Our art for garden lovers this June is another close up plant photo.  It’s from our favourite late 19th/early 20th century German photographer Karl Blossfeldt.  This time we’ve chosen his images of the plant equisinium hyemale (rough horsetail).  The Blossfeldt horsetail is an incredible image.  Why do we say so?

Blossfeldt’s horsetail looks like architecture!  Take a look at the Leaning Tower of Pisa, for example.   Or the medieval German Ochsenturm tower.   There’s no getting away from the similarity!  But Nature did it first, of course.

Blossfeldt’s close-up plant photos were at never-before seen levels of magnification.  This enabled the people looking at them to see incredible details that one would never normally notice.  They show us that Nature is the supreme designer and architect.  Humans only have to look around at the natural world for inspiration in design – something they’ve been doing it for centuries.

The Blossfeldt horsetail isn’t the only plant he shows us that looks like architecture.  Next time we’ll show some more of his amazing images that have the same impact.  Hopefully, as you enjoy the beauty of your living wall, you can take a closer look and find that the humblest of plants have amazing structures and textures.  Appreciating the small miracles is part of what makes gardening such a great pastime!