Studiology

Duke

Sweet Duke was buried in the garden yesterday. Just shy of 12. We walked for years on the farm, the daily 3 miles, to the mud hole and then the pond to rinse off. His sweetness was profound. In the woods he would point out box turtles to me and once made a discovery, a sleeping baby raccoon in a depression in the leaves. I had walked on but looking back he made a face and wagged his tail, like "you have to see this!". The raccoon woke and stretched, the 2 of them nose to nose and Duke wagging his tail the whole time. 

He came along after I had closed the nursery, from a farm in The Plains, his mother was intelligent and beautiful, his father a purebred champion. He attended puppy kindergarten, went through advanced training and achieved his Canine Good Citizen Certificate. This was the first time I had enough time to devote to 1 dog. My procurement of guinea fowl began at the same time, so you could say he grew up with them. 

When the photography bug hit me, Duke was my companion, we ventured many a time to Blandy Experimental Farm and he learned that if the tripod was out, he had to lay down and stay still. Until his death, he did that. 

This photograph of him as a puppy was accepted into a competition for photographs to hang in Children's Hospital in Washington D.C. I hope it gave comfort to some children.

This is the well mannered photography dog, looking on as I photograph:

His 5th birthday;

He had those big black eyes that would melt your heart. Even in the end, the look of adoration as things were not going well. There are now 4 of my dogs buried on the farm and 3 from others. All special to me, but this guy, he was unbelievable. I ask that you don't send me any "sorry for your loss" or those kinds of things. I know many of you have lost special pets, it may have been the hardest thing you have ever had to deal with. Take a moment to think of them, those givers of love and affection. Think of them, and remember how much you loved them. The End.

Beam Me Up

The website for the gallery in Occoquan has been revamped and I'm very happy to see it in its new and ever progressing form. As time passes, the artists in the gallery will add their wares, we are 20+ strong, so there is real potential for a fun and eclectic array of art. 

The website is capable of printing limited edition prints and photographs on various surfaces through Bay Photo, a lab that I always used when I sold photography. Sizes up to 5 and 6 feet  are options as well as viewing them on a wall in context to surroundings and existing wall paint colors. For the visual shopper, this is a huge plus. Because of these options, I have added some of my favorite and best selling photographs as well as my assemblage art. 

Given the situation with the pandemic and social restrictions, we found it necessary to expand on ways to shop our art. Everything from jewelry, to oil paintings, and woodwork are here. Please take a look but visit again as we continue to add more artists. It may not be the same as coming into the store and really seeing everything, but close.

https://www.artalacartegallery.com/

October is my "show" month, and the 24th is reception day. One way or another there will be the offering of new art as I've been working on this for months! The title is "The Dream Show" which will include many small and large dream scenes and if it's an online event, then so be it. 

With that I leave you with a little piece I created years ago, painted with fluorescent or glow in the dark paint. That sense of curiosity.... keep that thought.

 

 

 

A Mini Meadow

Where the native plants grow, a trial mini meadow is on its third year. A hodge podge of plants, some actually planted in threes, I love how it looks this year. 

The ground covering plant with little yellow flowers is Lysimachia lanceolate var. purpurea or lance leaved loosestrife. So tight and dense is its foliage that at least one baby bunny  runs out when I water. Given it's ability to suppress weeds, there are plenty of plants that rise through and grow well, among them are echinacea, parthenium, agastache, and salvia. The taller plant is Veronicastrum virginicum 'Fascination' or Culver's root, a source of nectar for many insects.

Three Rudbeckia maxima are gigantic this year, flowering at seven feet. I stand on a six foot ladder to photograph the first flowers as they open.

Clump growers, they are still large plants and threaten to overtake some smaller plants that are a bit too close. The foliage is a gorgeous glaucous blue, a beautiful complement to the flowers. If cut for a vase, expect flower stems of four feet or more. 

Of the mix there is one that has taken awhile to grow large enough to flower and that is Parthenium integrifolium or wild quinine. In the aster family, the flowers may be small but the impact is big. Course leaves at the base with white flowers that last for more than two months.

Many meadow plants have yet to flower, I await echinacea, prairie dock, salvias, and hardy ageratum. The bed is twelve feet by eight with a south exposure and it might be the most happening place in my garden, until the sun sets. We can't ignore my night garden which is at a very quiet roar right now. So much to look forward to!

 

Some Like it Hot

It's solstice time, the longest day of the year. With the sun at its highest, we enter the so-called dog days of summer when the dog star or Sirius rises at the same time (or nearly so) as the sun in the Northern Hemisphere. 

