What's Blooming

Another month of scrounging for blooms ... this crown of thorns is just beginning to bloom.

This rosemary is blooming (and dusty – eek – but sort of appropriate to be dusting off blooms this time of year).

This shamrock is still blooming like spring is here. The shot is a little blurred but I sort of like it. The flowers are on such delicate whisps of stems that they dance in the slightest poof of air.

Hmmm, hardly worth your visit here ... winter is when I paint the most. Watercolor blooms open up when the surface of the paper is wet and dry, or in varying degrees of wetness. The paint is naturally drawn to the drier parts of the paper. Some think of watercolor blooms as a mistake, but I like them. I think they reveal the very nature of watercolor and I believe them to enhance paintings, just as blooms enhance the garden.

I truly want to be able to sit in my garden and paint, and this summer I am going to make a go at it. I have been practicing painting flowers but find them a very difficult subject! I am not really happy with my paintings so far, but you stopped by here to see blooms and that is what I am going to offer.

Hopefully you will see my paintings of flowers improve this summer! Garden bloggers' bloom day is hosted by Carol at May Dreams Gardens the 15th of each month. Stop by and add your blog to the list – it's blooming somewhere.

Leaf Study

This past weekend I spent with my house plants (which I admittedly tend to neglect during the summer gardening season). Some received new pots, some were topped off, most received some organic slow release fertilizer and some were relocated (upon request - they do talk). It takes me awhile to find the perfect spot for all my houseplants. Hopefully, all will be a little happier. We'll see what they say. Anyway, during this major project I could not help but notice their different leaf structures and I wanted to capture that here. It's not always all about flowers.

The soft, grass-like blades of the Spider Plant,

compared to the stiff spikes of the Pineapple

(yes, the one I started from the grocery store),

compared to the even larger saw toothed leaves of the Aloe.

This variety - I am not sure of the name - has beautiful, lizard-like stripes.

There's the cactus with its hair-like, but sharp, spined ribs.

This one is much taller and "snakes" its way upward.

Even sharper yet, is the Crown of Thorns silhouetted here.

There are rounded, "fleshy" leaves such as the ones
belonging to this succulent in a foamy sea green,

and the emerald green leaves of the Jade Plant.

I have plants with needle-like leaves such as this Rosemary,

and this Creeping Rosemary,

and truly needled Norfolk Pine.

I have plants with "designer" leaves such as this Begonia.

This one looks "frosted."

Look at the mottling on the leaves of this Slipper Orchid,

compared to the green, rabbit-ear-like leaves of this Slipper Orchid.

 

This orchid is producing not just leaves, but kikis (baby orchid plants)!

Look at the large, broad leaf on this Moth Orchid.
It is striking next to the aerial roots.

Look at the lines of this Plumeria leaf - so sleek.

This Violet should "leave" you all warm and fuzzy.

(Would it surprise you to know that we had to rent a separate truck to move here just for my plants?)