Prairie Moon Nursery

Our spring native seed catalog has arrived. We are happy to lend. Just give us a call and we can drop it off. Some very nice grouping selections. Prairie Moon is very reputable, with tenure in the seed business, and in fact most of these seeds are found at the  family farm in Marshall County, Iowa.

This copy is 48 pages….and in full color

We are happy to lend to you for one week. We can then pick it up and pass to our next interested seed enthusiast.

Enjoy! 

“Contessa”

The Garden Museum, UK

Film: Lucian Freud’s Chatsworth Cyclamen Mural Did you know Lucian Freud painted a cyclamen mural in a private bathroom at Chatsworth House? In our new exhibition Lucian Freud: Plant Portraits we have recreated the space to give visitors a rare opportunity to see this little-known masterpiece. To find out more about the real thing, we visited Chatsworth to make a short film with Senior Curator of Programme Dr Alex Hodby, to share the story of this powerful plant portrait. Lucian Freud: Plant Portraits is open until 5 March 2023 Digital partner Patch Plants Watch the film New Talk! Freud and Flowers at Chatsworth The Devonshire Collection at Chatsworth holds a rich variety of works by Lucian Freud, including paintings, prints, objects and even a cyclamen mural in a bathroom. This talk by Dr Alex Hodby, Senior Curator of Programme at Chatsworth (as seen in our film above!), will explore these works in the context of the collection and house. Focusing on depictions of flowers and plants, Alex will expand on how Freud’s work is understood within the context of the historic collection, and in relation to the Cavendish family. Centring on works in the collection in comparison with other closely related painting, prints and drawings, Alex will explore the artworks and how she has come to understand their place in the dynamic home at Chatsworth. Alex was one of the curators of the acclaimed exhibition this summer of the exhibition of the family’s commissions by contemporary artists The exhibition Lucian Freud: Plant Portraits will be open from 6.30pm – 7pmbefore the talk (entry included). Tues 29 November, 7pm £20 Standard, £15 Friends £10 Students / Young Fronds Book tickets Talk this week! Charlotte Molesworth in conversation with Non Morris Artist and gardener Charlotte Molesworth has been making a gentle haven of a garden – an enclosed world of light-catching peacocks, plump tiers of variegated box – for forty years. The garden at Balmoral Cottage in Kent was originally the kitchen garden of Collingwood ‘Cherry’ Ingram’s Benenden Estate, and has been featured in Vogue, Gardens Illustrated, Gardeners’ World, The Telegraph and many more! Charlotte and her garden are a great inspiration to some of our favourite gardeners – including Rachel de Thame who commented: “I’ll never forget meeting Charlotte, ambling round that magical garden talking topiary. It was one of the few times I’ve truly resented having a film crew trailing around with us. I wanted to have her to myself … and possibly spend a month sipping tea in her kitchen. A truly remarkable person.” Non and Charlotte will be chatting about the delights of topiary – the way giant fennel and towering sunflowers dazzle against the formal structure, and why Buxus sempervirens ‘Elegantissima’ is the ‘Queen of box’. Tues 8 November, 7pm £25 Standard, £20 Friends / Young Fronds, £15 Students £10 Livestream