Studiology

Plant Porn

Okay, to be more specific - Lily Porn. And just when you needed it, right? 

I was working on a presentation and came across some old scanned slides of lilies. I'm sharing them, for no other reason than to cheer up your day after such a long, dreary, cold spell. Spring is 49 days away, another nice thought. Some of these are lily combinations, almost all are from the plant farm, the days that I used to put together potential garden combinations while plants were still in their pots. 

This first is one of the trumpet lilies, specifically Lilium 'Africa Queen' with Eleutherococcus sieboldianus 'Variegatus' or Beautybriar shrub. Since this group of lilies tends to produce very heavy floral heads, it's always a good idea to grow them through a shrub. As long as the shrub is relatively sparse or low, it becomes the perfect support for the lily stem, yet allows enough light to reach the leaves and feed the bulb.

This next grouping is with Lilium 'Regale', another trumpet type. When paired with gaura and Calamagrostis 'Karl Foerster', it's just splendid!

One of my very favorite combinations was always the earlier orange flowering Asiatic lilies with Allium sphaerocephalon or the drumstick allium (onion). This little allium is also nice with daylilies, especially those that have a purple eye. What one doesn't realize, is the color of the lily stamens match the color of the little onion's flowers. Unlike the Oriental lilies, the stamens are usually not removed from Asiatics, I'm sure they might stain, but they certainly don't mess up the flower petals in the garden.

I have mentioned Lilium L.A. 'Royal Sunset' before. All of the L.A. hybrids are a cross between Lilium longiflorum or the Easter lily with Lilium asiatics, the hybrid swarm. They tend to inherit the petal substance from Easter lilies and occasionally the fragrance. Bloom time is perfect for pairing perennials, here it's with Agastache 'Tutti-Frutii' and a yellow flowering L.A. lily.

A truly exotic lily, this Asian species (possibly hybrid) grows in the garden at the Brandywine River Museum. I believe it might be a hybrid of Richard Lighty's, a person that has done plant exploration for Longwood Gardens. Lilium tsingtauense is suitable for breeding with the martagon lilies and I believe this might be one of his crosses. He had many in his garden, many lovely hybrids. 

This rare beauty is Lilium 'Corsage'. A completely sterile hybrid that does't produce pollen. It once grew in the gardens at Chanticleer, but disappeared many years ago, maybe from a hungry vole. A rare lily, propagated by splitting the bulb into individual scales and planting. I notice that there seem to be several suppliers on the internet, although one talks about the seed pods, which means they don't have the real L. 'Corsage'. Old House Gardens was trying to dig some of Chanticleer's lily to propagate, unfortunately it never happened and they don't list it. 

And I finish with another photograph of Lilium 'African Queen' with Crocosmia 'Lucifer' at Longwood Gardens. 

 

If you're in the mood for more plant porn, I will be giving a lecture at Merrifield Gardens, the Gainesville location, tomorrow, Saturday the 1st of February. My lecture is on plant design, specifically the use of mass. Time is 10:00 AM and it's free. 

Cards for Lorton

I've been making cards to drop off at the Lorton Workhouse and I see that my reading the "Game of Thrones" series has influenced me with this new style and direction. The colors, the elements, I'm just loving the results. These are fabric with stamping, embossing and sewing. Some of the embossing powders are metallics, so depending on the angle, you can get a better view of the finish and glitter. They will be in the gift shop at the Lorton Workhouse next week.

Enter the Snow Tunnel

We are experiencing a real zone 7a winter with temperatures sinking to zero. Does that worry you, did you dig your dahlias? How about those cannas? Fret, fret and more fret, so it so often goes for the gardener. I'm happy to say that (at the last minute) I did get my dahlias and cannas up. My colocasia and alocasia too. It's always said that a winter like this makes spring so much better. It also makes for some great days reading the garden catalogs. Johnny's Selected Seeds just arrived and I have bookmarked several pages. Just a little reminder, they are the sole source for the Benary Giant Zinnia seeds. Another great source for summer plants is Brent and Becky's Bulbs. One thing I really like about ordering from them is the "pay when shipped" option. Since I have lost most of my tuberoses (things grew too tall over them), I ordered the single flowering variety from Brent and Becky, which is an item that always sells out. 

But really the point of all of this is to think spring and get out of this horrible cold spell with a little color. It's time to review the pictures you took of your garden during the 2013 year and make positive changes. I have a few suggestions, if you don't mind? 

Enter the snow tunnel into summer...

 

This is a picture of my raised beds taken August 9th, 2013. 

Because it's a raised garden, I plant short sunflowers. The Benary zinnias are perfect at this raised height, as are the acidanthera and tuberoses. Each year is experimental with salvias. The entire garden is annual, which makes me very happy because I can spend this time planning it, making it a little different from year to year. 

