Studiology

Five Years Old

The youngest grandchild just turned 5. A May birthday, which almost coincided with mother's day, a day that I can't help but reflect on spring, the garden, and how this would have been the craziest weekend of the year at the plant farm. It's hard to shake those memories. But it was a drizzly day, so inside we were, and a good time was had. The mob scene included 11 other children, so it was deafening at times, in a good way. 

Sweet Juniper was in her element with a new car to drive and a dress-up station complete with hats, masks, swords, beads - you get the picture. 

This spunky granddaughter is not one to shy away from adventure, so she was chauffer for a few friends in her new car, she smiled, they held on tight.

The cake and decorations, party hats and tiara's were just what you want at a sweet 5 year old's party.

I know that growth spurts are often a surprise for grandparents and I'm glad to live not too far to see them grow. And my goodness, are they ever!

Miss Birdie was the center of attention at times and she did not freak out. Even when the tiara's came out. 

All Hail!!

 

 

 

No Persuasion

Stand back, it's spring! The rush of growth, flower to seed, emergence of good and bad, it's all happening at warp speed. I always remember this week, it's the week my son was born and coming home from the hospital - a 3 day stay at the time, was like entering another world. Azaleas were in full bloom and the trees had developed leaves large enough to cast shade. Literally 3 days had made a gigantic change. To record this, I have spent some time taking photographs of what's flowering, or even passing over. The few days when the temperatures hit 80 degrees plus, can make for a fleeting show, especially with flowering bulbs, so you must pay attention.

This is one of my favorite epimediums, simply known as Epimedium versicolor, which is better known with the selection or hybrid - 'Sulphureum' and its all yellow flowers. Both have short spurs, but are strong growers. Lovely for dry shade with clean foliage and a strong stamina.

Epimedium pinnatum ssp. colchicum is a much more saturated yellow with tiny spurs that are reddish. 

Rhododendron 'Colonel Mosby' is part of the Dodd confederate series. Originally developed to take the place of Exbury azaleas, a decidious group that is not fond of our southern heat. Using Rhododendron austrinum, a native species, this group of about 11 hybrids thrives (mine is in full sun) and puts on a stunning show. Since I live on John Mosby Hwy., it became a required purchase.

This sweet native rhododendron is best known as the pinxterbloom azalea. The flowers are usually shades of pink, but can be variable. Depending on the sun, it can be very dense or much looser and open.

Any gardener that likes fragrance must have Abelia mosanensis, it's exquisite!

Adding to the fragrant garden is Phlox divaricata, a native that can also be variable in color, going from this milky blue to deep purple. The lighter shades are best for the shade garden, popping color as the trees fully leaf out.

As the foliage opens completely you can see why Syneilesis aconitifolia is also known as the shredded umbrella plant. A native of Korea, it will grow in dry shade, and I can vouch for that.

This is also the time when the winter aconite or eranthis goes to seed. The small yellow flowers open mid-February, so I like to collect a few and spread them to the south side of rocks so they bloom even earlier. A minor bulb that disappears quickly once heat arrives.

My Thalictrum dioicum or early meadow rue is seeding around and actually becoming a groundcover. The foliage is very dainty and resembles columbine (in the same family). Despite the appearance, this native is as tough as they come and thrives in dry shade. These are the female flowers and you can use this link to read more about this amazing native wildflower. In the Ranunculaceae family, most members are poisonous, so deer resistant. 

And tomorrow will promise to bring more, so don't let a day pass without looking and absorbing. No other time of year offers so many daily changes.

Finishing Things

Time in the studio has been good, many things have been completed and more are underway. Literally finished last night and delivered to the gallery today is a piece titled "Swan Ride".  This one was difficult to assemble, it made little sense to me, and it included a doll, which I hate doing because they always look like a doll. Some bits of "stuff" altered her appearance some, but I knew that this piece meant being brave with the paint because bottom line, it's quite weird. In the end I was delighted with the paint and felt that it owned up to the build, another growth spurt for me (and that's how it feels).

Today was a workday in the gallery so I was able to gauge people's opinion of "Swan Ride", sorry for the lack of creativity in the name, but she was a big hit, despite her weirdness.