Book tickets Book Extract | Leif Bersweden: Where the Wildflowers Grow Ahead of his Plant Science Lecture at the Garden Museum on Friday 25 November, adventuring botanist Leif Bersweden shares an extract from his new book Where the Wildflowers Grow:“Parliament Square wasn’t exactly the epitome of biodiversity. It largely consisted of Perennial Rye-grass, a species with shiny, dark-green leaves that’s often sown to create parks and recreation grounds. But as I wandered, I noticed little plants popping up here and there. There were Shepherd’s-purse and Common Chickweed, but neither was in flower. A couple strolled past, arm in arm, eyeing me with a mixture of curiosity and misgiving. I grinned sheepishly at them. Bright-red London buses slid by, heading south over Westminster Bridge. I glanced over my shoulder at the Houses of Parliament and eyed the police guards cradling their enormous guns. I felt like I was trespassing in one of the most famous places in the world. ‘Sorry, officer, don’t mind me, I’m just looking for midwinter wildflowers’ is the kind of excuse that would probably only increase their suspicion if I was questioned about my activities. My concerns were interrupted, however, when I saw the Daisy: tall, bright and open- flowered. I got down on the ground to have a closer look…” Keep reading Christmas Wreath-making Workshop ‘Tis almost the season for wreath-making! Create a beautiful bespoke traditional Christmas wreath from scratch using fresh materials and dried fruit and berries. Florist and floristry lecturer Elaine Fisher will teach you the techniques and guide you to make your own wreath to hang on your front door or even use as a table centrepiece. At the end of the workshop, you can take your festive creation home to decorate your home with. Tues 29 November, 7pm £60, includes all materials Book tickets Object of the Week: The Topiary Lawn at Great Dixter (c.1960) In honour of Charlotte Molesworth’s enchanting topiary garden, this week we looked for exemplary examples of topiary in our collection of historic garden photos and came across this photo of Great Dixter’s topiary lawn from c.1960. Complete with requisite dog sprawled on the lawn! Christopher Lloyd (1921-2006) is quoted on Great Dixter’s website:“A closely planted strip of ash trees on the garden’s west boundary, provide wonderful silhouettes of airy foliage against the sunset sky, in summer, but they do shed much seed into the garden, borne on the prevailing south-west winds. The yew topiary lends a particular atmosphere to several parts of the garden. There was more of it in my father’s time. It has a presence, especially when shadows are long and it appears to inhabit, rather than grow. It needs clipping only once a year. If done in August, it will retain its sharp outlines right through to the end of the following May. However, although we mechanised the operation soon after the last war, we seldom achieve this objective and are pleased if this prolonged task is completed by November. Yew grows much faster than people imagine, if the ground is well prepared and the plants are fed.” Explore our collection online Images: Chatsworth House photo courtesy of Chatsworth; Charlotte Molesworth (c) Leigh Clapp; Westminster Daisy (c) Leif Bersweden; Great Dixter Topiary Lawn c.1960, Garden Museum Collection Garden Museum 5 Lambeth Palace Road, London SE1 7LB gardenmuseum.org.uk

