Even Fewer Blooms Day

 

Black Cotton Flower (Gossypium herbaceum 'Nigra'), watercolor, 12" x 9".

Today the 15th is garden bloggers Bloom Day, hosted by Carol Michel's "May Dreams Garden.' This month I have even fewer flowers than in August. While the drought continued the deer managed to eat further and further into my plantings, stripping my hydrangeas and anything edible. A couple of thunderstorms finally brought us a good drenching at the beginning of the month, and now everything seems to be growing once again. But, with the plants and buds gone, very little is left to bloom. So, instead, I'm headlining my post with some blooms in a painting. I painted this little watercolor last week from photos taken last year--one of the black cotton plants I like to grow from seed in pots on my deck.

The flowers of the cotton plant hide under the foliage, so it's easy to miss their extraordinary beauty: the exquisite veining of the petals, and the dragon-like dark bracts that will enclose the boll after the flower fades. Here's a look at the blossom from above (taken last year).

 

View of black cotton flower from above.

 

Here are a few more blooms for today--my hanging baskets were out of the deer's reach, but they didn't exactly fill out as much as I would have liked. Trying to keep these going through the drought, my water bill went through the roof last month!

 

One hanging basket on porch.

Second hanging basket on porch.

Out in the yard there are a few flowers that have been spared by the deer, but these aren't making much of a display. My Viburnum 'Brandywine' is displaying its lovely berries turning pink--later on they will turn dark blue.

Viburnum 'Brandywine'

'Texas red' Salvia

The 'Texas red' Salvia I planted this year is just starting to bloom--you can see the deer ate the top bud. Rather unusual, I've never seen deer go after any members of the Salvia family before this year. My Agastache 'Blue Boa' is one they didn't touch--will definitely plant more next year.

 

Agastache 'Blue Boa'

 

Inside my enclosed veggie patch the eggplants are still flowering, along with Marigolds, Roma tomatoes and Calendula 'Neon.' I have one small pumpkin of 'Galeux d'Eysines' growing, which I don't think will get much bigger, now that it's starting to show the characteristic "peanuts" that indicate sugar deposits.

 

Eggplant flower

French Marigolds.

Calendula 'Neon'

'Galeux d'Eysines' pumpkin

The Jerusalem artichokes in a grow-bag became enormously tall this year: the tallest flower stalk is probably nine feet tall. I have yet to harvest these, let's hope the rhizomes will be as impressive as the flowers. Whereas my fingerling potatoes, in a matching grow-bag, didn't amount to much--just enough for a couple of meals.

Jerusalem artichoke flower stalks.

 

The three Caryopteris 'Longwood Blue' shrubs I had died off last winter, only one plant put out a few shoots, but some volunteer seedlings have started to grow to replace them--I have no idea if these come true from seed, but the new plants seem to be similar, though not as tall.

 

Seedlings of Caryopteris 'Longwood Blue'

Russian sage

I have two of varieties of Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia) flanking each side of this group of arbor vitae: one is the ordinary genus, but I think this one is a dwarf variety which has turned out to be much taller than I'd expected.

 

Mushrooms in flower beds.

 

This morning I found some mushrooms growing in my weedy flower beds--maybe the pleated ink-cap?--first mushrooms I've seen in this entire, very dry year. The day before I had noticed something strange growing in one my houseplant pots inside, and upon closer examination found three mushrooms growing in there too!

 

Mushrooms growing in houseplant pot.

 

Looking on-line to try to guess what variety they might be, it's likely these are Leucoprinus birnbaumii, AKA "flowerpot parasol." There's always so much to learn from one's garden, I love having my own laboratory!

Carolina Silverbell Tree

Carolina Silverbell (Halesia carolina), watercolor, 18" x 14."

The first post of 2019 is my finished painting of the Carolina Silverbell Tree (Halesia carolina). The painting was actually finished in early fall of last year, when the seed pods began to ripen. It was then that I was able to finally finish painting the last pod on the lower left, but I was busy with so many other things that I had forgotten to post it. The painting now shows the complete sequence from the flowers and emerging leaves of early spring, through the development and final ripening of the seed pods in the fall.

I'm hoping that a few of the seeds will turn out to be viable and germinate this coming spring. It would be wonderful to have a few seedlings of this lovely and unusual native tree to share with family and friends. Happy New Year!

Yellow Fringed Orchid and Pollinator

Blinded by Pollinia - Yellow Fringed Orchid (Platanthera ciliaris) and Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus philenor), watercolor, 17.5" x 13.5".

Today I'm interrupting my Sperry Chalet artist-in-residence postings to show you one of my latest art works. This painting was created as my entry to an exhibition that the Botanic Artist Society of the National Capital Region (BASNCR), of which I'm a member and officer, is putting on, "Natural Attraction: Virginia Plants and Their Pollinators." The show will be at the Athenaeum in Alexandria, VA from April 6 through May 14, 2017.

I'm really pleased that my painting was selected for the show (it is a juried show). I couldn't have done this painting without the inspiration of Jim Fowler's fabulous photos in his blog, capturing this unique instant as the Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus philenor) is visiting the orchid flowers.

I had hoped to see the pollinator of the purple fringed orchids when I was studying the small population found on Skyline Drive (Shenandoah National Park) a few years ago, but I didn't see any during the times when I was doing my field sketches. So hats off to Jim, for his extraordinary combination of luck and patience in capturing this elusive occurrence.

The butterfly is attracted by the nectar found in the long thin spur behind each flower. As the insect puts its head near the opening of the spur to insert its proboscis, it comes in contact with the pollen sacs (pollinia) near the openings. The pollinia then attach to the insect's eyes by means of a sticky thread called the viscidium.

As the butterfly visits the flowers, a number of pollinia are collected and later deposited on other flowers where they can fertilize the style, which is also near the opening of the spur. The butterfly can become disoriented when it has a lot of pollinia stuck to its eyes, therefore my title, a takeoff on the song "Blinded by the Light."

Painting on the Chazz

Evening on the Chazz, watercolor, 10" x 14".

It was pouring when we woke the next morning. Grateful for the opportunity to give our sore muscles a rest, we hung around our cozy cabin reading books. Later we drove down to Weeki Wachee to verify that the boat rental concession at the state park was still in operation, and stopped at the public library to check our Emails.

It started to clear up in the late afternoon and by the time we got back to our cabin, a hazy sun was trying to emerge from the clouds. I walked down to the river with my watercolor kit and set up on a bench towards the end of the strip of boardwalk. From here I could look over Chassahowitzka Spring towards the narrowing channel to the Seven Sisters. With the sun setting behind me, the colors were subdued--lovely grays and silver, with a touch of gold.

It took a while to decide what to focus on--the reflections of a few bald cypress trunks and one tree leaning over the channel seemed the most appealing. I included the large cypress next to me to balance out the opposite shore. I had completed most of the trees and land mass as the evening shadows deepened, but had not started yet on the water--that would have to be worked wet-on-wet all in one pass and there was not enough time today. Insects were starting to come out and buzz around me (I'm a mosquito magnet); it would be smart to get back to the cabin before I was attacked.

I'd been painting for a couple of hours and Herb had not come down to the river to look for me... how odd. Back at the cabin he remarked that he had gone to the river to look for me, but that I had "vanished into thin air." With a small group of people sitting by a fire pit near the boathouse, he had not seen me at the end of the boardwalk in the gathering dusk.

I finished the water and the rest of the painting two days later, relying on memory. I took some artistic license by adding a few blue-greens and golds to the water that weren't actually there, but give the painting a little more punch.