Cow parsley is a hedgerow weed, and that is exactly why it works. Anthriscus sylvestris grows along every English lane in May, throwing up flat umbels on hollow stems, and it has the loose, accidental structure that garden flowers lose. Drawn in silhouette it becomes almost graphic: stems, radiating spokes, and a scatter of small flower heads with a great deal of air between them.
Behind the silhouettes is an etched ground, finely worked so the flat shapes have something to stand against. That combination, solid foreground and textured background, is what has made this one of the designs Cole & Son is known by. It reads as a plain wall with plants on it rather than as a floral, which is a much easier thing to live with over years.
The half drop at 76 cm scatters the umbels properly across the wall and keeps the design looking grown rather than printed. On a 0.53 m roll it hangs conventionally. It suits almost any room, which is unusual for a floral of this scale: a kitchen, a bedroom, a hall, a bathroom. It sits happily with painted joinery, plain linen and rush matting. There are few rooms in a house where it would look wrong.
