Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Garden Glimpses : mid-July

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



Garden Painting Day 12 : Monarda

garden painting with monarda didyma (bee balm)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.

monarda and buddleia (butterfly bush)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.

Saturday, July 15, 2006

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.

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

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)...
Garden frogs hiding among the Rodgersia and Skimmia Crocodile Rock - hiding among the blue oat grass and geranium
Dragonfly rock painting in the garden
Monarda and Buddleia Davidii and Crocosmia in early July
Closeup of apples on espalier tree
Globe thistle and blue oat grass
Apples on the espalier tree
Astrantia major and other white flowers in the garden
Blueberries, raspberries and mini strawberries from our garden