Weekend at Mountain Lake Station, Part I

Yellow pinesap (Monotropa hypopitys)

VNPS had announced a weekend at UVA's Mountain Lake Biological Station in southwestern Virginia at the end of July but the excursion was limited to a baker's dozen in number. Not sure that I'd be able to get one of those slots or keep up with their strenuous hiking schedule, I reserved accommodations for myself the weekend before. I figured that the orchid I was hoping to see, the Coral Root Orchid (Corallorhiza maculata) would be in bloom then, as well as other interesting plants. Being by myself, I would have time to sketch and set my own pace.

This remote mountain area is noted for its rich diversity of flora and fauna, some quite unique. The lake itself,  Mountain Lake, also called Salt Pond, is most unusual: unchanged for the most part of last century, a hotel resort had been built on its shore (the 1980's movie Dirty Dancing was filmed here in part). The spring-fed lake's water level began to drop precipitously in the early 2000's and drained completely. Fissures in the bedrock were found, and geological studies revealed that the lake actually has drained periodically, and fills up again. The lake has now returned to about half its volume.

I left on Friday at mid-morning for the three and a half hour drive down the scenic Shenandoah Valley. I was timing my arrival at the station for the afternoon check-in. This would allow enough time to stop along the way at near-by Pandapas Pond, a place I'd read about where another plant I was seeking could be found. Yellow pinesap (Monotropa hypopitys,) a member of the fascinating Monotropa family that I'd never seen, blooms at this time of the year, and I hoped to get photos for my illustrations.

Pandapas Pond

It was about one o'clock when I took the exit towards Blacksburg. The sign for Pandapas Pond was so inconspicuous that I almost missed the turn, but just managed to make the quick left. I parked towards the end of the last lot, and sat on a bench to enjoy my lunch in the company of a goldfinch browsing some thistles.

After putting my trash back in the car I was weighing which of the two trails to take when another car pulled up. An older lady with a mesh bag in her hand got out and was starting up the forest trail when I asked her what she intended to collect. Judging by her accent, she was local, and she was looking for edible mushrooms, something she called "swamp mushrooms." She told me she didn't have much time before her church service. I asked if she'd ever seen pinesap in the area and she responded no, but that I should look at the site of fallen trees, particularly pines.

I followed her at a respectful distance until she vanished from sight. I came across some Indian pipe and encouraged by this, went off-trail to look for pinesap. I didn't find any and continued up the trail which ended at a beautiful flower garden. The terrain here didn't look particularly promising, so I turned back to try the pond trail. On the way back I saw the old lady deep in the woods, bending over something--she must have found what she was looking for.

Fungi on the pond trail

The pond trail wound around a small hill covered with old pine trees; I climbed up the steep bank to look under them and saw the ground was covered with fungi and mosses, but no pinesap. I went back down and scouted around the pond, but the sandy soil there was not particularly promising either. I was almost back at parking lot, about to give up my search, when I happened to glance up at the steep bank now on my right. There it was--a tiny shoot of Yellow pinesap emerging from the mossy ground! I scurried up and discovered several more pristine stalks to photograph.

Yellow Pinesap.

Having accomplished one goal, I continued on my journey. Heading west the hills became steeper and traffic thinner. At the turn-off for Mountain Lake Lodge the two-lane road went through an area of rural properties and then started climbing steadily, becoming steeper and steeper with every curve.

Power lines at Mountain Lake

The forest canopy was thick until I reached this point where overhead power lines cut through. I couldn't resist the amazing vista that opened up, and pulled over to take this photo. The freshness of the mountain air took my breath away as much as the panorama--it was perceptibly cooler here than on the valley floor. This had to be at around 3,000 feet elevation.

I reached the lodge and asked some hotel attendants at the parking lot where the road to the Biological Station continued. They directed me to the left of the lodge, past the pool and some outbuildings. The paving ended a few miles later and the road became gravel. A few deep ruts here and there gave an indication of what the downpours in these mountains must be like.

After a few more miles the sign for the Biological Station appeared--I drove past some rustic cottages and buildings and parked at the main lot, looking for the building with the registration office. I was directed to Lewis, a two-story stone building to my left. I checked in at the office and received my information packet--I talked briefly with the young lady there about my pursuits and Jamie marked the locations of several stands of Coral Root and other orchids on the station map. One stand was right outside of this building. Another hand-out showed the trails around the station, and she marked those for me as well.