In year's past, especially in droughty summers, a favorite fieldtrip was a visit to arboretums or public gardens where watering was a luxury they could not afford. The observation of stressed plants, the ones that don't whimper or pout about the situation nor die from the hardship might be those you want to have in your own garden. For me there were certainly favorites which I chose because they are able to take it hot and dry, be long lived, do not spread in an overly aggressive manner, and offer a relatively long season of interest. 

Perennials are my wheelhouse and I would like to list a few favorites, plants that stand up to the heat while many of us would prefer to be inside. First and number one is Calamintha 'Montrose White'. Even when temperatures hit 100 degrees, there is no sign of wilt. In the mint family, a clump grower with woody stems that grow to twenty inches, tiny white flowers cover the stem for two months. Rich in nectar, bees adore them. Tiny leaves are que to its superpower, the smaller or narrower the leaf, the more drought tolerant they are. Sun is best for calamintha, from sunup to sundown if possible. Coreopsis verticillata with its narrow foliage is another perennial that can take a lot of abuse. A sun lover as well, south or southwest for planting sites. Small yellow daisies persist for six to eight weeks and this perennial is native to Virginia and Maryland. Amsonia hubrichtii or Hubricht's blue star is an amazing perennial for areas too harsh for others. Narrow foliage on stems to four feet and more, the summer movement is like an ornamental grass. Fall color is often the reason to grow amsonia (there are pale blue flowers in spring) and this one does not disappoint. Native to south-central parts of North America, when planting allow four square feet per plant.

 Artemisia, perovskia or Russian sage and nepeta (catmint), all are satisfactory albeit non-native. The grayish foliage comes from hairy leaves which aid in retention of moisture during dry periods. Others that are white or gray and suitable for drought are lamb's ears, dusty miller, and lavender. One can also find suitable heat lovers from our warm season, native grasses. Little bluestem is a good choice, particularly when one finds gray leafed selections and an upright habit such as Schizachyrium 'Standing Ovation'. Reaching three feet, there is a gentle sway with summer breezes. We are not "sage land" with deserts in our backyards but we can certainly borrow from that landscape. Plants like thyme, sedum, sage or salvia and various succulents are options for sunny places.

In the shade garden, the fight for water is elevated. Tree roots, particularly those with fine fibrous surface roots can be nearly impossible to garden under. Maple, beech, and cherry are examples of overly challenging understories. Epimedium or barrenwort seems to be singularly capable of the battle. A groundcover (in time), the spread comes from underground rhizomes. This perennial can live through abuse that few others will tolerate. Nice flowers, foliage turns coppery in fall, and the leaves are semi-evergreen. Not a native, but certainly not a problematic plant. Iris tectorum, a Chinese iris, and Solomon's Seal or polygonatum are others that score high. In native perennials I love Christmas fern and hayscented fern. The latter is a spreader, light green and dainty looking, a case where looks can be deceiving.  

Given the choice on hot summer days, there are options beyond the bedraggled, wilt prone plants. Some actually do like it hot. 

June 2020

Most years there's a sizable shift in a gardener's attitude from April to May. Relief from cold, acceptance of another year in the garden, followed by numerous trips to the nursery. This year dragged on and on with frosty nights even into mid-May and I (like many) threw up my arms with frustration.

Once calmer weather finally arrived most of us doubled down, finally happy to get on with business. The first week of June was delightful, we must note that it's probably the most fragrant as well. Between magnolia, Japanese honeysuckle and multiflora rose,  there is a sweetness in the air, elevated with warm and humid days. 

My business of 2020 is a return to the dwarf tomato project. Apparently I was a good participant in 2019, deemed responsible enough to receive seed! This may have been a mistake as I proceeded to grow plants like I owned a nursery. Aided by greenhouse space, there was only the possibility of running out of seed. A hundred extra plants later, they were sent off with (hopefully) responsible people and the project has spread.

In my own garden there are 44 tomato plants, double the amount I grew in 2019. About half and a bit more are dwarf, some with glorious rugose leaves on husky plants. A couple are mislabeled or not true with foliage that looks more like 'Emerald Isle' or 'Lucky Cross' hybrids. These will be under scrutiny, I was careful to order seeds of any that don't breed true and save my own with the rest. A fun mystery for summer. Otherwise there are cucumbers, corn, and watermelon. Nothing seems to grow fast enough in June.

My night garden is planted for another year. The brugmansia are too big to keep after this year. It now takes 3 people to lift them (once potted), one is 10 years old or older. It will break my heart to see them die this fall but I will concentrate on cuttings. Even my night blooming cereus is probably too large to keep. Pieces are already rooting, this is a sport named 'Mark Twain', a variety that actually came from his house in Hartford, CT. The flowering time is 10:00 PM rather than 11 or later and the flowers are a bit larger than the species. Fifteen enormous buds will open this week, and so it begins. Below is 'Mark Twain' on the right with the straight Epiphyllum oxypetalum on the left.

