The Plant #14
I love The Plant’s description of itself as ‘ A curious observer of ordinary plants and other greenery’. I’m not sure how long it’s been running that on its intro page, but it’s a perfect sentence, declaring a focus while remaining open beyond that focus. Here are five highlights from their 14th issue that reflect their words.
ONE The issue comes with three cover options, of which my favourite is a topiary dolphin taken from Alisdair McLellan’s ‘Flowers of Disneyland’ shoot. Best-known here for his series of Gentlewoman covers, McLellan uses highly saturated colour and avoids people and their time-defining clothes to present an eerily timeless report from the resort.
TWO Photographer Chris Rhodes visited New Covent Garden Flower Market, the centre of London’s commercial flower trade. Here, away from the beauty, glamour and associated joy of cut flowers, we get a brief insight into the industrial nature of the business.
THREE One of the other cover options comes from an interview with Dutch artist herman de vries (he never uses capitals) which is accompanied by a typically broad-ranging series of images by Juergen Teller. Mainly shot in the winter snow around his German country home, de vries wanders through barren forests and sets a tome quite at odds with summer mood (and timing) of the rest of the issue.
FOUR The Plant rarely offers genuine horticultural advice, but one of the issues’ Loose Leaves columns sees gardener Matthew Wright recommend natural wood supports over imported bamboo or plastic options.
FIVE An issue wouldn’t be complete witzout a curious fashion shoot, and Camille Vivier/Sandra Berrebi’s ‘A Giving Tree’ provides exactly that. Loosely based around pagan fertiility traditions (I’m guessing!) it’s a vital part of the mix.
Editor-in-chief: Cristina Merino
Creative direction: Isabel Merino & Carol Montpart