Others that have been completed are all up and I have to say that today in the gallery was a blast with fun people all day long.

Tomorrow, Thursday, April 7th, is another workday for me and I encourage you to visit this most awesome little gallery that makes my heart go pitter pat.

The address is 310 Mill Street, the main drag through Occoquan, VA. Come for food, come for art.

 

Brutal

I think of this day and all those years at the nursery with a similar weather slap down. The high winds from the north and west accompanied with a drop in temperatures can be fretful. In a positive way I'm happy that the Callery (Bradford) pears will freeze in full bloom and not produce fruit, the invasive beast that it is. But sadly, it probably means a similar end to peach and cherry blossoms. 

Long ago at the nursery, perennial frames with potted plants were covered in overwintering fabric, depending on the thickness or grade, there were often 2 layers to protect them in winter. By this time they would be uncovered, all 73 frames that were 16 x 4' in size. The uncovering meant rolling the fabric up to rest on the west side of each frame so when all had to be recovered, there was a little assistance from west winds. On a day like today the task would seem monumental, especially when it came to weighing down the edges with cinderblocks. Between the wind and physical activity, it was exhausting. 

There were also greenhouses and cold frames. The wind slaps the plastic all day, a sound that takes some getting used to. As April is approaching, it would mean that all pansy/violas, maybe petunias, ranunculus, and possibly some salvias, would already have been moved outside. I used to call it "greenhouse constipation" because you can't stop the growing machine, shipments can't be stopped, seedlings have to be sown, cuttings taken. One particularly good year there was a forecast of 18" of snow. We moved all of the pansies out so the snow would cover them. As the days passed and the snow slowly melted away, the pansies appeared and they were perfect! They loved the constant 32 degrees. 

This shift in weather may not be the last, there can be nights of frost into May, but it's a pretty brutal turn. I don't have to worry about losing plants, affording the heating oil, or keeping the plastic on the houses now. Although there is still that unease which is hard to turn off. 

I imagine that many of you have covered some tender things, I prefer fabric over plastic (which has no insulating ability). When it's really bad I use a layer of plastic between 2 layers of fabric (like bed sheets). The hardest thing is keeping it secure, hence my cinderblocks. 

Gardening is definitely not for wimps. It's sometimes hard emotionally and physically, if not for some triumphs, we would quit! Hold on to your hat and wait for better days.

New Art Work

There's been a lull in my art work. I attribute it to a few things, one of which is the ongoing war in Ukraine, which put me in a major funk! Which ever part of the brain was in a bad mood was directly affecting my creative side. There were some pieces that came together with time and determination, but I sensed a shift in my artistic flow. And then came a break-through, an embrace of sorts with the really ugly narrative; create art that incorporates the state of affairs. So a few have come together and others are in the works. Much like artists embracing the pandemic with pandemic art, so it goes now. This piece is titled "Scheming", sort of like a David and Goliath story. The little man holds a tiny sledge hammer for a weapon.

I also finished this "Defender of the Woods", a deer as an action figure (hero) who is here to defend the trees. 

The piece on the easel now is built of broken porcelain doll faces. It will be interesting to see where it goes and how much I paint on the faces. Sometimes the painting takes as long as the building, it's never an exact science and can sway from day to day, minute to minute. 

Lots left to do and undoubtedly some moments of angst to preserve the emotion in this one. Updates to follow. Peace Out!

 

March

Two weeks ago I found a place where the wood frogs sound their mating calls and have gone back almost every day to hear them again. Apparently, there are no wood frogs on the farm, so it was a real shock when I first heard the sound, suspecting it might be some distant grackles. The peeps won't be far behind and the garden is waking up, a little something new to see almost every day. Minor bulbs, the little ones, are so worth planting and should always go in when the gardener is young (or yesterday). My drifts of snowdrops are amazing, as are the winter aconites. It's taken some 30 years to see them spread so far, the impact is what makes February and March seem a little less winter-like. I have often recommended the planting of minor bulbs to people, only to have them say that in the scale of their garden, the affect is too little. Nonsense!