Now if the moonvine would just climb the supports they have been provided and stop grabbing everything else. With that I promise not to bitch when they have swallowed the garden in August. 

Pandemic Art Two

This is how some of us have felt during the pandemic, isolated, missing our friends, missing our friend's hugs. This piece is built from an antique clock case, there is an hour glass that doesn't move at the bottom, a clock that has only one hand stuck in one place, and a face stuck in a box. There are also two men stand at the top with a good bit of distance between them. I titled it "Isolation". 

 

At the gallery in Occoquan, we are trying to organize and open the store. There may even be a couple of open days this weekend, with restrictions of course. The pandemic pieces will be there as well as other recent work (other artists have been busy too). The chance to go into shops this weekend will be so extravagant, or so I feel, of course we will be keeping up with CCD guidelines and wiping surfaces, but you will be able to see the art! There is also the option of buying items on our website if everything seems too overwhelming. And let's not forget curbside pickup. 

 

The Themed Garden

My garden book library is very large, held on two oak bookshelves my husband built. Winnowed down many times, there are some I've given away and regretted. One that I no longer own was written by Barbara Damrosch titled the "Theme Garden" published in 1982. Barbara's ideas for themes were simple, the fragrance garden, children's garden, a butterfly garden and moon garden. This last theme was significant in my life as a gardener.

Over the years, the concept of themed gardens has come up from time to time, whether it's a look or a connection to a plant’s botanical or common name, I've mulled over it. Too many landscapes are dull and repetitious, what fun they could be when themed to a place or business. The obvious reason for the lack of these conceptual gardens probably boils down to maintenance and maybe a lack of creativity or knowledge. 

Some obvious examples would be specialized restaurants. An Italian restaurant might have eggplant, basil, tomatoes, rosemary and thyme. Any two or three of these could be arranged with plants of ornament. Silver leafed perennials such as lavender, artemisia, or dusty miller could signify the Mediterranean region, a nod to their geographical region. A Mexican restaurant could have spiky leafed plants like yucca or hardy cactus and succulents. Hot pepper plants, particularly the small fruiting, multi-colored types could be planted with cilantro and Mexican sunflowers for their summer and fall flowers. If an entire garden is impossible, a container will do.

The outside of a veterinary office might have catmint and horehound (supposedly a remedy for the bite of a mad dog). Put catnip in raised containers, to avoid the occasional dog urinating yet not decreasing the effect on furry felines. There's also cattails and cat thyme or teucrium. If appropriate, turtlehead or chelone and black snakeroot or Actaea racemosa, both are native to Virginia. A brochure to explain the plantings might be helpful if staff are too busy to explain their theme to visitors.

The dentist's office is not impervious, toothwort or Cardimine diphylla is a locally abundant wildflower with underground bulbs that look like a tooth. Botanically words like crenata or serrata mean rounded teeth or toothed. Attached as an epithet you find them in holly and hydrangea (serrata). One of my favorite plants is the toothache plant or Acmella oleracea. A native of the Caribbean, when leaves are chewed they numb the mouth, bitter at first taste finishing with a lemon like twist. In some regions it is also known as the sore throat plant.

The bank's landscape can be home to the native groundcover Chrysogonum virginianum, which goes by the common name of green and gold. Add aurinia or basket of gold and Achillea 'Coronation Gold' to brighten the landscape and draw attention to something we tend to ignore. There is also Ajania pacifica or silver and gold, a chrysanthemum relative that flowers in the middle of November. Lost on just about everyone that goes to the bank, but bringing a smile to the horticulturist. 

Lately I have imagined a moon garden at the drive-in theatre. Placed near the concession stand, a place for socially distanced tours during intermission. The fragrance would lure you in, a fun place for the family to learn about night flowers and pollination. Bring a flashlight.

Pandemic Art

Creativity can ooze out of an artist during tough times, which is not exactly what happened here, I was invited to join a group that would exchange pandemic art and I said yes. Keeping with wands, specifically wands that are meant to ward off the bad mojo, I made two. 

Both are partially held in with magnets, this second one has supports that it slides onto as well.

Once detached the beads and medals swing around and make pleasing anti-pandemic vibrations. A little chant might help - "Avoid this house, no one shall be sick with this pandemic".   

I am currently working on a much larger piece which is titled "Isolation" and will reveal that one soon.

Available here with free shipping. 

Take care!

