Plant Talk

Pussywillows and Purple Tulips For a Steampunk Art Show at Museo Gallery In Langley

I really have no feeling for steampunk - I get the concept, but the aesthetics just don't resonate. And even though roses are a steampunk motif, flowers and this mechanistic concept don't seem to mesh.

So when I set about fashioning a bouquet for Museo Gallery's Steampunk art opening last weekend I floundered a bit. I looked for 'Hot Cocoa' roses - but they were a little gloomy and very expensive - same with dark calla lilies. So I went with long, skinny branches of pussy willows cut off a bush growing along the road near our house in Langley, old curly red willow branches I'd had around for ages, and an armload of purple tulips (3 bunches for $12 at Metropolitan Market). And although my old black raku vase is chipped at the top, I pulled it out and put it into Steampunk service - certainly a more pretty, shiny, glass or pastel vase would never work!

The show at Museo is terrific - filled with clever oddities, intricate jewelry, covetable lamps, weird machinery, luminous paintings and amazing clothing....the show runs through February and is well worth a visit. Local artists definitely didn't have my problem grasping the concept - they've turned out stunningly original work. I can guarantee you've never seen anything quite like it - from a steampunk wedding dress to the most curious and sinister cabinet you've ever seen.But come very soon if you want to see the Steampunk bouquet:

Coming Back to the Garden

There are  drawbacks to living elsewhere than in your own garden half the time. I commute between Seattle and my Langley garden, and many days I so want to duck outdoors and pick a bouquet, check on what's budding, or pull a few weeds.

Arriving in Langley on a sunny Wednesday afternoon made up for many moments of garden deprivation.  When your garden is right outside your windows every day, it's easy for your senses to dull a bit...to lose track of spring's slow unfolding. But when you're away for more than a week, springtime hits you over the head with its magic.

When I last left Langley, it was like winter - cold and wet, the garden bleak and nearly dormant. What a difference a few warm days in April makes...it was a great joy to find drifts of bright daffodils, 'Princess Irene' tulips opening to the sun, and ruffled Crown Imperial fritillaria finally bursting into bloom when I arrived back in Langley this afternoon. The peas are growing, the lettuces plumping up nicely. Well, see for yourself - the daffodils are mostly the orange-cupped Narcissus 'Serola'; the tulips 'Princess Irene' surrounding a little trellis of 'Sugar Snap' peas in the feed trough. The bottom photo is of the peacock-like Crown Imperial frittilaria just opening its orange bells.