Spring Walk at Blandy Farm

Carolina Silverbell tree (Halesia carolina var. 'monticola').

 

It was a gorgeous spring afternoon and I was still aching from the previous day's exertions in my garden so I decided to take the afternoon off to visit the Virginia State Arboretum, and check out what was blooming. The Arboretum, AKA Blandy Farm in these parts, has so many different and lovely plantings, it was hard to choose where to start. I had in mind a few trees I wanted to check, like the Buckeye trees in the back forty whose seed I had collected and sprouted in my home garden.

The dogwood allee.

But first I walked toward the main house and turned left into the dogwood allee--this view would make a lovely plein air watercolor, if I could get to it before the flowers fade. This afternoon I just wanted to look and photograph. As I walked down the path, a gorgeous red-flowered tree caught my eye.

Red Buckeye (Aesculus pavia var. 'splendens')

Close-up of flowers from A. pavia 'splendens'

I was fairly certain that it was a Red Buckeye tree, yet the flowers were so profuse I had to check out the identifying tag--yes, it was labeled Aesculus pavia splendens, a variety of Red Buckeye with very dense panicles of bright scarlet flowers. I looked around to see if there were others of the same variety, but there was only one other tree, a much older specimen with less showy flowers. This one had no visible tag, but I presume the older tree was the more common A. pavia.

Turning off towards the hillside gardens I came across a lovely iris garden filled with colorful dwarf iris varieties. These below are two of them.

Dwarf iris

Dwarf iris

A little farther down the hillside I found the native woodland trail which I had never explored before, and turned in. This trail was shaded and under the tree canopy were some Virginia Bluebell (Mertensia virginica) plants setting seed, lots of native violets both blue and white, woodland phlox (Phlox divaricata) and toadshade (Trillium sessile). One of the many Blandy Farm volunteers was working up a sweat pulling undesirable plants by the side of the trail.

Seed pods of Virginia Bluebells with native phlox and toad shade

Further on there was an old stone chimney, presumably the remains of what was once an old house on the property, with Herb Robert (Geranium robertianum) growing in its cracks. I've always been partial to romantic ruins, and found this very appealing.

 

Herb Robert growing in the cracks of an old stone chimney.

It wasn't until almost at the end of the trail that I spied a huge tree covered with lovely white bells and recognized it as a Carolina Silverbell tree (Halesia tetraptera var. monticola)--very similar to the tree I have in my garden, except that mine is not the var. "monticola.' In fact, there were not one but two enormous trees! I had no idea the Carolina Silverbell trees could get that big, and wondered how long ago they had been planted. Unfortunately Blandy's website doesn't say when, but it does mention that both are state champion trees, which means they are the largest specimens of this species in the entire state.

Carolina Silverbell tree (Halesia tetraptera var. monticola)

Close-up of the Carolina Silverbell flowers

Under the shade of these beautiful trees was another interesting shrub: Carolina allspice (Calycanthus floridus), whose flowers have the fragrance of the allspice in its common name.

Carolina allspice (Calycanthus floridus)

I finished my round walking through the courtyard of the mansion to see what was blooming there. Several varieties of Viburnums such as V. carlesii and V. burkwoodii with their wonderful perfume adorned the corners, but my most interesting find was a large clump of Poet's Laurel (Danae racemosa) growing underneath one of the Viburnums and full of desiccated berries. I've been wanting to grow this plant in my garden and it's hard to find as well as quite expensive, so I collected some of the berries to try to sprout at home. 

Once my exploration of the main garden was complete it was time to drive out to the Buckeye grove on the back of the property. The Buckeyes were all in bloom. I was particularly interested in seeing what the Aesculus x mutabilis flowers looked like, since that was the tree whose seeds I'd collected and sprouted. I expect my seedlings will be only one of the hybrid's parents, either the red A. pavia or A. sylvatica, the Painted Buckeye. Time will tell which when my seedlings eventually bloom.

Flowers of Aeasculus x mutabilis

The flowers of A. x mutabilis turned out to be a pale, greenish yellow with touches of orange-red. I took photos and planned a return the very next day to paint them from life. There were several trees of this hybrid variety in the grove, a small specimen of A. pavia ' splendens' and another variety A. glabra, the Ohio Buckeye, whose flowers are very similar, although these hadn't opened yet.

Finishing my round I stopped to check out the Stewartias and Franklinias before heading back to my car. The first leaves of the Franklinias were just starting to unfold. The Stewartias had leafed out but no buds were showing--I'll have to keep an eye out since I want to admire them in full bloom.

April Showers

The back yard in April.

 

As the garden resurrects with much-awaited April showers, the seasonal sequence of flowers continues to unfold: the Forsythia, daffodils, narcissus and other early spring bulbs, then as those are beginning to fade, the flowering trees start to display their loveliness. This week the Redbud (Cercis canadense) in my back yard has unfurled its rosy boughs and the plump buds of the double flowering quince are opening.