I'd been assigned one of the cottages, Burns, which turned out to have a small fenced-in garden surrounding it. I was cautioned to never leave the gate open, as the deer here were extremely voracious. After getting my gear and settling in, I went out with my camera to explore my surroundings.

The Burns Cottage and garden.

The cottage garden had been lovingly landscaped with all sorts of native plants in a charming arrangement, and conveniently labeled. There were Turk's cap lilies (Lilium superbum) and red and white bee balm (Monarda) blooming. A number of ferns, among them a huge variety of Osmunda (Osmunda spectabilis) which I had never seen before, and a rare trillium, Trillium sulcatum, with a peculiar maroon fruit (my photo of this didn't turn out well).

Turk's Cap Lily (Lilium superbum)

Osmunda spectabilis.

Burns Cottage garden.

After that, I went out to explore the rest of the station. The campus consisted of a series of small cottages and a few larger building arranged around an open grassy area, with the dining hall at one end and Lewis at the other end, and a pond and the large new lab building to the south.

There were three Coral root orchids by Lewis, three small flowering stalks under the oak trees, the flowers not yet open. I walked down the green towards the other area where Jamie had indicated more of these, and found two huge clumps near another cottage. These were better developed but the stalks seemed older, with some flowers clearly past their prime. Still, very exciting to see so many of them!

Coral Root Orchid (Corallorhiza maculata)

I checked out the purple fringed orchids by another cottage; they had been fertilized and were developing seed pods. Looking for other orchids, I entered an area where an old swimming pool had been--pieces of concrete slabs and piers remained in place. The ground here was spongy, lushly covered with several varieties of mosses, among them on that looked like miniature fern fronds. Here was Indian pipe and farther down, another orchid, Rattlesnake Plantain (Goodyera pubescens) with several flowering stalks.

Beautiful fern moss (Thuidium delicatum?)

Indian Pipe (Monotropa uniflora)

Rattlesnake Plantain (Goodyera pubescens)

What great finds! This would help me plan where to start sketching tomorrow morning.

The first dinner bell rang out as I was heading back to my cabin. I dropped off my camera quickly and headed back to the dining hall--I'd been warned the hungry hordes would claim every bite if one was late. There was a small kitchenette in my cabin with a refrigerator, but since I didn't know that in advance, I hadn't thought to bring any snacks, only some wine and my favorite teas.

After dinner I walked around again, enjoying the cool evening and the last of the light lingering on the pond. I came across a gentleman on a cottage deck readying some plant specimens for pressing and talked to him for a bit. Dr. Mark Whitten told me he and his assistant, a young Chinese man by the endearing name of Miao, were here to collect specimens for a project comparing the DNA of eastern North American plants with their counterparts in northeastern China. It's believed that these plants share a common ancestry from a time before the continents began to drift apart, and this project may add valuable information to prevailing theories.

After that it was time for an evening read, and then to bed. I'd brought a light wool blanket with all my linens, since MLBS warns that the night temperatures can drop into the upper fifties even in summer, but even then I wasn't prepared for just how cold it got. I couldn't get to sleep, and wished I'd brought an extra blanket. After closing all the windows and putting a sweater on, I was still too cold to sleep. Eventually I spread all the extra clothes I had with me over the blanket and managed to get warm enough to drift off, but it was one AM by then.

Next: Sketching Orchids, a hike to Bear Cliffs and more.

Yellow Fringed and Other Orchids in Fort Valley

Yellow Fringed Orchid (Platanthera ciliaris).

A month after the VNPS walk in Fort Valley I returned to see how the Yellow Fringed Orchids were doing. This lovely native is high on my list of plants to illustrate for the year, and it's great to not have to travel far to gather visual material for my sketches.

It was a very hot and humid afternoon, and I was glad to enter the shady forest cover. I recognized the first orchid I spotted as the one I'd seen in bud a month earlier, but the spike of this specimen was not in the best condition: small, with some of the flowers blighted. I looked around for more and found several others growing by the small pond.

The buds were showing color, but the flowers weren't open yet, so I looked further afield. Some ten feet beyond the first orchid I saw another deeper in the woods with its flowers open--a much more appealing specimen. As I was skirting around the undergrowth to reach it, I happened to look down, and right by my feet, the distinctive leaves of another orchid appeared.

                                    Leaves and flower stalk of Pink Lady Slipper orchids (Cypripedium acaule) with Indian Cucumber plant (five leaflets) to the right.

