Studiology

And the Beat Goes On...

Spent a lovely morning at Green Spring Gardens, giving a lecture on photography. I was happy to spend time with enthusiastic photographers and wanted to thank all who came. The light outside was just right, overcast, like the sky was one big lightbox. One of my favorite plants was in bloom, the biennial Angelica gigas, and of course I couldn't help but take a few photographs.

There were many containers but one simply filled with pilea. Really stunning and grown to perfection.

Next a trip to Art A La Carte to deliver new artwork. This latest sketch book cover is titled "Music Inspired Her". 

Included is a standard size sketchbook that slides into the space on the back cover. It's a very three dimensional piece, let's just say I'm learning how to use the hacksaw and for this one it worked perfect. 

New Hybrids

There are some new intergeneric hybrids for 2014, plants that are hybridized with two different genera, resulting in something entirely new to the plant world. Crosses like this occur in the animal world, examples include a horse with a donkey equal a Mule, a Zonkey is a cross between a zebra and a donkey and lastly a Liger which is a cross between a lion and tiger. In the world of plants, much (if not all) of this is driven by plant patents and money. So I like to test the newcomers, hopeful that the results produce a better garden plant, not just another flash in the pan.

The first new intergeneric hybrid is Digiplexis, a cross between digitalis or foxglove and Isoplexis canariensis, a plant species that lives on the Canary Islands. On a recent trip to Longwood Gardens I recognized the parent, Isoplexis canariensis, in the conservatory and snapped this photograph.

Here is the resulting cross in my garden, sold as Digiplexis 'Illumination Flame'.

The results are beautiful, the reasoning?, a plant that will flower for several months, hardy to zone 8, bottom line - not hardy for us, treat as an annual. And as an added caveat, the seedlings (rarely do these hybrids produce viable seed), need a period of vernalization or cold treatment, so you have to rely on plants that are grown from a commercial source. There will be more in the Illumination series, more colors for next year and hopefully more available and less expensive than what I've seen. So far I am impressed with digiplexis.

Another new intergeneric cross is Echibeckia 'Summerina'. The name says it all, echinacea with rudbeckia. Research on the internet is deceptive because I see this as a cross between Rudbeckia hirta or the gloriosa daisy, which is annual. The claim is that it will be hardy (sold as a perennial) and flower over a long period. 

Let's just say that I will be surprised if this plant is actually hardy. The lack of information always makes me suspect. 

On a really great note, my Allium 'Millenium' is fabulous. From the onion man, or the allium breeder Mark McDonough. This breeder works very hard to bring us the best of ornamental onion hybridization and this is a real winner. 

The plants are about 20" tall, beautiful in bud and flower and a great plant for July and August. Very worthy!

 

Garden Photography

Green Spring Gardens in Alexandria is one of my favorite places to photograph plants so I'm excited to be giving my first lecture there on flower photography. The presentation will be more than just flowers, I will include composition tips, ideas for recording your garden and lots of creative directions. Registration is required and the class is Saturday, July 26th at 9:30 AM.  The fee is $18. for members of Green Spring, and $20. if you're not. Click this link for registration.

I suggest you bring your camera because you never know when y0u will run into something as lovely as Asclepias viridis. 

The lecture will last an hour and I will bring some printed and framed samples. 

New Art Work Delivered

A new sketch book cover is available, it's named "The Salty Sea". I literally finished it last night and delivered it today with a new Pez dispenser. The sketch book cover is wrapped in a beautiful tapestry fabric.

The newly altered Pez dispenser is hilarious and I titled it "The Working Stiff". His head rotates and the mouth opens and closes. Of course it's also functional. 

The town of Occoquan will be having a lemonade sale with items in all of the stores marked down 20%, including some of my art. The sale is July 19th and 20th, so stop by Art A La Carte for some great art bargains. 

Photogenic Plants in the Garden

Not all plants are photogenic and for me that's a good thing because I tend to buy the ones that are for just that reason. And it gets expensive. 

Here are two that are currently blooming in my garden. Allium flavum is very different because it's yellow (most are purple). Also fragrant in a nice way, not many alliums or onions can say that. Use Allium flavum in the sunny rock garden, it's only 8" tall with exquisite buds. I bought some Christmas ornaments last year just because they reminded me of these flower buds.  

Rusty foxglove is Digitalis ferruginea. A biennial, it takes a few years to get a good stand because you're waiting for seedlings to reach maturity, they flower in their second year. After 4 years I now have lots and I just love it. About 3 feet tall, the flowers have a nice lower lip that's covered in hair, I'm sure to provide a non-skid landing site for visiting pollinators. Bumblebees frequent it the most, but honeybees and lesser bees can be found too. Do not remove the spent flower heads because you need that seed to regenerate plants in order to keep it in your garden. I also find that mulch inhibits germination, don't mulch where you plant biennials, the seeds need light to germinate. 

Digitalis prefers a little shade but not so much that it falls over. I have found that a west exposure or a slightly south eastern exposure is best. Since they are highly poisonous, the deer won't eat them, which can also be said of the allium. In fact allium is the only member of the lily family that deer don't eat. Yay!

The Tomato Hornworm

The garden is in full swing, more lovely every day. I am a big fan of annuals or tender perennials and shrubs, especially those that have night fragrance. Hand in hand with this type of garden are the night moths, swooping and sipping nectar, drawn by the fragrance and food for their young. One of their favorites are the flowering tobacco plants, or nicotiana. It's a source of food for the tomato hornworm larvae and a nectar source for the adult hornworm or sphinx moth. Since the flowering tobacco has been volunteering itself in my raised beds, there is no soil disturbance and the hornworms are able to survive as pupae in the stable soil. We do have tomatoes in the ground, but the tiller turns the soil where they grow, killing any pupae that would normally survive the winter. Bottom line, I have lots and lots of tomato hornworms in various stages of growth and they bother me nary a bit. In fact I'm happy to have them just so I can enjoy the sphinx moth.

For most people and any tomato farmer, the tomato hornworm is a pest. They do have a tremendous appetite, making quick work of tomato plants, the occasional potato and other members of the Solanaceae family. The proper name for this pest is Manduca quinquemaculata, the name means, I chew and have five spots (which are on its belly). There are seven stripes down the sides and some breathing holes that look like black dots in between.

It's not unusual to find a caterpillar with little cocoons on its back. These are non-stinging parasitoid wasps, they lay the eggs on a live hornworm and the young feed, killing the hornworm in a "not so nice" way. 

 A gardener's advice - always leave these paratisized caterpillars because they will release beneficial wasps. 

The real reward after all of this, if they do survive, is the adult Sphinx or hawk moth. The wing span can be five inches and they manuver with amazing agility, seeking nectar as night descends. The whirring of the wings is like a hummingbirds, you always know when they are near. There may be two broods in one summer and it does seem that there are more and more as we move into August and September. Like a hummingbird they are difficult to photograph, add the diminished light and it's almost impossible. 

I'm going to try harder to get some better photographs of the adults because I think my summer garden will be full of them.

The Fourth

Between work days I squeezed in some family time for the fourth of July. Little Miss Felicity, the granddaughter, held her first sparkler. Just one week shy of her third birthday, she is a confident little girl, not shy and comfortable with everyone. I'm teaching her to be a little model, no easy task, asking a two year old to stand still. But I did manage to get some nice photographs.

She slept in my art room (son's previous bedroom), which is full of projects in various stages of completion. Her question one morning was "why only one eye?", prompted from some of my art work. My response "it's a cyclops", a new word for her vocabulary. A word she may always associate with grandma.