Garden Glimpses : mid-July

Here are a few more pics of the garden, now mid-July.

Garden Painting Day 12 : Monarda

Monarda didyma (bee balm) is a great flower for the garden, and one of my favourites. Its relaxed, shaggy appearance is a wonderful contrast to the more cultured flowers, and it is often visited by hummingbirds. It spreads rapidly into a nice patch (in its second year), so buying a monarda is good value, and there is good chance of acquiring one from fellow gardeners, too.

So here is my painting, after 12 nights, with a single monarda stem in front of it. It was fun to paint the flowers, and I like the brightness the red adds to the overall image.

I've also included a photo (right) of my monarda in full bloom alongside a purple butterfly bush (Buddleia davidii). I have discovered that the butterfly bush is irresistible to hummingbirds, too, so that area of the garden is often humming.

My next flowers to paint, I think, will be a purple coneflower (or white one, perhaps). Then a daylily also. My five-year-old son has requested that I add a Lily (my namesake) to my painting, so I will happily oblige. If I was up to the challenge, I'd paint in a stargazer lily, but I may save that for my next painting, perhaps a closeup.

Arborsculpture - The Extreme Trees of Richard Reames

I discovered a most delightful site, of the imaginative tree creations by Richard Reames, a type of artist living in Oregon. He practises the art of what he calls Arborsculpture - the shaping, pruning and grafting of trees into living works of art and functional furniture, too!

His site provides a sample of arborsculpturists around the world, and links to their websites.
I've lifted a few photos, below, from the Pooktre creations of Peter and Becky in Australia - a tree man, and a coffee table and mirror apparently grown from plum trees.
The ficus house on Okinawa island in Japan is also worth seeing.


In Richard's book, Arborsculpture - Solutions for a Small Planet, he describes these creators and their creations in more detail. I haven't read the book myself, but I imagine it would make a great coffee table book.

Garden Glimpses : Early July

Here are a few more photos from my garden, and some of the fruits we are enjoying (click on any photo for a slightly larger view)...