Some of the plants had a couple of old flowering stalks (the flowers long past), and by the shape of the leaves, could be none other than the Pink Lady Slipper orchid--what a great find! I'll make it a point to return next spring to check out the blooms. Prospecting around I found a few more plants, as well as another type of native orchid, the Rattlesnake Plantain, named for the distinctive markings of its leaves.

Rattlesnake Plantain orchid (Goodyera pubescens)

There were several of these, one with a tiny emerging flowering spike and another with a large dried seed spike. These other two orchids had not been mentioned during our plant walk a month earlier. I wondered if the VNPS folks didn't know about these other natives growing here, or if they preferred to keep the locations secret, since these are rare species, as is the Yellow Fringed Orchid. I feel so lucky to live near to these unusual and fascinating plants that provide inspiration for my paintings. There's so much here in Virginia for a botanical illustrator!

Shale Violet and New Works

Shale Violet (Viola sororia), watercolor, 11" x 15".

Here is the finished piece, finally -- Shale Violet, photographed under better light.

Below is my next work in progress, the native flame azalea (Azalea calendulacea), still a ways from finished, but coming along. This is the first piece on which I've used the palette of Winsor yellow deep, scarlet lake, and Winsor blue (green shade). The deep yellow seems just about the right color for the flowers, but I'm struggling to get the green shades accurately within the possible range for this palette.

Flame azalea painting in progress

The purples that can be mixed from the Winsor blue/scarlet lake combination can also be difficult--too gray or brown if the balance isn't just right, though beautiful when one can get them just so. You can see a bit of the purple washes in the underpainting of the flowers at this stage. I'm putting in those thin, long red pistils with colored pencil; later on perhaps I'll apply touches of scarlet lake straight from the tube to punch them up. It's always exciting to the working on a new piece!

Fort Valley Plant Walk

Yellow False Foxglove (Gerardia flava).

A couple of weeks ago the Piedmont Chapter of VNPS met for a walk at a site in nearby Fort Valley. We met at the Bear Wallow parking lot, the area where Herb and I had looked for yellow fringed orchids last year with no success. I was hoping to learn the location of these elusive beauties this time, even though they wouldn't be in bloom for another month or so.

The day was hot and humid, and fortunately our walk was short, but full of interesting plants, many of which are native and might be considered nothing but pretty weeds. The Yellow False Foxglove above is not a native, but is it attractive, whereas the Blue Skullcap and the Chrysogonum below are natives.

Blue Skullcap (Scutellaria integrifolia)

Green and Gold (Chrysogonum virginianum)

Our group made its way slowly up the dirt road identifying plants, chatting pleasantly. At the place where the short road bends to the right, we stepped into the shady woods, and a few feet in, the ground became wetter. Spagnum Moss and a few Indian Pipes (Monotropa uniflora) carpeted the forest floor. A few feet beyond was a tiny seepage pond, and some Yellow Fringed Orchid plants with flower spikes emerging were visible.

Indian Pipe flowers (Monotropa uniflora) growing among Spagnum moss

Yellow Fringed Orchid (Platanthera ciliaria) with flower buds.

To think that Herb and I spent hours looking for them last summer and there they were, a scant ten feet away!

One plant I was curious to identify was Tassel Rue (Trauvetteria carolinensis) and we came across some growing near the orchids, but my shots of the flowers were not in focus. In fact, my camera was having a hard time focusing in the mottled light of the forest, and many of my shots didn't come out as well as I would have liked.

Tasselrue

With all the rain we've been getting this year, there were many colorful mushrooms all over. I have no idea what this orange fungi is, but the color indicates it's probably poisonous. We came across one mushroom tentatively identified as a King Bolete (which I've eaten before), but no one seemed inclined to test it by harvesting it.

Wild hydrangea growing by a stream.

Back at the parking lot I was amazed that VNPS members had counted somewhere between 30-40 different species of plants on this short walk.

Poke Milkweed (Asclepias exaltata).

A Work in Progress

Shale Violet (Viola sororia) , watercolor 11"x 14".

I'm currently working on this small painting of wild violets I found growing in the rocky shale of my back yard. When I came across them the first spring after we moved here, I marveled at how they could grow in such an inhospitable terrain. They have reappeared every April since and usually are gone by the end of May.

The most salient feature other than their tiny size is how hairy these violets are--nothing like the common wood violets I was used to seeing. I figure they must be a different species, and indeed, I believe these are actually related to the mid-western hairy blue violet (Viola sororia) if not actually that species. I read recently that a variety of wild violet that grows in shale had been identified in southwestern Virginia and classified as a new species, and wondered, could these be that new species?