 

Double flowering quince

I still have the deer barriers up, so the quince can't be admired as it should be, but I don't want to take any chances until there's enough other vegetation for the deer to browse--otherwise they will pounce on my gourmet "salad bar" in favor of the more ordinary grub found in the woods.

The Kwanzan cherry tree in front has yet to fully open, only a few blossoms have opened so far, while the white dogwood, which hardly bloomed last year, is loaded with blossoms opening much earlier than usual. Last year the cherry bloomed in the first week in April, but then came two hard frosts that blighted many a tender shoot.

 

Front yard

Earlier this spring the thermometer dropped alarmingly low for two nights, just as my beautiful yellow Magnolia 'Butterflies,' whose buds had already shed their fuzzy winter coats, were starting to open. The flowers were completely ruined! Mother nature can be so treacherous at this time of the year...

 

Ajuga 'Black Scallop'

Still, life goes on in the garden... the Ajuga 'Black Scallop' planted last year is spreading nicely and starting to bloom. The tiny bells of the Carolina Silverbell (Halesia tetraptera) tree are unfolding, and the Allegheny Serviceberry (Amelanchier laevis) is in full bloom. It will be some years before the Serviceberry attains enough growth to make much a of show, but it's making progress.

Carolina Silverbell tree (Halesia tetraptera)

Allegheny Serviceberry (Amelanchier laevis)

One of my Bergenias (AKA "Pigsqueak" in these parts) managed to survive the frost and produced flowers, while the buds on another plant just a few feet away didn't make it. Why would that be? This one was closer to the house wall, perhaps the wall retained enough heat to help the buds survive?

 

Bergenia 'Winter Glow'

The dwarf iris 'Bluebeard' has come into bloom so early that it's coinciding with the flowering of the grape hyacinths. I have several varieties of  grape hyacinths: the ones with the light blue caps are M. aucheri, the ordinary purple are M. armeniacum, and some white ones, M. armeniacum 'White Magic.'

Dwarf iris 'Bluebeard'

Grape hyacinths (Muscari aucheri and M. armeniacum)

The Fothergilla shrub is starting to open its honey-scented blossoms, and so many other shrubs planted last year are breaking dormancy now. I'm planting a number of annuals from seed this spring, as well as the usual bedding and potted plants. I'm curious to see how these new ones will enhance and fill my flower beds this year.

 

Fothergilla gardenii

 

 There's so much more to come, I can hardly wait!

Spring Surprises

White wood violets (Viola sororia albiflora).

 

The last day of March brought over an inch of much-needed rain to our area. I went out to the garden during a brief pause in the rain to find this lovely surprise--the white wood violets that have gradually been colonizing the shady places underneath my deck were covered with flowers! Soon the emerging ferns will overtake them, but by that time their flowering season will be over.

White wood violets

Scented Violet 'Queen Charlotte' (Viola odorata 'Queen Charlotte')

The 'Queen Charlotte' violet (Viola odorata 'Queen Charlotte') has been slowly recovering from being munched by deer, and is blooming. I hope she'll multiply and start spreading soon.

Many other surprises awaited me in the garden. One of the Imperial Fritillary bulbs I planted last fall has come up, a handsome plant that promises new and unusual flowers--I've never grown Fritillaries before. The second bulb planted in another bed has not sprouted, I have no idea if it's simply tardy or if something untoward has happened to it, time will tell.

Imperial Fritillary (Fritillaria imperialis rubra)

Daffodil 'Pink Charm''

Other bulbs I planted last fall are also coming up. The daffodil above, called 'Pink Charm' turns out to not be very pink after all, more of an apricot cup I'd say, although still very beautiful. But who knows? The cups may yet fade to a color closer to pink. Overall, my display of spring flowering bulbs continues to improve every year.

 

'Mount Hood' daffodils

Yellow daffodils and Forsythia in the back yard.

Front yard before the rain.

Red cottage tulips with thalia and tazetta Narcissus

My front yard is becoming more colorful with masses of narcissus in yellow and white, and a carpet of creeping phlox in two hues is starting to fill in. The white and blue florist Hyacinths (Hyacinthus orientalis hybrids) were up earlier, as were the charming Glory-of-the-Snow (Chionodoxa forbesii), but they are now almost done flowering for the year. The blue Siberian Squills (Scilla siberica) on the east bed bloom a little later, and are still looking good. Both of these are spreading and forming nice colonies.

 

Delft Blue hyacinth

Glory-of-the-snow (Chionodoxa forbesii)

Blue Siberian squill (Scilla siberica)

It's so exciting to find these surprises every day as I go out to my garden! The Hellebore that the deer ate back the previous winter has finally produced a couple of flowers. I'd expected the emerging leaves of the Colchicum I planted last fall to be similar to the linear grassy foliage of other crocuses, but instead they are quite large and wide, more like those from a tropical plant.

