Studiology

Publicity

May is considered the biggest month for gardening. It's a month of peonies, iris and clematis, and many other lovely perennials, it's the job I do, just about every day. So you can't imagine my surprise when 2 publications came out with articles about my art . With Elan magazine, the interview was last summer, publication date - unknown. Then came the lovely interview with Tom Neel of "Live an Artful Life", a digital magazine. He and his wife have a gallery in The Plains, Virginia. Both articles can be read  by clicking on the links above.

Humbled and inspired with this recent publicity, a few new assemblage pieces are complete.  Two are shrines, this one titled "A Time Shrine". 

This is titled "A Shrine of Song", the words sing at the top, created with a sense of mystery - I hope.

Lastly a Pez dispenser, not just your ordinary Dracula but Nosferatu, the original was a raccoon Pez dispenser. A few attempts at this character have been disappointing. Head too pointy, ears not right. This time all parts came together in a way that I had intended. It's tricky with epoxy clay. 

All can be found at Art A La Carte in Occoquan, as well as a hard copy of the Elan magazine article. 

Glad Happiness

For decades and generations of gardeners, the gladiolus have been largely ignored. More popular with florists, the large, cut flower sprays are inexpensive, primarily used in funeral arrangements. Sadly they are often called funeral flowers, not a pleasant moniker. 

But that may be changing! Several thoughts come to mind when I think of their recent popularity. The bulbs (technically corms) are inexpensive. Our gardening styles have changed, we trend towards looser, more free flowing gardens. Recent hybrids are glorious in their color blends and quite a few are hardy in our zone. And lastly, it may be just another "what's old is new again". 

For a minimum of 15 years I have grown Gladilus dalenii 'Boone'. Very hardy, the petals are a soft apricot with a hint of yellow on the lower petals and small orange stripes. Flowering in late June and early July, it's beautiful with matching daylilies. Discovered in Boone, NC. It was found at an old homesite by their agricultural extension agent, Jeff Owen. Like so many old fashioned flowers, these were pass along plants, easily done when the gift was little more than a dormant bulb, shared from gardener to gardener.

Last fall I decided to try another hardy glad, this one Gladiolus communis var. byzantinus 'Cruentas' (often called Gladiolus byzantinus). There was much made about buying the right one, a paler flowering counterpart is not nearly as beautiful. My small box arrived, I say small because the price tag was big. Having never grown this species, I knew only to expect purplish, gladiolus-like flowers. To my delight they began flowering in May, and I had placed them with Salvia 'Madeline', Amsonia tabernaemontana, and nepeta. Brilliant! The flowers are a glorious shade of rose-purple. Striking in their intensity, perfect spikes in my mix of blues and purples. 

I was so stoked, that 5 more bags of gladiolus await my planting. These are mixed hybrids of questionable hardiness, they will join the rows of others that have wintered over, my hopes high that they may too. 

A quick search on the internet finds most purveyors of glads sold out. Possibly due to the time of year, or might it be a trend? Are people glad happy?

New Things

I drove through parts of the Shenandoah National Park yesterday. While it was raining down here, it was warm and sunny up there. The entire cloud bank was below, the park elevation rising well above. Many wondrous plants grow there and my eye is always trying to take in the herbaceous plants that occupy the space between the road and the forest. I look for changes in plant communities, as they alter with altitude and habitat. A new plant caught my attention, the truck halts, caution lights on, I MUST see.   As it turns out this "new to me" plant is semi-parasitic, hosted by the roots of nearby grasses. Commonly known as Canadian lousewort or wood betony, botanical it's Pedicularis canadensis. 

Not too far away was another parasitic plant. It's host are the roots of oak trees, it's common name is squaw root or bear corn, the latter because bear will feed on it as they wake up from hibernation. 

This last native has been growing here on the farm. I noticed it several years ago, the unusual orchid leaf is unmistakable. This year I cleared the spot and waited. Four flower stalks grew and we have the putty root orchid or Aplectrum hyemale.

The common name comes from the sticky paste that comes out of the bulblike root, it can mend pottery! Considered a common orchid, this farm is relatively poor when it comes to native plants. I can absolutely say that the reason is logging. In the late 70's, with the death of my father-in-law, the wooded tracts were logged, done badly and greedily. Since I walk the farm with great regularity, I know where wildlife and wildflowers are more abundant. There is an area with two high ridges and a creek between, and this is where I find the largest concentration of both plant and animal life. There is a honeybee tree, various occupied tree holes, turkeys, deer (of course), box turtles, and once I found four baby foxes living in a hollow tree trunk. 

As I've watched the local landscape turn into houses, I can't help but think of how many such microcosms of life have been obliterated. The last farm preceding ours (East on Route 50) is about to be flattened. The procedure is usually quick, a forest becomes a leveled muddy landscape in a matter of days. I'm in anguish over this next leveling as it's a very large tract of deciduous and evergreen trees. There is no doubt that it holds a wealth of wildlife since most of the local fauna have escaped to that tract to run from local construction. I feel like I'm the only one that wants to run in and save every turtle, possum, raccoon, etc... The poor animals won't be seen. They hide well. In the meantime most of them will be obliterated. I have a farm, I have great hope that some will make it here. I want this land to be preserved. It's my ultimate desire. 

 

Making Whoopee

At the end of January I found a dead coyote on the farm. Shot in the heart, it fell where it died. It's remained a mystery as to who killed it or why. Located in the middle of the farm at the edge of some woods,  I would visit and photograph the remains a few times a week. Vultures came but seemed only slightly interested. The real breakdown came once the weather had warmed and carrion beetles arrived. Not only was fur and hide finally disappearing but there was a lot of action as the carrion beetles spent day and night mating on the carcass. My logical conclusion was that this giant meal (for a little bug), would provide the food for their young and this was the perfect time to procreate.

So last week as I was tending my garden, I noticed a plethora of aphids on spirea, something that seems to be a chronic problem, but one I ignore because nature takes care of it. Low and behold, there were lots and lots of ladybugs (or lady beetles, as some say), and once again they were mating. 

The instinctive need to feed their young while food is available, no doubt.  The larval form of ladybugs is actually the real aphid eater, even coined as aphid lions, well known for their ability to gobble them up.

The availability of food, especially when it's abundant, instinctively leads to sex for the sake of food for the babies . Once my mind grasp this simple concept, it seemed only rationale to follow it to spring when so many babies are born and food is more plentiful. 

My biggest chuckle comes from the thought of prehistoric man, and woman. They kill a woolly mammoth, or some such giant beast, and find it's  time to "make whoopee"! It's only natural.