Mosaic Worshop at the Red House

Amanda McGuire's Red House Residence mosaic.

 

Two weeks ago I returned to the Red House in Bath County to take part in the workshop offered by the then-current resident artist Anne Atkins, a master in mosaics. Anne is from the Richmond area, and I met her through the Chickahominy Colored Pencil Artists (CCPA) group. I wasn't sure exactly at what time the workshop was starting, so I left my house early in the morning for the two and a half hour drive there. 

It was very foggy when I left, I could only see about 50 feet in front of me while moseying out of my neighborhood. As I sped out onto I-66 and then south on I-81 the fog gradually cleared, and somewhere before reaching Harrisonburg, the sun broke through the clouds for dramatic glimpses of our valley and its mountains with wisps of fog. 

 

Anne (standing) preparing for the workshop.

By the time I got there it was 10:30 AM and sunny. As it turned out, the workshop didn't start until 1:00 PM, so I had a chance to visit with Judy, the artist who helps Amanda with the artist residency, as well as Anne. Anne's old pit bull Sumac kept her company during her stay at the Red House, and she'd also brought her three lovely pet painted finches.

The workshop was held in the roofed shed next to the Red House; Amanda had set up another tent next to it so we could spread out and have plenty of room to work--the day was very warm and an electric fan kept us cool.

 

Anne with students.

Anne answers questions.

Anne had all the materials organized: different colors and sizes of mosaic tiles (both ceramic and vitreous), glass, and broken shards of pottery in zip-lock bags, 8"x 8" plywood panels for the supports, small plastic bottles filled with glue, tile cutters and files for each student and a styrofoam tray to sort our tiles and apply the glue, everything was so well planned!

There were seven of us there, and a few of us already had an idea of what we wanted to create, while others improvised, inspired by the assortment of colors and textures. We settled down to our work while chatting, and the afternoon just flew by. In the middle of the afternoon it started to rain lightly, but under the tent, everyone stayed dry and kept on working until the rain eventually tapered off.

We didn't have time to get into the grouting portion of the workshop, since only a few of us had finished gluing the pieces to our substrate, myself included--I particularly loved including a few of Judy's colored pencil stumps for the stem of my flower. One always wonders what to do with these stumps of colored pencils, it seems like such a shame to throw them out when they become too short to be usable.

We had so much fun! It can be tricky, trying to fit these small pieces of tile, glass or found objects the way one would fit a jigsaw puzzle, but it sure can be addicting! Take a look at some of the pieces created during the workshop--each one is so original!

 

Judy's "picassette" style mosaic with costume jewelry and beach glass.

Nell's flower and bee mosaic (in progress)

Amy's crab mosaic (in progress)

My ruby-throated hummingbird mosaic (in progress).

  

Most of the participants left right at 4 o'clock, and I wasn't able to photograph everyone's piece. I stayed a bit longer trying to get my piece as far along as I could but there wasn't enough time to finish it, so Anne was very kind to let me take the cutters and materials home to try to finish my piece here.

There weren't enough vitreous white tiles to finish the background, but I visited the website Anne had recommended and purchased a small package of those, and one of assorted tile colors, hoping to create more mosaics later on. My ruby-throated hummingbird with cardinal flower mosaic is now complete, and ready to grout.

 

Ruby-throated hummingbird and cardinal flower mosaic.

 

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!

August Few Bloom Day

Cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis)

 

Today is Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, hosted by Carol Michel's May Dreams Garden Blog. Here in the northwest corner of Virginia, my Zone 6b garden continues to suffer from the drought that has affected the entire Shenandoah Valley this year. Other parts of the state have received some relief lately with summer storms, but the storms have brought only a little in the way of water for my garden. This August we are still short of even one inch of rain with half the month already past!

 

Another Cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis)

Lobelia 'Starship Rose'

 

The worst part is that with very little to browse in the forests, the wild creatures have been extremely voracious--both deer and rabbits have been making deeper inroads into my garden than ever before, leaving me few flowers to enjoy.

A newly planted Cardinal flower and the Lobelia 'Starship Rose' above had to be fenced off to protect them. After their tops got munched I could see that I'd have no flowers otherwise. The first photo is  of one tiny cardinal flower that mysteriously popped up in the front yard--I have no recollection of having planted it there, but perhaps it came with some bee balm that I'd transplanted from somewhere else.

 

My front yard.

The hardy begonias in the front yard have been decimated, I wonder if they'll have any flowers this year? The other plants along my front walk aren't exactly putting on a dazzling display, but there are a few exotic flowers among them, like my Cuban rain tree (Brunfelsia nitida) and the double Tuberoses in bud. I planted the Tuberoses last year, but they didn't bloom, and I'm waiting for the buds to open so I can inhale their lovely scent.

