Wintry Days

My house in January

 

The first snow of the year came overnight on January the sixth, leaving us with about six inches of very dry powder. It was too dry to stick to the branches, except for the evergreens in front--not s scenic as I'd hoped for. But it's good to have snow cover during winter, especially since the past two years have been so dry.

During these garden-idle winter months I have more time to focus on my botanical art work. I got around to finishing this Trumpet Vine piece that I started last summer. After looking at it, I'm thinking that it needs one more thing, I'm not sure exactly what, but perhaps one seed sprouting in the lower left hand corner to anchor the ensemble showing the complete life cycle of the plant?

I though about throwing in a humming bird buzzing the flowers, but that would probably be too much--the ants pursuing the nectar and protecting the plant are enough for the flowering stage. I'm currently trying to stratify some of the seeds that have come out of the pod in my refrigerator, but they need about 30 days in the cold before being brought to a warmer temperature. We'll see if this succeeds.

Trumpet Vine, (Campsis redicans), watercolor on paper, 20"h x 14"w.

 

I also completed my portrait of Peony 'Bartzella' in colored pencils. A dark background is not standard for botanical paintings, but I think in this case it brings out some of the drama I see in the flower, highlighting the pale yellows and crepe-paper texture of the petals.

Peony 'Bartzella' (Paeonia hybrid), colored pencil on paper, 12"h x 9.75"w.

I started another piece of some downy rattlesnake plantain orchids from the Ice Mountain site. I thought of using masking fluid for the markings on the leaves, but since masking fluid can change the surface of the paper, it could alter the colors. Doing it with negative painting is painstakingly slow-- and the dappled light of the forest floor is challenging.

 

Downy Rattlesnake Plantain orchids (Goodyear pubsecens), watercolor on paper.

I prefer to work with natural light--no daylight lamp I've ever used actually renders color the way sunlight does. But at this time of the year, with the short days, my painting hours are fewer.  I fill the non-optimal hours doing pencil sketches--more ideas for paintings that rattle around in my head.

 

The back yard at sunrise.

 In the meantime, my frozen garden awaits spring...or perhaps just another little bit of snow?

A Garden Stroll in Winter

First Snowdrop

 

The weather has been quite mild here during the past week--a welcome break for December--so I went out to take a stroll through my winter garden to assess the deer damage thus far. I was so happy to see the first Snowdrop of the season popping up, incredibly early! A few more in the patch are breaking through, but this one had the only fully-formed bud.

 

Bergenia

I originally planted three Bergenias 'Winterglow', (I believe it was that variety) but the deer managed to destroy two of them. The last surviving one I put behind a mesh barrier, and it's holding its own, but I haven't seen any blooms for several years. Let's hope that the plant has recovered sufficiently to bloom this coming spring.

 

Holly 'Nellie Stevens'

Just above the Bergenia, the Holly 'Nellie Stevens' continues with its lovely display of berries.

Dwarf Nandina 'Fire Power'

I bought a dwarf Nandina for the front entrance the first year we lived in this house, and liked it so much that I bought a second one for my woodland garden, shown here. The shrub has grown well and the deer don't seem to care for it.

 

Gautlheria 'Fiesta'

 

The three Gaultherias 'Fiesta' that I planted last spring have proved to not be very deer-proof--a lot of the leaves and all the berries have been eaten back a lot! This specimen is the one in best shape. I'll have to buy more wire cloches to protect these plants or I won't have anything left by spring!

Hellebore 'True Love'

No buds on either of my two Hellebores, but it's too early for them yet. I must obtain a plant of  the 'Niger' variety that blooms at this time of the year. The foliage of Ajuga 'Chocolate Chip' makes a nice contrast with the leaves of Hellebore 'Flower Girl' in the woodland garden.

Hellebore 'Flower Girl' with Ajuga 'Chocolate Chip'

The Clary sage has re-seeded itself in the Herb bed, ready for next season's growth. Nothing much else is of note at this time of the year in my garden, and the coming chill doesn't exactly invite one to stroll outdoors.

Seedlings of Clary sage/

I wonder if we'll get any significant snow this winter--the past few winters have brought us very little in the way of snow.

Silent Night

Front walk

 

I like to take a photo of our house with its Christmas decorations every year. This year's circumstances with my husband Herb recovering from a fall in November that fractured his pelvis, there's been less time than usual to decorate, so our Christmas lights are somewhat minimal--the Williamsburg window candles and a few strings of lights on the porch and shrubbery were all I could manage. 

 

Full front

 

When it comes to Christmas, it's not the pretty lights and decorations, it's the spirit that counts. May the celebration of the birth of Christ the Savior bring you peace. 

Peace on Earth to men and women of good will, and a Blessed Christmas to all!

