Gloomy plume poppy

The atmospheric fog of yesterday morphed into cold, dark gloom today. To be honest it felt pretty much like dusk all day - not very inspiring for photography. I only took my camera into the garden, where I found two potential subjects - bright orange stinking iris fruits and a moisture-beaded flowerhead of plume poppy. I was very tempted to use the berries, whose bright warmth belied the chill of the day, but in the end felt that the plume poppy was more in keeping with the day.

Plume poppies are unlike most other poppies, in that they do not have petals, just small sepals and a cluster of warm cinammon brown anthers. They have particularly beautiful leaves, almost blue-green in colour and shaped a little like fig-leaves. The flowering spikes can reach over 4m (12 feet) in height. This plant flowered in mid-summer, but unseasonal winds blew it over, breaking the tap-root, so we had to cut it back. The photograph shows the re-growth, which is now flowering out of season at a much more manageable height.