 

Cuban rain tree (Brunfelsia nitida) with a blossom.

Double Tuberose buds.

Salvias and tropical plants along the front walk.

Other parts of the garden are looking pretty sad. I usually have spectacular display of blue Lobelias this month, but this year most of the buds have been eaten by deer, and only a few have escaped.

 

Blue Lobelia (Lobelia syphillitica)

Blazing meadow star (Liatris ligulistylis)

 

Only one spike of the Blazing Meadow Stars came up this spring, but it got eaten down, and only a few flowers have re-sprouted. The newly-planted Liatris 'Kobold' was eaten back too; that hasn't re-sprouted at all. The Stella de Oro daylily buds were eaten, as were all my other daylilies. Only now is one flower spike of Stella starting to rebloom.

 

Stella de Oro daylily.

The potted plants on my porch and back deck are about the only ones the critters can't get to, and even they aren't exactly dazzling--just getting by, perhaps..

Hanging basket on porch.

Plants on the front porch.

Zinnias, orchids and begonias on the back deck.

 

A yellow 'Benary's Giant' Zinnia I planted from seed has started to bloom--one of the few that made it, most got eaten, probably by rabbits.

Zinnia 'Benary's Giant'

My Abelia 'Panoramic Color Radiance' has put forth one tiny flower spike, let's hope it will have a few more, but the plant's variegated foliage is so beautiful on its own, it may not need to flower.

 

Abelia 'Panoramic Color Radiance'

 

The new bed with the Anise hyssop (Agastache foeniculum) grown from seed hasn't filled in yet, but there are a few plants in bloom. The ensemble with white salvia, mountain mint, a sedge and oat grass will look better as it fills in with time, and hopefully become a pollinator magnet.

White Salvia with sedge, slender-leaved mountain mint, oat grass and Anise Hyssop.

Tomato harvest.

 

This year the only thing that has flourished are my deck-grown tomatoes: Roma, cherry and yellow pear. Please pray for rain for our parched gardens in Virginia!

Late Summer Flowers

Salvia 'Black and Blue'

 

It's hard to believe it's already August! On Monday the current hot and dry spell broke with a storm that brought a decent amount of rain--what a difference it made! With this drought, the deer and rabbits have so little to eat that they've devoured most of my flowers this summer. Repellents and sprays don't seem to be doing much to dissuade them this year, and they've attacked plants that had been overlooked before.

So, I've been doing all I can to keep my plants out of their reach. The most sought out of potted plants have moved up onto the porch or the back deck. But of the other perennials in my yard, impossible to move, very few have escaped. 

Fortunately Salvias are not to the critters' taste and the hummingbirds love them. I saw one hummer early this morning feasting on the 'Black and Blue' and the magenta Salvia along my front walk.

 

Stella d'Oro daylilies.

I hardly saw any daylilies during their first flush of bloom in June--the deer devoured all of the buds--but now, one late bud of the Stella d'Oro lilies seems to have escaped their notice. A few others, like the pink-flowered Queen Anne's Lace (Ammi majus 'Dara') that I'd planted last year, have apparently also escaped their notice. I have plenty of the white-flowered wild variety in this part of the garden, but this is the first pink-flowered one I've seen.

 

Ammi majus in pink.

Queen Anne's Lace and deep pink phlox.

There isn't much in the way of flowers at a time when my garden should have at least a few, but here's a some.

 

Ageratum.

It's been too dry for the Ageratum, but some plants are blooming in the more sheltered beds. The Anise Hyssop I grew from seed has finally grown enough to present some blooms, although this morning I saw that rabbits had eaten some of my recently planted specimens.

 

Anise hyssop (Agastache foeniculum)

The deer or rabbits also nipped most of the buds of my blue Lobelias, which usually bloom profusely at this time of the year. I'm hoping some will regrow enough to make a decent display, particularly if we get some more rain.

 

Blue Lobelias starting to bloom.

The Abelia 'Panoramic Color Radiance' has hung on only because of my watering, and is offering a few blooms now. Some of the leaf stems seem to be reverting to the ordinary leaf color rather than the variegated, but that can happen sometimes with these new hybrids or cultivars.

 

Abelia 'Panoramic Color Radiance'

The mint family does seem to be immune to browsing and the slender-leaved mountain mint is no exception. But the rabbits have been munching on the bee balm next to it, which they haven't done before.

 

Mountain mint (Pycnantheum tenuifolium)

With so little bloom what shall I photograph for the August Bloom Day coming up?