The hellebores or Lenten rose are definitely surging. I have a particularly good blackish one from Pine Knot. There was a time that I sold good black flowering hybrids, but failed to keep any, so it's nice to have this one.

 Sweet box or Sarcococca hookeriana humilis is in full bloom, the flowers are not showy but amazingly fragrant. As I was sitting on the ground to photograph the snowdrops, the fragrance was truly sweet, and I'm sure it's part of the reason for the common name.

Inspecting the seed pods on witch hazel or Hamamelis virginiana, I noticed small drill holes on each seed pod. Knowing that the exploding seeds make much larger holes, I suspected a weevil and sure enough it's one that relies on this particular witch hazel to survive. Better known as Psuedoanthonomous hamamelids, the adults feed on leaves and flowers with fertile females laying eggs in the seed pod in fall and young feeding on the seed before emerging in spring. 

It will be many days before I begin the real clean-up of perennial beds to allow dormant insects to thaw and wakeup. For now, the epimedium, helleborus, and shade grasses have been cut down. Garden shears can be used on the epimediums if it's done soon, way before flowering stems begin to uncurl. On helleborus I remove last years leaves, the first task of the year. When I energetically use my garden shears, my fitbit thinks I'm walking or running and gives me shooting stars for my accomplishments. The gardener may not need a fitbit to track their exercise, getting the work done is enough. And you should see the numbers when I'm flinging weeds; good grief, she must be jumping hurdles! And in a way, I am.

 

Love was in the Air

For a brief span of 4 days, I worked with cut flowers to make Valentine Day bouquets. The faithful underling who was delighted to once again join the professionals to learn a few tricks and navigate the pure joy of working with fresh flowers. In my span of nursery work I can also add that Valentine's Day on the other side, the working side, is completely new to me. Red roses rule the day, that color in roses represents love and romance. Yellow roses are for friendship, pink for joy - gratitude and grace, while white is for purity and innocence (maybe best for a child's bouquet). Even though men are the primary buyers (red, red, and red), there was 1 young man who was buying for a "real" gardener and forewarned that her bouquet had better not be red.

Boxed roses are popular and arrive with each stem in a water tube with instructions on how to build your own arrangement. The presentation is pretty spectacular.

I'm personally a fan of working with dusty miller or Jacobaea maritima (used to be Senecio cineraria), especially with soft pastels. The furry gray leaves are a staple for arrangements from Merrifield Gardens. 

But when it was all said and done, the hundreds of red roses are sold out, then it's time to embrace something a little different - whew, what a relief!

 

The 9 Year Old

This last week was the anniversary of the adoption of Birdie. Now a 9 year old, or so we believe with a birthday set at January 29th. She has calmed a bit with fewer signs of stress from whatever her life was before. Occasionally she will suddenly cower or need to escape for reasons that we cannot figure out, some with an uncontrollable tremble which breaks my heart. Since I am new to the rescue of an abused animal, I can clearly say that it has been harder than I thought it would be. But I stand by my decision and would make it many times over because sometimes she is so happy that she spins in place and jumps for joy. Her calmness and love for everyone is amazing, especially with a questionable past that was NOT good. We could all take a lesson from that. 

So Happy Birthday little girl and may the rest of your life be full of fluffy beds, wonderful wild scents, and lots of head kisses and love.

 

Fenestration

Architects know and use the word fenestrate; it stands for the arrangement of windows in a building. Everything from pointy or goth-like to typical rectangles or squares, and the imitations of nature with Antoni Gaudi's glorious architectural buildings in Spain (arching and irregular). The most famous Gaudi creation is Casa Batilo, which was considered an eye-sore when it was built, now a destination for anyone interested in architecture. 

In the plant world, the well-known Swiss cheese plant or Monstera adansonii has leaves that are perforated with tear-drop shaped holes. Popular in the '70's and possibly more so now, it is not overly expensive or rare, but a good example of fenestration in plants. A tropical vine, native to Central and South America, of the Araceae family, related to philodendron. 

A similar species is Monstera obliqua which has even larger leaf holes, often referred to as more holes than leaf, the connecting green parts can become thread thin. 