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THE GARDEN MUSEUM – U.K.

Houseplant Festival this weekend! We’re filling the museum with our favourite plant stalls for all your indoor jungle needs this weekend – from sustainably grown houseplants, succulents, cacti and orchids to terrariums, beautiful pots, planters, tools and more. Plus a jam-packed programme of activities including: James Wong on indoor ecosystems Jane Perrone on how to propagate your houseplants Barbican Head Gardener Marta Lowcewicz on gardening houseplants in the Barbican Conservatory Free plant swap hosted by London Terrariums Make a terrarium with Plant Designs Sat 22 – Sun 23 October, 10am – 5pm £7 Standard, £6 Friends, £6 Young Fronds Book tickets Our Retail Manager Elef looks through hundreds of images and objects in the Garden Museum collection to design unique greetings cards with. His most recent find is this lithographic illustration from an 1861 book about growing indoor plants. These cards will be among the special selection of houseplant themed ephemera in the Garden Museum Shop this weekend for the Houseplant Festival: books, cards, tools, gifts and more! Book tickets Plant Science Lecture Leif Bersweden: Where the Wildflowers Grow In 2021, Leif Bersweden went on a big botanical adventure around Britain and Ireland with his bike, travelling from Hampshire’s Bluebell woods to the shores of Shetland, to track down our most intriguing and well-known plants, with the people who love them most dearly. Leif’s latest book, Where the Wildflowers Grow, follows him on that journey as he botanises his way through an entire calendar year, meeting our plants, telling their stories and exploring people’s connection to their local flora. Plants are capable of extraordinary things that we rarely hear about or give them credit for, and Leif is here to share their ways with new audiences. This talk, like the book, is all about the joy of engaging with nature, the importance of plants for our climate, and celebrating our unbelievable botanical diversity This talk is part of our new Plant Science Lecture series organised by the Garden Museum’s Plant Science Educator Samia Qureshi.  Fri 25 November, 7pm £15 Standard, £5 Students / Young Fronds Book tickets October Half-Term We have cooking, art, science and nature activities coming up this half-term for all ages, inspired by our new exhibition Lucian Freud: Plant Portraits! Highlights include: Family Art Workshop: Autumnal Trees in Print A monoprint is a one-off print which involves drawing on the back of paper whilst pressing onto ink. We will look at and feel the texture of some of the trees outside at the Garden Museum and collect some autumnal leaves which we can make some rubbings and prints from. We will then experiment with mono-printing using a roller and ink. Be prepared to get a bit messy! Mon 24 October, 2pm £2 per child Book tickets Twilight Bat Walk Hosted by Lambeth Council’s ‘borough ecologist’ Dr Iain Boulton, we’ll be looking for bats and bat activity on this evening walk round Archbishops Park next to the Museum. The walk, which normally lasts for an hour, will use tools such as bat detectors to listen for bats, and hopefully you’ll also see them as your eyes get used to the dark! Find out about the origins, importance and lifestyles of our British bats, and what we can do to help protect and encourage them. Tues 25 October, 6pm £10 Adults, kids go free! Book tickets Magical Moss and Fantastic Ferns Join us to learn about the plant science of moss and ferns! In this workshop we will collect samples of moss and ferns from the tombs and walls in our gardens. Then we’ll examine our samples under a range of different microscopes, looking at fern leaves known as fronds and learning about plant structures and life cycles. We will use the leaves to make fern prints on fabric or paper using paint or hammers which you can take home at the end of the session. Tues 27 October, 2pm £2 per child Book tickets Object of the Week Flowers on a Red Chair (1998), Lucian Freud Freud’s worn-out, red upholstered chair on wheels was a staple in his studio and has appeared in six canvases. A relatively unusual painting for the artist, Flowers on a Red Chair is a poetic meditation on absence and presence and the role flowers play in the aftermath of loss. Casually abandoned on the empty chair, Freud’s flowers gesture towards the inconsistent nature of memory. He may be revisiting the tradition of the Dutch still-life in which flower compositions remind us of death—the memento mori—in a wholly domestic, understated, and very intimate scene. Lucian Freud: Plant Portraits is open until 5 March Book a visit Images: Houseplant Festival 2021 (c) Graham Lacdao; Where the Wild Flowers Grow cover courtesy of Leif Bersweden; Ferns in the Garden Museum courtyard photo by Matt Collins; Flowers on a Red Chair, 1998 (oil on canvas) Freud, Lucian, Private Collection © The Lucian Freud Archive, Bridgeman Images Garden Museum 5 Lambeth Palace Road, London SE1 7LB gardenmuseum.org.uk

