..No, not the paint colour so dismissed as ultra-boring by the paint snobs (which I fear may include me!) No, this is the real thing...
After our picnic yesterday we drove for another 20 minutes to Benmore Botanic Gardens. Barry had been guiding there and wanted to show me the magnolias.
Thirty foot high magnolia cambellii were looking magnificent (though they smell odd - of Germolene Barry says). On the ground beneath were the remains of last year's leaves.
I've had one of these delicate skeleton leaves pinned to the wall of the studio for a couple of years (along with a rose given to me about 21 years ago, and a painted stick which I found in a field in Sweden - isn't it strange the things we cherish?)