There is little doubt that the gardener will confuse the two since the latter species is neither readily available nor inexpensive. Searching online will bring up many sources for this coveted plant, the most popular is simply called Peru, I'm guessing a special selection with more fenestration. Not easy to grow, to keep this Swiss cheese plant happy it requires 80-90 degrees Fahrenheit and humidity levels above 90 percent (terrarium environment). With its limited leaf surface, the growth rate is barely a crawl, another reason for the hefty prices. The difference in value of M. obliqua to M. adansonii is easily one hundred dollars higher just for an unrooted leaf node. For a fully rooted cutting in a pot the price jumps to a thousand dollars for one small Monstera obliqua plant. Of the 45 or so species of monstera, there are others that produce windows in the leaves. Monstera deliciosa (named after its tasty fruit or breadfruit) is well known, a common houseplant but a very large vine when found growing in the wild. 

Curiosity got the best of me when it came to understanding what role the leaf holes play. There are a couple of reasons and if you really think about it, I'm sure you will come up with a few theories. Since these inhabit tropical rainforests, they compete with many large leafed plants, a lot of rain, and intense sunlight. As vines, the early stages might not show signs of fenestration, better to grow with a larger leaf surface to photosynthesize under the canopy of big leaves, fenestration becomes more pronounced as they grow and age (reach sunlight). The holes allow sunlight to reach their vining trunk and also to let rain in to soak the arial roots which anchor to any support they climb. Secondly the winds, particularly hurricanes, will be less likely to knock them off their perch, instead will blow through. Imagine the years of evolution it took for that brilliant que?! As a botanist searching for the most fenestration, I suspect that a high elevation (more wind) might be home to plants that are a bit holier, like places in Peru?

Add variegation and the price tag skyrockets to unimaginable heights. A Monstera adansonii (the common Swiss cheese plant) with variegated leaves can easily run over $1,000. A Monstera deliciosa 'Variegata' could set you back $6,000. to $10,000.! And I might add that people are buying them, it's the "in" thing. 

There is also fenestration in succulent plants and an entire genus known as Fenestraria. In this case the succulent parts have windows that are under the surface which open to let in more light, or close to do the opposite. Common house plants like baby toes and string of pearls do just that. In the string of pearls, the windows are elliptic or eye shaped, running down the side of each round pearl. 

In the world of odd horticultural terms, this is just another that ranks with guttation, allelopathy, and stratification, all worthy of exploration. 

Hibernating- Not

Wintertime (for the gardener) is soft socks, oversized fuzzy shirts, and fat pants. There is the wonderful sleeping in with no alarm clock, except for a little dog that needs to pee. Most days are working in the studio or walking the dog who has taken a liking to a hike that crosses a creek. Yesterday she lunged over the creek, still tethered to her retractable leash, which caught me off guard and headfirst I fell down an embankment in slushy frozen water, with a face splat on rocks. My boots filled with water, my Tilley hat floated downstream, my face grew a giant, bulging bruise, and I still had a mile to walk to get home, very wet! Today the bulge is a light purple, I may end up with a black eye and there might be a fingernail that falls off. I will spare you the gross pictures, it hurts to smile, and I look like someone clubbed me. But, in the meantime there is time to restock the art gallery, which will happen slowly but surely, and time can be spent alone without explanation in my workspace. 

I have finished 2 pieces; both have parts that either move or can be altered. With the first one, the wheel rotates like a pointer. Titled "Star Guide", the center piece can be lifted out of the holder, once again I used magnets to hold it in place. 

Next was something more complex with 3 alternative inserts.  A wand of sorts with options. Partly inspired by a bumblebee jasper stone that was gifted to me, and grew into a citrine crystal, and third eye choice. Sort of like predicting your day or week with positive energy from 3 options. Magnets are also used to help hold them in place, both in the main piece and in a holder that is not quite done. To finish the painting, the background needed to agree with all 3 inserts, which really took more time than I had ever imagined. 

There will be a side piece that holds the 2 while they are not in use, which is also taking more time to paint than I thought it would. A few other projects are in the works, and oh how I love January!