December 2024 Bloom Day

Thanksgiving cactus (Schlumbergera truncata hybrid)

It's an icy and snowy afternoon outside in my Zone 6B Virginia garden on this December Bloom Day, hosted by Carol Michel's May Dreams blog. There is not a living blossom to be found out there! And not much in my indoor garden either. Above is what my Thanksgiving cactus looked like earlier in the week when it was sunny, but by today, most of the blossoms have fallen off and only a few buds remain.

Still, the winter season has its own beauty, and this corner of my yard with this combination of the 'Goshiki' Osmanthus with my 'Nelly Stevens' holly full of berries and the dried flower heads of Hydrangea are very attractive if you overlook the deer barriers. It's too cold and miserable out there to take many photos.

 

Goshiki osmanthus with 'Nelly Stevens' holly

The back yard from the deck

 

My funky bonsai collection is still outside on the deck, but I should move it into the garage soon for their winter home, where they'll be safer from the elements.

 

 

The large old Bearss lime tree is putting out lots of blossoms and setting fruit, but the rest of my houseplants seem to have gone on strike.  Usually I have at least one orchid sporting flower buds at this time of the year, but last summer I separated two of my most overgrown ones and gave the orchids to my sisters. The leftover plants will need another season of growth before they can produce any blooms.

Bearss lime blossoms.

One of my 'Optimara' African violets has a few blooms, but sadly, it's riddled with mealy bugs, despite having been sprayed with insecticidal soap just a couple of weeks ago. I tossed a bunch of my African violets in the fall because of the severe infestation, but I hate to toss the few plants I've left--I've kept these 'Optimara' varieties growing for over thirty years by taking cuttings!

I don't even know if Optimaras are produced much in the horticultural trade any more--I don't see them being offered in nurseries or catalogs. I may have to try some biological controls like insect predators for mealy bugs. If anyone has tried this on indoor plants, I'd be curious to know what results you obtained, please comment.

 

'Optimara' African violet

That's it for this December Bloom Day...soon the winter Solstice will arrive and the days will start to get longer once again, while I dream of spring.

Another Weird Pumpkin

Two Pumpkins, colored pencil, 11" x 14"

 

Ever since I encountered a peanut pumpkin (Galeaux d'Eysines) a few years back at a local outdoor market display in autumn and spent the following year growing one and painting it, I look for a weird-looking pumpkin to paint at this time of the year--it's become sort of a tradition for me. 

This year I found a wonderful Jarrahdale pumpkin in Richmond while I was there taking an art class at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. The Jarrahdales come from Australia, where apparently all native pumpkins are green in color, rather than orange. This particular specimen was very imposing at over twenty pounds, its three large lobes presenting a range of lovely warts and bumps to depict.

I spent a couple of weeks drawing my specimen in graphite, and re-drew it several times, trying to capture its unusual form, until I had something with the proper proportions that seemed life-like. But it needed something more...eventually I settled on superimposing a small, bright orange pumpkin next to it for contrast, and that seemed to make for a much better painting--the tale of two pumpkins!

 

Grisaille underdrawing with dark sepia colored pencil.

Once I had drawn the pumpkins on my presentation paper (Bristol 300 plate vellum finish), I started shading my drawing with a dark sepia colored pencil, gradually darkening the forms. Using this grisaille technique, I then started adding some color, building up it gradually in layers. The main color is Faber-Castell Earth Green, a dusty gray-green shade.

 

Building up the color.

I'm not sure my piece is quite finished yet--I may yet darken further some parts of the drawing at the top. I thought of trying to add a native Australian flower or plant behind the Jarrahdale, but I don't think it needs it-- the juxtaposition of the great big dull-colored pumpkin against the small bright colored one seems to be enough to tell the story.

November 2024 Bloom Day

 

French marigolds.

French marigolds

We'd had a few nights with temperatures below freezing, but until this past Wednesday Nov. 13, we hadn't experienced a hard frost here in my Zone 6B garden in Virginia. The temperature dipped to around 20 that night. Before that, some of my annuals were still displaying blooms: French marigolds in the veggie pagoda, some potted Nasturtiums, Irish moss, a Calendula that sprouted as a volunteer, and a few beat-up Chrysanthemums (I took these photos a few days ago, before the hard frost).

There are still a few flowers left for November's Bloom Day, hosted by Carol Michel's May Dreams Garden blog. It being mid-fall, colorful leaves and berries can sometimes take the place of flowers. Let's take a stroll and see what is blooming in my garden.

 

Caleandula 'Neon' volunteer still blooming in the veggie pagoda.

Pink mum

Nasturtiums on the porch

Irish moss still blooming.

The deciduous trees in the east garden have dropped most of their leaves, but there are still a few hanging on. I discovered a small bird's nest on the upper branches of one of the Japanese maples there, and wondered which bird had built it--a chickadee, or perhaps a titmouse? I see them flitting about the back yard at this time of the year a lot more than at other times. I guess they're more noticeable because most of the migratory birds have already left.