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The Garden Museum…. Sharing

Houseplant Festival Talk James Wong on Indoor Ecosystems Just added to the Houseplant Festival programme, we’re delighted to welcome botanist and award-winning garden designer James Wong! He will reveal how understanding the Victorian colonial origins of terrariums and the biology of rainforests can make you a terrarium-design pro. Busting social media myths and explaining some straight-forward plant science, James will be sharing all his secrets behind making mini ecosystems indoors. Sun 23 October, 3.30pm £10 Book now Lucian Freud: Plant Portraits is open! Bringing together a selection of rarely or never-before-seen paintings and etchings of potted plants and gardens, Lucian Freud: Plant Portraits will coincide with the 100th anniversary of the artist’s birth. Freud was not a gardener but had a close and respectful relationship with plants, from his childhood drawings in Berlin to his garden in Notting Hill, and the straggly potted plants that followed him from home to home throughout his life. Discover why, and when, the master of the modern nude chose to paint plants, and not people. Open until 5 March 2023 Friends go free Book a visit Fleurs du Mal and other tales: A reading of poems by Annie Freud Join us for an evening of poetry readings with Annie Freud, a poet and essayist renowned for her live performances. Annie will be reading poems from her own collections, as well as a selection of Lucian Freud’s favourite poets. The evening will be chaired by poet and editor Kathryn Gray. Tues 22 November, 7pm £15 Standard, £10 Friends £5 Students / Young Fronds Book now Life Drawing Class Lucian Freud: Drawing Plant Portraits Lucian Freud is infamous for his gritty, fleshy nudes, and so inspired by our new exhibition Lucian Freud: Plant Portraits, all-female art collective London Drawing Group will be offering a life drawing class like no other. Set against the soaring backdrop of our central nave space, and nestled amongst a backdrop of lush plants, our model Lily will be posing in, with and amongst our leafy friends. Through this class, we’ll be exploring the unique ways in which Freud approached drawing with bespoke exercises designed to offer new insights into the point where the human and vegetal intersect. Fri 18 November, 7pm £30 Standard, £25 Young Fronds Includes exhibition entry! Book now Talk this week! Giovanni Aloi in conversation with Daniel F. Hermann What is a plant portrait? How does it differ from the picture of a plant? Guest curator of Lucian Freud: Plant Portraits Giovanni Aloi will explore Freud’s ability to tease out the individual character of the plants he painted. He will be joined in conversation by Daniel F. Hermann, Curator of Modern & Contemporary Projects at the National Gallery where The Credit Suisse Exhibition: Lucian Freud – New Perspectives is open now. The exhibition will be open from 6.00pm – 6.30pm before the talk (entry included). Tues 18 October, 7pm £20 Standard, £15 Friends, £10 Students / Young Fronds £10 Livestream Book now Hortus Review: Lucian Freud Herbarium Guest curator of Lucian Freud: Plant Portraits Giovanni Aloi is the author of Lucian Freud Herbarium, a book which was recently reviewed in Hortus journal. We are delighted to share the review written by Rosemary Lindsay:  “Aloi says ‘Freud’s paintings of plants, despite being exceptionally original, are still a mostly overlooked body of work in the troubled history of twentieth century art. While centuries of botanical illustrations and still life painting have objectified plants and focused on aesthetic appearances and symbolic meanings, Freud’s portrayals strip this encoding to the point that a plant’s enigmatic presence is revealed in all its glory. In his work plants are allowed to be what they are, irremediably engulfed in their laconic character and imperturbable demeanor.’ If this book is anything to go by the exhibition will be unmissable…” Keep reading

Object of the Week: Schoolboys in a Vegetable Garden, 1906 This photographic postcard of schoolboys with tools in vegetable garden is annotated on the reverse, ‘Do you know any of this group of workers?’ Addressed to a Miss Chandler from ‘C’, postmarked Pangbourne in Berkshire and dated 1906. Explore our collection Images: Terrarium, James Wong courtesy of James Wong; Lily among the plants by Luisa MacCormack;Two Plants, 1977-80 (oil on canvas) by Lucian Freud; Tate Modern, London © The Lucian Freud Archive. All Rights Reserved 2022 / Bridgeman Images; Lucian Freud Herbarium book cover courtesy Prestel

Garden Museum 5 Lambeth Palace Road, London SE1 7LB gardenmuseum.org.uk

Birds and Blooms – June/July/August/September

Birds and Blooms Magazine is an awesome way to learn about birds, houseplants, gardening, bushes, trees, climates, crawly creatures and plant identification. We have offered the opportunity prior for you to read this simple but very informative publication. It’s a great evening read. No TV and you learn so much. Let us know if you woukd like to view them. We can drop them by your location for a weeks lend. Then we can pick them up and pass them to the next location. Birds and Blooms is so worth your time. 

In the September issue we discovered an article about grasses. And we have a current client who wanted grasses as a backdrop to their newly established garden, which we actually planted. We visited the nursery and we selected six Pink Buhly Grass plants at about $75, and planted them last Friday. As you can see in the photo below they are lush and full and very attractive as a filler.

Please contact us to reserve your week of reading at:

ContessasHome@gmail,com or at 703-548-1882

“Contessa” says….., it’s all good!

Milkweed – Attraction – Butterflies

So…..this is “Milkweed.” Most often seen on farms,  in pastures, along the side of country roads in ditches and we spied two stalks of it ten days ago, right in the center of a neighborhood Daylily bed. We just pulled hard and it came out.  No real roots to speak of, just white dirt covered ends.  So we cut the tops off creating a pencil length stalk and without even washing it off, we put it in a glass of water in the kitchen window. A gardening friend didn’t think it would root or produce anything. 

