has a far more tropical feel. You can engage a reader's imagination that little bit more and add layers to your writing just by picking a tree.

The berries look very festive, but the pic was taken in August

If you are going to do that, however, you have to pick a type of tree. At this point you can go down endless rabbit holes of biospheres and microclimates. My internet search history includes things like 'flowers in bloom UK August' and 'soil types for borage'. The important thing is to quickly move on from vegetation to the lurking ambush that the hero has to face. That tree can give clues about landscape, time of year and the local population, but it's far more important to get the hero reunited with the heroine for their passionate reunion.