I am a big believer in dark foliage. Every garden is better with a little black or dark purple foliage, in  the most simple way dark foliage adds dimension. Plant something yellow leafed next to it and oh my!  I plant a garden with all black foliage every year, but for 2014 I want to add more black into my raised beds. The best option will be one of the black alocasias. Like Alocasia 'Black Magic' in this summer garden at Green Spring.

One of my favorite perennial plants for dark foliage is Euphorbia 'Blackbird'. Look at this amazing combination with Chrysanthemum 'Sheffield', Eucalyptus 'Silver Dollar', Euphorbia 'Diamond Frost' and Euphorbia 'Blackbird'.

Not only does the euphorbia work so well, but the eucalyptus with the chrysanthemum is fabulous. Note to self, do this again. 

But don't just review your own garden pictures, look at what you also took pictures of as you visited other gardens. These are things that stopped and made you ponder, perhaps an option for your own space? Like this fabulous layout at Chanticleer...

The grass is sporobolus with clusters of emilia and Verbena bonariensis. So simple, so cool. The emilia is easy from seed, sadly not available from any local nurseries. A source for seed is The Shop at Monticello, and I highly recommend emilia or tassel flower, it's a flowering powerhouse for the summer (and Thomas Jefferson agreed). 

So I'm thinking green flowering gladiolus with black leafed alocasia. Or the ornamental pepper 'Black Pearl' with purple flowering angelonia. There's also a new spilanthes or Jamaican toothache plant with all yellow tops, I might try it with bronze fennel, or a dark leafed basil. Yes, an edible grouping, even better. 

 

"Quest for the Best"

I'm giving a great presentation at Green Spring Gardens on the plant explorers, January 26th at 1:30. The time frame I cover is 1637-1930 with a few comments on current exploration. The book "A Reunion of Trees" by Stephen Spongberg was my first source of inspiration, published by Harvard University Press. Mr. Spongberg was a member of the Sino-American Botanical Expedition, a trip (1980) that brought a group of American explorers to some of the same locations where plant collecting had taken place many, many years prior. The financial support for this trip (and many others) was from Harvard University and the Arnold Arboretum which became the final destination for most of the newly discovered trees, shrubs and perennials. 

The connections between various businesses and countries is very convoluted and highly intriguing.The most successful component of the time was the Wardian Case, a simple concept, basically an oversized terrarium that brought back plants in a humid environment and kept them alive as they were strapped onto ship decks. 

It was the Wardian Case that brought tea plants to India from China, the rubber tree from Brazil to Malaya (eventually Sri Lanka) and began the orchid craze of Victorian times. 

Much of what I share is about the various attempts to take tea out of China and Japan. There will be glorious photographs, thanks to Harvard University who payed for the camera equipment carried by Ernest Henry Wilson in 1907 and allows free access to them. 

 

People's Choice

Despite the weather this past second Saturday, the Lorton Workhouse was hopping. The reason (I think) was people visiting the international "Drink This" show in the ceramics building. Held once a year, the beautiful tea cups are astonishing and for sale. It's almost always a sell out. 

Our monthly associates show in building 9 was newly revamped and ready for the Saturday night show. We ask visitors to vote for their favorite pieces, which is fun for them and always a great boost for the chosen artists. 

One of my pieces was chosen for second place, actually a tie with another. This one is titled "Dulcimer" and it was part of a project with about 20 artists. We had to include 5 objects in our work. The artists included painters, pastel artists, pencil, even fiber (fabric). The 5 objects were: a glass vessel, a book, ribbon, twig ball and the dulcimer. I used a stone pavilion in Aiken, South Carolina to set it all up. The final piece was printed on Lutrador, which is a spunbound interface material. The final piece of art is framed, without glass again, so it's up close and personal. 

Thanks all that came out on Saturday and voted!
 

Getting By in Dreary January

We've been cold, wet and cloudy, it's been a very dreary January. Remarkably my miniature gardens in troughs outside look fantastic. Zero degrees didn't kill them, amazing! So I decided I needed a pick me up for inside. Off to the nursery to get miniature tropical plants and make 2 terrariums. If you are inclined to killing your indoor plants, terrariums might be the thing for you. Especially now when there are so many new varieties of slow growing, miniature plants. The key is to have the right plants for your light and then to seal the top so it waters itself. Now a south window will be a bit much, but east or even north work fine, your little glass vessel doesn't become a humid oven when the sun is out.

Little spikemosses, miniature peperomia and the new Syngonium 'Pixie' are great starters, especially for an east exposure. As a part time employee at Merrifield Gardens, I like to use their terrarium soil, it's dark (no perlite) and not too rich, which helps keep your miniature plants miniature. The glass container can have a top, or you can just stretch plastic wrap over the opening. With a little water to get them started (and I mean a little water), you can watch the whole thing  get all misty inside, which is so cool in January when the world seems so dry and dead.