The east garden mid-November.

Bird's nest on Japanese maple branch.

The holly 'Nellie Stevens' has set more berries than ever this year for a wonderful display. 

Holly 'Nellie Stevens'

Dried flower heads of hydrangea 'Incrediball'

 

I like to leave the dried flower heads of the Hydrangea 'Incrediball' through the winter season and cut them back in the spring--they present a lovely point of interest during the winter season.

Our unseasonable warm weather prompted the white lilac to produce a few blooms once again and the lavender was sporting a few of its spikes. But the big chill is coming, and I'm trying to prepare for it.

 

White lilac blooms

 

Lavender 'Hidcote'

As the weather turns colder, the great annual migration of tropical plants into the house is now complete. Winter interest will necessarily focus more on those. My Thanksgiving cactus is starting to show buds; I hope it may still have some flowers left for December's Bloom Day. A friend gave me this beautiful dark-leaved Capsicum with bright orange fruit.

After an entire month with no rain whatsoever, we finally got about a quarter of an inch from the past weekend's storm. It wasn't enough to eliminate the danger of fire--there have been a few forest fires near us, but mercifully, not a whole of of acreage has burned. We can only hope for more rain soon.

 

Decorative Capsicum indoors.

I leave you with a photo of what will likely be the last rose of the season...

Shrub Rose 'Petal Pushers'

Happy November Bloom Day!

October Colors

October harvest.

 

With the month of October coming to a close, my garden has been keeping me very busy! At the beginning of the week I harvested the Sunchokes (Jerusalem artichokes) and sweet potatoes that I'd been growing in grow-bags. My sunchokes had reached lofty heights in September, with lovely blooms. I don't know if it can be seen clearly in my photo below, but those flower stems on the left reached nine to ten feet in height!

This year's Sunchoke harvest is the best thus far, enough for quite a few meals. The sweet potatoes were an experiment--I wanted to see how much I could get from a grow-bag of the same size. Not bad, but the yield may not be cost-effective, depending on the taste, I'll have to think about whether to grow them again next year.

Veggie pagoda with Sunchokes inside.

The nights are getting chilly, and our trees have been changing colors: the hickories have turned to gold, the maples red, and even the oaks are starting show a bit of color now. The back yard at sunrise this morning was completely transformed!

 

The back yard at sunrise.

My 'Autumn Blaze' maple is in its glory on the west yard, and the Kwanzan cherry in the front yard has turned to gold. The witchhazels have turned yellow and and starting to show some of their flower buds.

Fall being the best time to plant in our area, I've been expanding my beds, adding new plants and trees wherever I can find space. The badlands were extended to make room for some elm-leaved goldenrods that I acquired at our recent VNPS chapter meeting. Other native plant buys included a small spicebush sapling, two elderberrys, Sedum ternuum, a seedbox plant and a narrow-leaved goldenrod.

In addition, I had three tiny dogwood saplings that grew under the cherry tree in front and need new homes somewhere--one went in behind the elm-leaved goldenrod, the other two will get planted in the side yards, one in the east and one in the west. It will be interesting to see how these plantings develop over the next few years.

 

'Autumn Blaze' maple and dwarf Japanese maple Acer palmatum var. dissectum 'Viridis'

 Front of the house with cherry tree.

 

Not many flowers are left now--the snapdragons I planted this year are still blooming, but the aromatic asters (Symphyotrichum oblongifolium) were nibbled a lot by the deer, so the blooms are not as full as on other years. In the past deer stayed away from the aromatic asters, though they ate all the smooth asters (Symphyotrichum laeve) but I guess deer will eat anything when they're hungry.

These late-season flowers attract many insects: little skipper butterflies, moths, wasps and bumblebees living out their last days.

 

Snapdragons

Aromatic asters

Aromatic asters

The seasonal changes in my flower beds always bring out some surprising color combinations, like the yellowing leaves of the Amsonia hubrichtii with the rusty flower heads of sedum 'Autumn Joy.' A few flowers of Agastache 'Blue Boa' in Herb's bed contrast with the dusty-green foliage of lavender--speaking of which, there are still a few flowers left.

Flower beds in the back yard

Late-blooming lavender

 

The Kousa dogwood is displaying its fall color, though this year it's hard to compete with the colors in the woods behind.

'Kousa' dogwood fall foliage

The pink Mums I bought this year are still looking good planted next to a clump of Muhly grass--such a beautiful color!

 

Pink mum planted near Muhly grass

 

Although the temperature has been dipping below 32 degrees these past nights, there is still no sign that a hard frost has hit any of the plants, I'm still waiting for Jack Frost to make his appearance. When that happens--and it will--I'd love to have it be a picturesque hoar-frost such as we had a few years back in early November. We shall see.