PLANTS OF PLEASURE
Model Jeshika Mullins dressed as Queen Cleopatra with falling rose petals, that she famously used as an elixir of love, is part of Plants of Pleasure exhibition which will be on show at the Harrogate Autumn Flower Show which runs from today until Sunday.
THE SWEET scent of love was in the air as they put the finishing touches to the autumn flower show at Harrogate yesterday.
The aroma of blooms said to have aphrodisiac qualities – among them mandrake root and magnolia blossom – wafted from a display coyly titled Plants of Pleasure, which explores the facility of flowers to cultivate success with suitors.
In ancient Egypt, Cleopatra was said to have overwhelmed Julius Caesar and Mark Antony with an elixir made from rose petals. Thick layers were strewn on the floor of her palace and boudoir, and she was said not only to have bathed in rose water several times a day, but also to have drenched the sails of her royal barge until, as Shakespeare put it, “the very winds were lovesick”.
Nick Smith, director of the twice-yearly flower show, said: “Most people think of a love potion as something you would slip into your suitor’s food or drink, but perfume is an incredibly powerful influencer, particularly in the ancient world where life was not always very fragrant.” Citing a study linking a particular jasminemagnolia perfume with the pheromone responsible for stirring human senses, he said the Harrogate display had been arranged by a group of Yorkshire growers promoting British cut flowers. Other plants of pleasure include vines, shown by the Harewood florist Leafy Couture, and a special “chocolate garden” created by the Ripon designer, Helen Hays.
Attractions at the show, which is open from today until Sunday at the Great Yorkshire Showground, also include a bicentenary tribute to the man who coined the term landscape gardener.
Humphry Repton, known as The Great Improver, redesigned the gardens of more than 400 stately homes and is famous for the “before and after” books he created for each client.
The show, the biggest of its kind, also features its traditional giant vegetable competition.