Urban Jungle Bloggers | Botanical zoom

This month’s Urban Jungle Bloggers challenge is all about getting up close and showcasing those lovely little plant details that we’d normally miss – the patterns and textures, the colour variations, the tiny hairs on the leaves…

I’ve chosen to feature my favourite new discovery – snake’s head fritillary. I’d never heard of this graceful little plant before a recent trip to the local garden centre, but it was apparently once common in meadows across southern England before agriculture vastly reduced its numbers. Its wonderfully evocative name instantly caught my eye, as did the arcing stems and chequered, scale-like petals. I couldn’t resist treating myself!

I photographed my purchase on a bright spring afternoon, and I loved watching how the changing light illuminated the flowers and cast beautiful shadows. I might have been imagining it, but I could almost see the buds unfurling in the gentle warmth.

I won’t be able to keep the plant inside for long as it much prefers to live outdoors, but I’m going to enjoy having it in the house (in a beautiful glass planter from Rose & Grey) for another couple of days before transferring it to the garden. With any luck it will then scatter its seeds, and I’ll have a whole group of snake’s head fritillaries waiting to burst into bloom come next spring.

Urban Jungle Bloggers is a monthly series run by Igor of Happy Interior Blog and Judith of JOELIX.com, with the aim of encouraging people to use more greenery in their homes. To find out more, head over to the website or search #urbanjunglebloggers on Twitter and Instagram.

Photography by Abi Dare