 

May 17

When the numerous frosts of May were finally finished, the gardeners leapt into action, it was finally time to get serious. Some of us planted too soon, happily I was not one of them, I was warned at the end of April that May 10th would bring a low of thirty degrees. Whatever weather app. my source was using was darn good. So here we are on May 17th, the coast looks clear, my tomatoes are in, the tenders are going in and I'm planting until it's too dark to see, life is good!

This morning I took a look around, the wonderful Sunday morning walk about. With the super mild winter and my  "believe in averages"  bias, I suspected that we might have a long cool spring and planted lettuce seed on March 5. The results have been terrific, especially after a lot of homework on new varieties, as noted in a previous blog. Many of these are miniature head types that mature quickly. Here are Romaine 'Truchas' (the red one) with R. 'Dragoon'. 

Mr. guinea fowl has discovered my lettuce beds (which are all raised) and munches away, eating only green leafed varieties and ignoring any red or bronze leaf types, an interesting tidbit, in case you have chickens or guineas.

My gardens did not suffer any frost damage, although I waited until this week to plant tomatoes, peppers, and tender annuals. At Oak Hill we have some lilies that will not flower and damage to numerous shrubs with their soft new growth. Japanese maples and hollies were hard hit.

Peonies don't mind a bit of cold, and mine are glorious as usual. Here are some other photographs from my garden with notes.

Peony 'Scarlet O Hara' is a winner, super tough, has outlasted most of my others despite amsonia encroachment. 

Amsonia tabernaemontana with it's soft blue flower which are gorgeous with peonies.

In that mix I have a reseeding aquilegia that is perfect here. I think the seed came from my grandmother and in isolation it will remain true, growing just tall enough to make an impressive display above peony blooms. 

Beside lilies for later, I also have the hardy bulb Nectaroscordum siculum or Mediterranean bells. 

And my bearded iris are here, many have disappeared, viola pressure or root rot. The survivor is 'Immortality', a rebloomer in fall as well. I love tight macro shots of bearded iris beards.

A new purchase is for experimentation, Nepeta subsessillis 'Blue Prelude' (the subsessil means there is no petiole, the flower is directly connected to the stem) is supposed to get three feet high and wide. I'm keeping an eye on its spread, a good gardener is not afraid of getting rid of thugs.

The mild winter was kind to Salvia greggii 'Burgundy Seduction', this plant will often regrow from almost ground level and usually takes awhile to be beautiful again, but not this year. Hummingbirds love it.

In the wild garden I have Silphium terebinthinaceum or Prairie Rosinweed. This one will be big, flowers can be nine feet tall and the leaves are impressive, now and in fall when they are one of the last to succumb to freezing temperatures. In fall the leaves turn a dark chocolate brown.

In my shade garden there are some remnants from the plant farm, I often laugh when I see my little tiarella that has never spread. The inside joke when I had the nursery was finding the true Tiarella 'Wherryi' named after Doctor Wherry. Year after year I would proclaim that I had finally found the true tiarella named after the doctor and then the plant would spread and it would be time to search again. This goes back to the eighties (he passed in 1982). The common name is foam flower and most are spreading, groundcovering plants. I am so happy to have this little perennial that I truly believe is the real thing.

I am much more receptive to cut flowers in the house after the lecture I gave on unusual cut flowers several years ago. This weekend was a marathon house cleaning effort and my reward is always a bouquet or two from the garden. It really doesn't take much.

Take care of yourselves.

 

In the Studio

With closed doors at the art gallery in Occoquan, I have continued to work on assemblage pieces, both big and small. A few are for the October show which I am calling "The Dream Show". But in anticipation of opening doors to the public, I have concentrated on some smaller pieces, and creating them with a sense of humor. Several artists are creating "Pandemic Art"  and I have been as well but I'm not quite ready for the reveal. Soon, very soon.

There is also a new Facebook Group, titled "The Occoquan Marketplace" and only vendors from town can list their wares. Some wonderful things have been listed and sales are good, despite the closed shops. I will be putting these on that site and am sharing them here first. 

This first one is a circus scene, much like others I have done in the past. The clown and seal are positioned with magnets and can be switched around.

The title is "Chuckles and his Sidekick".

I  have another piece titled "A Bird in Hand", also a wall hanging, measuring 8 x 3.5". 

So much uncertainty about shops opening and our art gallery is a coop and I feel some artists may be unwilling to "man the store" even if we do open. These are trying times for artists but many are joining the ranks of online sales. There is work underfoot to polish our website and list many more items, another thing that takes a lot of time and effort. Bottom line, it's a good time to reach out to artists if you have had something on your wish list. Free shipping and discounts are abundant.

Both of these wall hanging pieces are $120. with free shipping, so reach out to me if you are interested.