The hairs are the detail which I'm working on right now (not shown above), using a fine point pen with white ink to bring them out. Once the ink dries, I'll go over them with a light yellow wash, and hope it looks convincing. We'll see how it turns out.

This painting represents a departure from the conventional lighting used on botanical paintings, in which the light comes from the upper left hand of the image. Here the light is coming from the right, and is very low on the horizon (the photos were taken in the evening). And I've included a bit of the ground too, showing the shale. My image is a bit yellowish because it too was photographed at sunset; in reality the greens in the painting are much cooler except for the bits of sunlight on the leaves.

Botanica 2015 Reception and Awards

Certificate recipients at Brookside Gardens.

Last Sunday was the opening reception for Brookside Garden's "Botanica 2015: Art Art and Science of Plants" exhibition, and five of us students at BGSBAI were awarded our certificates after completing our final project.

For me this has been a wonderful experience, starting out back in 2011 with the core classes. After completeing the required classes and electives, we began working on our certificate projects about two years ago. After many sessions with our instructor advisor, Diane Berndt (second from the right) and many revisions to our drawings and compositions, here we are, finally ready to go out into the world of botanical art as trained artists. Diane, by the way was also working on her certificate, in addition to teaching other classes and meeting with us to advice and direct our work, so she had to work twice as hard.

Today I'm off to hike with my VNPS chapter to look for more beautiful plants to illustrate (perhaps some yellow fringed orchids). It will be interesting to see what plants we come across--I always learn so much on these walks!

Glorious Roses

Rose 'New Dawn' with Clematis 'Etoile Violette.'

In late May my garden explodes with bloom, and roses, my mother's favorite flower, are the main feature. I love this particular combination of the climbing rose 'New Dawn' with the Clematis 'Etoile Violette' that is starting to spread over the porch.

Rose 'Double Knockout'

The rose 'Double Knockout' planted three years ago is really living up to its name, and the pink 'Petal Pushers', now two years old is making a nice show, along with a red 'Simplicity' behind. The two hybrid tea roses planted last fall, 'Peace' and Veteran's Honor' are still struggling to become established in my rocky shale, though I did get one lovely flower from 'Peace.'

Rose bed

Hybrid tea rose 'Peace'

The Flame azalea planted two springs ago is also developing nicely, and will probably become the subject of a painting as soon as I can find some time. I wish my trees would grow faster and provide more shade so I could plant more rhododendrons and azaleas--the mainstay of spring gardens in this area. But a gardener must be patient... sometimes it seems the more desirable a plant, the more delicate and slower it grows.

Flame azalea

Red Alchemilla with white salvia, lavender and peonies.

In the meantime, herbaceous perennials in other colors brighten the surrounding flower beds. As a painter, I love a riot of color in flowers and foliage. As a gardener, my greatest fault is that I tend to change my mind about where a plant looks best, so I end up moving bedding plants and even trees after I've planted them when I see a better spot, or realize the plant is not prospering where I've put it. I believe that like in art, changing the position of an element or two can improve the overall composition.

The Regal Iris

It's that time of the year when irises bloom. I can't think of a more regal flower, the natural inspiration for the emblem of the French kings, the fleur-de-lis. So many artists have painted it: Van Gogh's irises come first to mind, but so many other artists also.

The ones I bought at the Blandy Farm Arboretum and planted in my garden during my first fall here keep getting more beautiful each year. The first year only the white ones bloomed; the following year yellow and deep purple manifested themselves--the yellow ones are the only ones that seem to have scent, a lemony fragrance in this case.

This year a bi-color purple and cream have shown up. Soon it will be time to divide the clump, to give it more room the expand. And I couldn't resist buying a new iris on sale--white with a lovely purple-veined splash. So, I must dig a new iris bed soon.

In the back bed, the old-fashioned very fragrant irises from my mom's garden that sister Bea gave me cuttings of are starting to spread, though they only produced a few flowering spikes this year. In my old garden in Columbia, my clump of this variety would have had 50 flowers or more. Oh well, next year they'll do better.

And then there's the Dutch iris--I planted a color mix two falls ago. Last year they bloomed together, but this year, the pale lilac with yellow falls bloomed earlier, the traditional blue with yellow spots about a week later. A gardener should always be ready for surprises!

Pale lilac Dutch iris with white salvia

Dark blue Dutch iris with red-flowered yarrow.