The terrarium craze has been going on for awhile, just like the miniature gardens for outdoors. What's so great is that it brings a world of miniature ornaments. Little tables and chairs, miniature bird houses, even weather vanes become the perfect accessory. I was given a box of miniature Japanese bridges and huts, apparently used for bonsai, but they are perfect for terrariums. When your glass mists up, just rub off a part of the glass so you can look inside and imagine your in a tropical rain forest. Maybe the best part of all, you don't have to water it. So if you do decide to venture off to some warm, tropical isle, all is good at home. 

13 for 2013

I really enjoyed the year 2013. I traveled, saw family I hadn't seen in years, generally felt like I was in the right place at the right time. My good camera records those important moments and my smart phone goes along for the ride. I use my Iphone for those little moments, there is no expectation for a great, or even good picture. No filters, no attempts to process them into anything other than a  record of that moment on that day.

Julieanne Kost spoke at the Nature Expo in November and said that she always made a show at the end of the year, choosing a photograph from each month. So I decided to do the same, more an emotional decisions with my selections, certainly not any great photographs, but certainly times I would gladly relive or want them to last longer. My final number was 13 for 2013, two for the month of March because it was so wonderful. 

January - the lettuce in the cold frames at Oak Hill

February - my trip to New Orleans and sitting at the table, next to the table where Michael DeMeng blew out his birthday candles.

March - my trip to Mexico where I drank Sangria and went to Tolantongo

 

April -grandaughter Felicity learning to drive the tractor (the clutch is a long way away!)

May - ahh, beautiful May at Oak Hill

June - a trip to Harrisville, West Virginia to Berdine's Five and Dime. My mother and 5 sisters were born in Harrisville and I grew up visiting Berdine's.

July - the daily walk to the pond at home with Duke - yep, that's mud

August - Becky and Felicity visit

September - some days were gorgeous, especially the clouds as they whisked by.

October - one of the 26 monarchs I saw in 2013

November - this can be a great month in Virginia

December - my big show at Lorton and the first ever 12 x 12 successful plaster transfer.

Might I suggest that you consider doing the same. If we did this for every year, my what a story we would weave!

Journaling

I mentioned in an earlier post that I was taking an on-line journaling class with Juliana Coles. The class is titled "The Book of the Night", which appealed to me. Basically a book with a dark or black foundation, instead of white. I have never done any journaling before, at least not this kind of expressive, artistic type. I struggled at first, not messy enough or raw enough or gritty enough. She doesn't call it Extreme Visual Journaling for nothin. Now I am more than half way through and finding that it's just so wonderful. So wonderful in fact that it's altered my dreams. Fewer of those dreams with angst and fear of loosing things to confidence and happy outcomes. Of course I never expected that and am thrilled to have this side effect of journaling.

Part of the homework is to make layered pages with various techniques, usually with a thought in your mind, maybe something that nags at you and needs resolved. You write down words or even write entire letters (along with the layers) and then cover them up with paint that gets moved around. The end result is a page that speaks to you, has hidden forms, hidden faces, and it needs your interpretation. In the practice I have had to re-ignite my imagination, learn to see shapes for what they are. 

So here's a page that is still in the reconciliation mode. It's an odd one, I found little faces, an unusual body form, a bird with a skull inside - you know, the normal assortment of hidden forms.

The latest one was a haunted house where you could put your past, along with the tormented souls in your mind and they would live happily ever after. I call it The Towers.

Complete with bats in the belfry, a stair case that takes you to the sea, a nice place for the bad things in your past to live.

The Judge

Although not the first time I have done this, my judging of a photography show today was fun and challenging. The last time I judged photography was for the Prince William County Fair, it was low key, none of the participants were there, lots of fun. This was different. Today I worked with Mark Saylor (a fellow judge and photographer) to pick one first place winner, out of 135 submissions. All high school students, which (by the way) were allowed to watch while we made our selections. Whew!

The good news..... we agreed. The competition was called "Photo Smash", put on by The Center for the Arts. It was really a 2 part art show and challenge. Downstairs, in the gallery, there are various pieces of art, some photography but more drawing and painting work. All high school students. The work is great, creative and inspirational. Upstairs we held the photography judging with a projector and computer. 

The winner of the Photo Smash, is Rose Curiel and she titled it "Call it Rachel", which she also had framed in the lower gallery. A lovely work with perfect light and a great, creative composition. She is clearly a budding future photography with lots of talent. 

I did photograph a couple of other pieces that I thought were exceptional. This one is a charcoal drawing by Hope Martin, titled "Emily". 

This piece is by Luke Kim, computer graphics, rich in content, just lovely.

The stippling was from a leafed out tree.

I suggest that you see the show if you're in Manassas. The gallery art will hang until January 29th and you can click on this link to learn more.