WHAT FIBER ARTS MEAN TO ME

My exploration into fiber arts about 15 years ago has led me from traditional folk art knitting and crocheting towards the discovery of fiber metamorphosis via felting and handweaving.

With a focus now on color and texture I work on a traditional hand powered floor weaving loom producing items that display my fondness for the kinesthetic while still heeding my analytic nature. Visual and tactile qualities of fiber inspire and embolden me to keep analyzing the complexities of these old weaving looms.

The transformation of simple fibers into changed forms through the process of fulling and felting of my hats and through weaving of my scarves continues to fascinate me. While I am working on one project I am watching and feeling the colors and textures blend and contrast inspiring yet the creation of the next project.  

Inspiration comes from the gardens, forests, birds and shores of the Pacific Northwest along with memories of the high deserts of the southwest. Each accessory piece I create is as unique as the person who uses or wears it. 

GARDEN BLOGGERS BLOOM DAY JUNE 2014

Happy June Bloom Day garden bloggers.
I'm joining in for another Bloom Day hosted by May Dream Gardens .
Be sure to check out her blog to see what's blooming in gardens all over the world.

Here is a select group of some of my blooms.

Dactylorhiza fuchsii

Cardiocrinum giganteum var. yunnanense 

Peony  given to me by Marlene Allen

Arisaema candidissimum 

             We are finally getting some rain these past few days, it was almost a month since anything measurable fell.
I've got to get out and get pics of the rest of the garden and then do some more clean up for the garden tour coming here in two weeks.
I have been organizing my collection of Arisaemas for the blog here.

ARISAEMAS

I'll try to post here a seasonal progression of my Arisaema species growing in my garden.


Arisaema nepenthoides
this was the first up and the first to bloom in late winter along with Trillium, 
then the deer came to my garden for breakfast. 
The only picture I got this year was with the missing flower. 
This is a form with silver leaf patterning. So far this tuber has not had offsets or spread.
The foliage is still present and healthy in mid June
 so maybe without the flower the tuber will get really strong and divide. 

Arisaema nepenthoides
April 11 2014 when the deer came for breakfast. 

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Arisaema sikokianum
These are among the earliest to come up in the spring.
All those in my garden now are ones I have grown from seed from a few I purchased years ago which have met their demise one way or other.

Arisaema sikokianum
March 24th 2014

Arisaema sikokianum
April 11th 2014

A. sikokianum

close up

these are in a drier spot
and seem to be diminishing-
another one there did not come up this year

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Arisaema griffithii 

Coming up next are my two clumps of Arisaema griffithii. 
I certainly should have divided these.  I started with two tubers and now have about 6 in each clump. I will have to find out the best time to separate them. 

April 11 2014

Arisaema griffithii
April 11, 2014

Arisaema griffithii
May 5, 2014

A. griffithii

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Arisaema speciosum 

I've had this twice before, but the tuber either froze out or rotted out.
So I bought another one early last year ~ March 2013- planted in a new spot.
It did well last year and even survived our two extra cold spells last winter. 
So I was quite surprised to see it come up so healthy and larger this year.

Arisaema speciosum
March 30 2014 

A. speciosum
May 16 2014

Look at the amazing spadix filament how it keeps growing and looping first over the leaf, the leaf then keeps growing and lifting the filament up, but as the filament continues to grow it loops back down to the ground again and wraps around other plant foliage. 

Then it went up again and back down. 

This provides a path for  ants gnats, bugs, etc. to crawl up into the the spathe to fertilize the flowers. I hope this plant has both male and female parts this year, I haven't gently pulled it apart to check yet. 

A. speciosum

A. speciosum

A. speciosum

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Arisaema taiwanense

I added this to my collection last year from Dan Hinkley's Windcliff plants. 
The plant from last year did really well, produced what I thought were fertile seeds since the seed pod was huge and each seed was full and lasted long into the fall-- 
but when opened up I could not find any seed. 
I bought another plant this year to increase my clump.
I'm just getting too old to wait so long anymore. The next generation will just have to divide everything up if it gets too crowded. I'm just not patient enough to wait. 
That said, if I do get seed this year, you can bet I'll be trying to germinate it and planting it. 

