Posts Tagged ‘blooms’

Japan­ese artist Yayoi Kusama’s new pieces are being pre­sented by Lon­don Gallery Vic­to­ria Miro. This is an excerpt from the catalog:

June 5, 2010 update: IT’S BLOOMING!!!!!!!! From the Hunt­ing­ton website:

Botan­i­cal staff noticed that the petal-​like outer spathe was begin­ning to pull away from the tall spadix at around 2 p.m. Fri­day after­noon. But flies had already begun to appear, clearly sens­ing some­thing in the air. The bloom takes approx­i­mately 7 hours to open fully. The odor is at its strongest dur­ing the first 12 hours or so, when the plant is recep­tive to pollination.

Pub­lic hours at The Hunt­ing­ton are from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Extended evening hours will be offered for Hunt­ing­ton Mem­bers Fri­day and Sat­ur­day night, from 5 to 7:30 p.m.

It’s baaack…the gigan­tic Amor­phophal­lus Titan­tum, aka the Corpse Flower, aka Stinky, is get­ting ready to bloom again at The Hunt­ing­ton. The fol­low­ing sum­ma­rizes a detailed and beau­ti­fully pho­tographed post on The Hunt­ing­ton web site (www​.Hunt​ing​ton​.org/) about this rar­ity. The Corpse Flower is named for an excep­tion­ally foul odor emit­ted by Amor­phophal­lus Titan­tum when it blooms. The Hunt­ing­ton had the first bloom in Cal­i­for­nia in 1999. Botanists there were sub­se­quently able to har­vest 10 seeds from which sev­eral seedlings were pro­duced. The cur­rent plant is being tracked daily, with the cur­rent height at about 40″ and an esti­mated bloom date of June 5 thru the 10th.

So, to go or not to go? This year I’ll bat­tle the crowds and go — who knows when I’ll get another chance? Besides, I have to report to my read­ers: How stinky is it???

In case you are not famil­iar with The Hunt­ing­ton Library and Art Col­lec­tions and Botan­i­cal Gar­dens, this “embar­rass­ment of riches” is located in San Marino just out­side of Los Ange­les. A pri­vate, non­profit insti­tu­tion, The Hunt­ing­ton was founded in 1919 by Henry E. Hunt­ing­ton, an excep­tional busi­ness­man who built a finan­cial empire that included rail­road com­pa­nies, util­i­ties, and real estate hold­ings in South­ern Cal­i­for­nia. This must-​see SoCal attrac­tion has so many superla­tives in its art gal­leries, library and gar­dens it just has to be experienced.

Cot­tage Nurs­ery Garden

This yummy Orange County nurs­ery is burst­ing at the seams with old-​fashioned flow­ers and roman­tic heir­loom vari­eties. A smaller scale enter­prise, it is lov­ingly tended by sis­ters Jayme and Stacy Cox, and their mom Jane Cox. A brick foot­path winds through a tapes­try of blooms, vines, foun­tains, arbors and stat­u­ary. Beat­rix Pot­ter would have been right at home here. Think wis­te­ria, rare pop­pies, tons of antique roses. I noticed “bleed­ing hearts”, a plant that I remem­ber from my grandmother’s gar­den in Wis­con­sin. If you are look­ing for Eng­lish gar­den plants this nurs­ery is well worth a drive — it’s one stop shop­ping. A ship­ment of Annie’s Annu­als arrived April 1. Be sure to Mapquest or call for direc­tions — access can be tricky.

www​.cot​ta​genurs​ery​gar​dens​.com

Finches feast at Cot­tage Nurs­ery Gardens

Anthro­polo­gie flowers

I was walk­ing with my sis­ter Mary Lynn on the Third Street Prom­e­nade in Santa Mon­ica, Cal­i­for­nia recently when we came across the most beau­ti­ful win­dow dis­play at the Anthro­polo­gie store. They had a spec­tac­u­lar dis­play of great look­ing flow­ers made of plas­tic bot­tles — some­thing I had never encoun­tered before. I got some pho­tographs but they don’t do jus­tice to the effect of these bright and col­or­ful recy­cled blooms. Made out of plas­tic bot­tles that have been spray painted, it’s an easy way to cre­ate a spe­cial object from a mun­dane object. To recre­ate these flow­ers go to the link below — you can also do a search for “flow­ers made from plas­tic bottles”.

http://​www​.recy​clethis​.co​.uk/​2​0​0​8​0​5​0​1​/​r​e​c​y​c​l​i​n​g​-​p​o​p​-​a​n​d​-​w​a​t​e​r​-​b​o​t​t​l​e​s​-​i​n​t​o​-​f​l​o​w​ers

More flow­ers you can make yourself