Fuzzy quince

I recently paid a visit to the Adelaide Botanical Gardens for the first time in many years, with the intention of spending some time with my parents and seeing an exhibition of botanical art, as well as the gardens themselves. While I did enjoy the gardens and the company of my parents the art exhibition was closed that day. Instead we went on a leisurely stroll around the various gardens and the beautiful Museum of Economic Botany, taking photos of various plants and trying to stop my two year old son from winding up in a body of water; one of the many tales of childhood mischief and misadventure my parents like to tell me about is one in which I waded straight into the lotus pond at these very gardens, aged around the same as my son, filling my white socks and shoes with mud and no doubt humiliating my poor mother (who was somewhat accustomed to these shenanigans).

Being at the gardens really reminded me of how much I miss the botanical illustration classes I used to take at the RBG in Melbourne. There are classes to be taken here, and one day hopefully I'll get back into that, perhaps when family life is a little less hectic than it is right now.

During my visit to rhe gardens I spotted these irresistible fuzzy quinces - cydonia oblonga - and just had to collect one off the ground to bring home and photograph. Fruit has a really magical aesthetic to me, and I feel it's especially beautiful when dissected to show the internal flesh and seeds. I just discovered that my Mum in law has one of these in her garden too, so a proper botanical drawing of this from life might be on the cards one day.

I capture these photographs on a blank wall in my laundry with my iphone. Please feel free to use them for your art reference or stock photography needs.