Blue Porterweed ~ Elizabeth Smith

Blue Porterweed, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith.

This unusual plant can be found wild in well-drained disturbed soil, and is often cultivated in south Florida. Considered endemic by some, purists debate its status as a true Florida native. A similar but larger relative exists, often confusing identification between the two.

Zebra Longwing and Julia butterflies love the flowers, and I recently learned that it’s also the host plant for Tropical Buckeye larva. The flowers on this plant are a violet to violet-blue, but I’ve seen blossoms that veer into a vivid clear blue with very little violet.

I resorted to the Internet to find out why this is called porterweed, ironically finding the answer from an acquaintance here in Florida. Roger Hammer is (among many things) the Senior Interpretive Naturalist in the Miami-Dade Parks Department, and in his online article (click here to read) he clears up the mystery. A foaming porter-like tea (porter is beer or ale) has been made from the plant to treat several conditions, hence “porterweed.”

Thanks for visiting! You can click on the image above to view larger on my Flickr photostream.

A corner of my garden - Maree

.
"Tread softly!" a signpost in one garden reads: "Your feet are killing me!"



I sketched this corner in my garden just after a lovely down-pour last December - everything glistening and wet! While I was sketching, I noticed some weeds, but quite liked the look of them as they nestled between the rocks - so I left the job of de-weeding for some other time...

Tulip Sketches - Carolyn Pappas

I was gifted some tulips a few weeks ago and I am working on a watercolor painting of them. I've made a lot of preliminary sketches and I'm all ready to start the actual painting, but I'm feeling a little intimidated. As a way to procrastinate, I figured I would get outside to practice some more by drawing some tulips that are still outside. Plus, the time frame for tulips isn't too long and they are one of my favorite flowers. The tulips that I was gifted have already died off, but I've planted the bulbs so they can come up again next year.

Inspired by Phlox - Lin Frye

Inspired by Phlox
Originally uploaded by linfrye

Daily Practice
Journal

These sweet, incredibly blue/lavender flowers are making their appearance in my secret garden. Their color seems to shimmer against all the greens. This creeping woodland phlox or blue phlox wends its way under the shrubs and trees, and is an absolute spring delight!

Our small secret garden is located by the side of our home between the garage and side door - and is often viewed as we park our cars overnight. The phlox's unique color draws the eye, and the stands of it seem to move from year to year to different areas of this quiet space. I purchased this plant years and years ago, so its botanical name is lost to me, unfortunately, but it seems to be thriving in our moist clay soil in part sun/part shade. I believe it to be a variety of Phlox divaricata ... ( http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=PHDI5wends ).

We harvested our first chard, lettuce and beans from the Plant a Row for the Hungry spaces yesterday and delivered just under five pounds of food to the Food Shuttle! The volunteers were so excited --- that many of them went home to plant more vegetables in their own gardens!

I have to admit that I too was smitten - and so today, have a few more plants to find space for in my own vegetable beds!

Hope your day is grand!

Lin Frye
North Carolina

Redpoll - Maree

“Be as a bird perched on a frail branch that she feels bending beneath her, still she sings away all the same, knowing she has wings.”


Common Red-poll {Corduelis flammea}

I was visiting a friend last week to see how it's going with the Red Bishop she took over from me - he somehow lost a WHOLE wing as a fledgling in my garden - and I saw this little unknown bird (to me) in her aviary and enquired what it was. Turned out it's a Common Red-poll from the US, which she had bought at a pet shop. If I had my way, all pet shops would be banned from selling anything besides cats and dogs, and even that is a stretch for me.

Windmill Palm - Pam Johnson Brickell

Windmill Palm
Originally uploaded by PJBee

Sketched this pretty little tree at a friends house. It was loaded with fruit.

Water feature - Maree

Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul alike.
- John Muir (1838 - 1914)


Done in Moleskine Watercolour sketch-book 8" x 5.5"

We go for supper at the Magaliesburg Hotel regularly, sitting outside under the thatch next to this little water feature. I quickly captured this little pond and waterfall in between sips of my glass of wine and chatting to hubby, using my watercolour pencils and a glass of water the waiter accommodatingly supplied.

Leaves in Ink and Color - Teri Casper

It was so nice outside I just had to be out there

and

I felt like doing an ink sketch and wondered how far I could get in 20 minutes for the 20 minute challenge.

I started at the bottom of the grapefruit tree and started working my way up and had to quit before I got too far.

Then I wondered what it would look like if I colored the leaves so you could see the little white blossoms.

So I did.

Spring is so great!

Road through Noupoort

"A man may surely be allowed to take a glass of wine by his own fireside!"
- Richard Brinsley Sheridan



On the way to a friend's farm in Noupoort last Sunday, just the other side of Magaliesburg, I stopped to do a quick sketch of the road disappearing past a hillock and did the colour over lunch, some chatting and a glass of wine.

Pittosporum Revolutum seed pod - Alissa Duke

This seedpod is from a plant from the local Landcare site (a group of local volunteers meet once a week to clear an area of land (next to a railway track) to clear the weeds, mulch the ground and replant with indigenous species. We planted this Pittosporum revolutum along with many other plants about three years ago. It is now almost as tall as me. Perhaps these seeds attract the birds, but they certainly look dangerous to me.

Wagtail - a water bird? - Maree

God gives every bird its food, but He does not throw it into its nest.
- J.G. Holland



Just outside my studio window, our resident Wagtail has been acting like a water bird - wading the soaking lawns, pulling out the insects and having a feast! She stayed, not minding the rain at all, except for the hardest down-pours, during which she disappeared for a while, but was back as soon as it cleared up a bit.

We've been having enormous amounts of rain, the garden is loving it!

Snippets From The Links - Pam Johnson Brickell

4.17.10 Round 3 Snippets
Originally uploaded by PJBee

Verizon Heritage Golf Tournament, Hilton Head Island, SC.

Today I decided to sketch quick studies with a Micron pen and add watercolor.

We moved around the golf course rather than choosing one spot, as in previous days. I created the date block first then worked left to right on the spread. I had no real plan but each vignette seems to belong where it is. Thank you, Lord!