Hellebore 'Flower Girl'

Colchicum 'Waterfall' leaves

 

From the seeds I collected at the Virginia Arboretum last fall and planted in pots, two seedlings have sprouted thus far. The buckeye tree from which I collected these seeds was a hybrid called Aesculus x mutabilis, and the parents were the native Aesculus pavia and A. georgiana (sylvatica) so my seedlings could be either of the parent trees.  I'm presuming, from the look of this seedling, that it's the red buckeye (A. pavia). I wonder if some of the Franklinia and Stewartia seeds will eventually sprout too? That would really be fantastic!

Red buckeye seedling (Aesculus pavia)

Camellia ' Kumasaka' flower

The one disappointment so far has been the lovely Camellia 'Kumasaka' I bought last year--covered with large flower buds last fall, it appeared to be doing well throughout the winter. But just as the flower buds were starting to open, they became blighted and began to fall off! Either severe frost burned them or they became desiccated by the recent high winds. All I managed to salvage was this one open flower that dropped off. Such a shame, the color and form are gorgeous! I'll have to wait until next year and hope for a milder spring.

The Footpaths of Flores

 

Footpath in Flores, watercolor, 20"h x 14"w.

 

I'm back to watercolors with this painting of one of the many footpaths on the beautiful island of Flores. I used half a sheet of some cold-pressed rough 300 lb. paper I had in my studio, and once started, remembered how much water this paper absorbs. The rough surface is also hard on brushes--I hope I won't need to buy new ones after this!

The photo I worked from already formed a nice composition in and of itself, so the challenge was rendering the pattern of light and dark to give the impression of the path in its shadowy tunnel of trees with patches of sunlight shining through. The pigments were my recent botanical palette of Vanadium Yellow, Quinacridone Gold, Cerulean Blue Hue, and Indrathrene Blue, with touches of Perylene Maroon and Quinacridone Red to neutralize the greens.

I built up the colors in layers starting with light washes of blue and yellow-green for the sky and foliage, and gradually darkened the tree trunks and rocks in the foreground. The painting could still be a bit darker, and I'll probably continue to work on it to heighten the shadowy parts more.

It brought back wonderful memories of my hikes on the many footpaths of Flores, where at every turn there was something beautiful to see. This particular hike was taken in the company of a guide, Pier Luigi, the Italian-born owner of the Nautilus B & B in Faja Grande on the western side of the island. We hiked from the northernmost point of Flores where one of the two lighthouses on the island are located, on towards Faja Grande--the only stretch of Flores where there were no driveable roads. The shady path was a welcome relief from the afternoon sun after the earlier, more exposed parts of the trail.

There were many other similar footpaths throughout Flores that I hiked on my own, all of them presenting their own challenges and charm. I'll soon undertake another journey down memory lane to once again paint my favorite spot: the Poza das Patas.

Early Spring Flowers

 

Crocus thommasinianus

Crocus tommasinianus in two colors.

The recent warm weather is gradually ushering spring in, and more crocuses are blooming in my front yard. A couple of dry weeks after some good rains, the clayey earth in my garden has now attained the perfect consistency for being worked, so I'm hard at labor on my bed expansions and soil improvements. I can't help noticing new shoots coming up everywhere!

 

Feathered mauve crocuses

Witch hazel 'Diane'

My witch hazel 'Diane,' planted last year, has put out its first blooms and they are lovely--it certainly lived up to my expectations! It should be even better in a few years as it develops into a small tree. When it reaches above deer browsing height I'll remove the protective netting which obscures it now.

'February Gold' daffodils

The 'February Gold' daffodils that I separated and re-planted in the front yard last fall are starting to bloom. The display is a bit skimpy now, but it will become fuller in the coming years as the bulbs grow and fill in the space.

Bearss lime

Indoors, my Bearss lime tree has been very prolific--this is one of six limes harvested since I brought it inside last fall, with one more lime left and lots of new blossoms setting fruit. My hand pollination efforts on the Australian red lime seem to have been successful, and a few limes are starting to develop. They are only about 3/4" long right now, but hopefully, they'll reach edible size by summer, when I take it outdoors.

Australian red lime

A new crop of blossoms should develop then. I'm curious to see whether any bees will pollinate the blossoms--I don't recall any fruit setting last year when it bloomed outside, but then again it was a very hot and dry summer and it was the first set of blooms. It's possible a specialized pollinator simply doesn't exist in the USA, because it's a native of Australia, though small bees should be able to pollinate the flowers.

Two Lagoas

Two lagoas, pastel on panel, 9"h x 12"w.