Well today we looked at it….and there it is – new growth on both stalks. Nearer the top.

We are going to plant it in the garden in a sunny spot. Remember it develops an underground traveling root system so it can spread and become highly invasive – so plant it closer to a wooded area where it can grow without disturbing your more domestic plants and flowers. And once it takes off – do your best to contain its growth. It’s a bit like the herb “mint,” it will spread everywhere.

We only waited ten days for this new growth. Amazing plant life. It cannot stop itself. Nature just keeps on giving. We love it. And very soon we will have “butterflies.” How can you not love this. Pretty exciting!!!

“Contessa” says….. it’s all good

Gardening Today – 1620 block – Mt Eagle Place

Our “Aussie” client is a lover of encouraging and cultivating native plants. He is a repeat client. We have been with him three (3) years now. His backyard area is very wooded and there is a ton of low lying native plant growth, conducive to transplanting. Along the right side of his townhouse is a very steep bank. We were summoned to clear the bank of tons and tons of dandelions. We completed the job with two (2) full bags of “dandy weeds.” The longer term goal will be to plant the entire bank with a ground cover. So we took a “before” video of the bank which was our original assignment.

BEFORE

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Ajuga is the native ground traveler that is growing in the wooded area of this property, so today we transplanted  twenty (20) of these to the top 30 inches of the bed. This is an experiment to see if the Ajuga will not only grow, but creep and spread. If the transplants grow and spread successfully, we will assist with the population of the entire sloped bed. 

AJUGA

At the end of the first three (3) hours we retuned to trim back the boxwood bushes on the left tiered bed. One in very rough shape. We completely trimmed it back closer to the ground. It was in poor condition so we will see if it can be revived. We trimmed back dead growth on all plants and bushes in the beds today.

We edged all the beds. Secured all plantings with new garden soil. We also have instructed Parkfairfax to leave bags of mulch…,,and we will lay it…..once delivered. This project was completed at five (5) hours.

AFTER

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We receive a Prairie Moon Nursery native seed catalog every spring, and we left one for our resident to preview. He has already spotted a (12) pack iof native flowering plants  and is going to order. It was a great variety. So we are looking forward to seeing the delivery. Each plant is about 6 inches of growth and ready to plant. How fun is this? Cool….

“Contessa” says….. it’s all good.

Prairie Moon Nursery – Native Wildflowers

Our Spring 2022 wildflowers catalog has just arrived. Included seed products by category are:

• Pollinators

• Mix and Match Perennial Trays

• Single Species Trays

• Host Plants

• Milkweed

• Bird Favs

• BumbleBee Favs

• Prairie Classics (4 pages)

• Shade (2 pages)

• Ground Covers

• Seed Mixes (sun and shade)

If you would like to borrow or copy, please give us a call. (703-548-1882). We will happily drop it off for one week,  and then pick it up so we can pass it on to other clients. We do this every season. No biggie! Our pleasure to share. It’s a nice fresh copy and power packed with color sample photos

“Contessa” says….. it’s a very good thing.

Missing A Loved One – in Separation

QUEEN ANNE’s LACE – WILDFLOWER

“…..for he said: ‘May the Lord keep watch between you and me when we are out of each other’s sight.’” Genesis 31:49

“Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen.“ Hebrews 11://1

“For God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:8

 “Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7

******

……my Father God, thank you for your scripture that calms  my heart snd soothes my longings.  Amen

How great is your love……

My Dearest Jesus,

I give you my day. May nothing separate me from You today. Teach me how to choose only Your way today. May each of my steps lead me closer to You. Help me walk by your holy “Word” and not my feelings. Feeling are so temporary. Help me to keep my heart pure.  Protect me from my own careless thoughts, words, and actions. And keep me from being distracted by MY wants, MY desires, MY thoughts on how things should be. Help me to cherish what comes my way as a planned blessing… rather than a personal inconvenience. And finally, Jesus, Jesus help me to rest in the truth of Psalm 83:13.

“Great is your love for me.”   Amen