 

 While revisiting the photos from a my Artist in Residence stay on the island of Flores in the Azores back in 2007, I came across one taken at the highest point of the volcanic spine of the island. The view from the miradouro overlooks two of the crater lakes found on the Morro Alto zone: Lagoa or Caldeira Negra on the left, and Lagoa Comprida on the right. In the distance one can see the hollows of two more craters: Lagoa Seca on the right, which is a dry caldera, and Lagoa Branca towards the left.

My stay on the island of Flores was memorable for many reasons, but mostly because of the magical quality of the landscape. The westernmost island of the Azores group, Flores lies on the American tectonic plate, as opposed to the rest of the archipelago on the European plate, and is quite isolated. I joked with the locals that with tectonic drift, in another million years or so, they might be our closest neighbors.

Flores has a total of seven calderas, all filled with water except for one. Each of them is unique, with vertiginous slopes and unusual vegetation. Only a bit of the endemic vegetation remains in the highest part of the island, known as the Morro Alto: sedges, ferns, mosses, and wind-sculpted native junipers. Most of the plants growing throughout Flores are imports from distant parts of the globe, brought by the ships that stopped here on their voyages around the world. With the very wet temperate climate of the north Atlantic, most of those plants have taken hold and propagated well beyond expectations. 

But in this highest part of the island where these two crater lakes are located, the landscape is still wild, as were the winds on the day I stopped here. Much as I wanted to stay to paint on location, the penetrating winds and cold made it very uncomfortable, so I settled for taking the photos.

The weather on Flores is very changeable, and even as I walked by the crates lakes, the clouds covered and uncovered the sun, creating unusual and lovely light effects. I wished I could return once more... doing this painting allowed me to project myself back to Flores again through the magic of imagination.

* * *

The pastel is on a Richeson premium pastel Gator board panel, a surface that is rapidly becoming my favorite, since it holds so much pastel powder. I toned the original cool gray color with a reddish-brown underpainting laid down with pastels and Turpenoid. After that dried, I started the painting, gradually building up the layers of color.

The First Crocus

 

The first crocus of spring is a long-awaited sight, signaling the end of winter and the beginnings of early spring. This year it took place on February 24, when the temperature rose into the 60's on a sunny day. The snow and ice on the ground had begun to melt the day before, and the watering sent these lovely buds up. Others soon followed.

I'd planted some mixed crocuses under my cherry tree some years ago, but hadn't seen any these yellow ones for the last few years, so it was a surprise to find several of this feathered yellow variety sprouting, along with one lone white one. I believe the yellow ones are of the species Crocus chrythansus 'Fuscotinctus.'

Several varieties of crocus in front yard.

Crocus tommasinianus , nicknamed "Tommies," is the one species that has multiplied most prolifically in my front yard. I'd read that rodents and other pests tend to stay away from this species, and with so many voracious wild creatures around here, it has lived up to its reputation, proving to be quite resistant. Every year the display gets better.

Crocus tommasinianus

C. tommasinianus growing with red thyme (Thymus coccinea)

Other early spring bulbs are starting to wake up, and soon my garden will once again be filled with flowers... I can't wait to see what the display will be like this year!

Continental Divide

Continental Divide, pastel on sanded panel, 9"h x 12".

On these cold, gray days of winter I long for warmer climes and sunnier days... but thankfully, in my studio and imagination I can revisit other summer days of yore. I was perusing some photos of my visit to Glacier National Park several years ago and found one I really wanted to use for a painting--it was taken some miles east of the continental divide driving on the Going-to-the-Sun Road. This side of the park is much drier than the western side, and has the typical vegetation of the northern prairies. These open meadows displayed an incredible assortment of wild flowers at the time of my visit in high summer: blue lupines, wild roses, daisies and blanket flowers, bee balm, flea bane and asters, as well as grasses and pines.

I worked on a Richeson sanded panel made for pastels, and was very impressed with the amount of pigment this surface can hold. I started with a very fauvist under painting in two values of pink and peach hues, burnt sienna and brown, and it took quite a few layers of colors applied on top to cool down the colors underneath. Only a bit of the under painting shows through.

 

Earlier version of the pastel

 

Above is an earlier version of the painting--I was in the process of modifying the composition to add a third tree to the foreground when I happened to drag my sleeve across the entire lower half of the panel, taking off most of the pigment I'd laid down! Well, after lamenting this little disaster for a while, it seemed like a serendipitous call to re-think the entire piece, and modify the val-hues from this earlier step.

Redoubling my efforts, I decided to cool down the foreground more, applying more of the Baryte green more boldly throughout the grasses in the foreground, and blueing the distant mountains more. Articulating the nearer flowers and grasses and blending the patches of color on the closer mountain range also helped to make a better distinction between the closer and farther distance. 

I'm  planning to try out several other pastel surfaces I have in my studio in the coming weeks as the spring equinox slowly wends its way toward the northern hemisphere again.