Arisaema taiwanense
March 26
last year's plant in front
& this year's stem just seen behind it 

A taiwanense
last yr. plant foreground
new plant background

A. taiwanense

A. taiwanense

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Arisaema ringens

I've had two of these for quite a while but one did not come up this year and the remaining one is declining. 
They are probably too shaded and possibly too dry during the summer, or possibly the moles have undermined them. . 

Must be time to move it to a better place.

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Arisaema utile

Added this  to my collection this year purchased from Naylor Creek I think. 

Arisaema utile
Love those big leaves!

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Arisaema exappendiculatum


Wow, have these guys decided to spread this year! 

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Arisaema dilatatum 

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Arisaema consanguineum

This is the first Arisaema I ever purchased, a long, long time ago at Heronswood, back in the day when you had to label your own plants.  So for a while I did not know if it was concinnum or consanguineum since I only wrote "A. con" on the tag. 

I've been growing these from seed ever since 

and watching the clumps spread on their own as well. 

They are one of the latest Arisaemas to emerge.

Arisaema consanguineum
May 20th 2014 

A. consanguineum May 28th 2014

A consanguineum
with seedlings of poppies coming up throughout

A consanguineum seedling
with darker red stems

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Arisaema tortuosum

I've planted these in two different places. In my upper moss garden they are staying very small while other things growing there are flourishing. I've tried adding compost under the moss, and fertilizing, but it is not working. Darn! I want them to grow there. They would stand out and look great. 

 In t he other spot  under the Styrax, they are growing well, but leaning way over reaching for the sun. 

Arisaema tortuosum in left background 5/20/14
Foreground is solid dark stemmed seedling
possibly A. tortuosum.. 

dark stemmed Arisaema ? tortuosum affin
5/25 2014

dark stem A. affin tortuosum foreground
A. tortuosum emerging right background
5/25 2014

A tortuosum  June 15 2014

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Arisaema costatum

click on the picture to enlarge, 

and look at those amazing spadix filaments! 

Arisaema costatum June 6, 2014 

Arisaema costatum June 9 2014

Arisaema costatum June 14 2014

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Arisaema candidissimum

I had two large containers of these with many offsets growing in my greenhouse that I got at Fronderosa Frolic from Marietta O'Byrne in Eugene Oregon. But by the time I decided where to plant them ( a few years later)  they did not come back the next year. 

So last year in 2013 I bought two more from another Oregon nursery that was at Sorticulture. I immediately plaanted them where I had hoped the others would grow and lo and behold they did come back this year and are producing bloom and offsets! 

Arisaema candidissimum 6/8/14

A. candidissimum 6/ 9 2014

Arisaema candidissimum 6/ 14 2014

CARDIOCRINUMS

Cardiocrinum giganteum var. yunnanense

The first of the Cardiocrinums this year started blooming yesterday, June 6th. 

It is the group of Cardiocrinum giganteum var. yunnanense. 
Their early spring foliage is burnished with red along the leaf veins.
My original plant bloomed in 2008 or 09 so these are offsets.

Here is a progression of their life this year: 

March 20th--these emerge about 2 weeks ahead of the other Cardiocrinums.
For the past 6 years, their foliage stayed low and looked like this all summer. 

But this year the stems are rising up from the bulb 
so it looks like this is the year they will finally bloom again!

May 5th

By May 19th the buds at the top of the stalks are rising up. 

By June 1st, the buds had stretched apart and began turning downward. 

And by the 5th were starting to open

My son is 6' 1"

June 10th, all the buds except two on the bottom are now fully open.
The middle stalk has 15 blooms.

 I think there is more red inside each flower on these than on the "regular" Cardiocrinums. Those are still rising up and buds have not separated, 

so these will be finished before those open. We'll have to compare pictures in a few weeks.
( Hmmm.. just realized that the main picture for my blog header is the other Cardiocrinum from two years ago and it actually looks like the red is more solid and darker in those). 

Cardiocrinum giganteum x yunnanense
June 8, 2014

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Cardiocrinum giganteum var. giganteum

Well, this group was two weeks behind the C. giganteum var. yunnanense so It looks like I did not take any pictures while they were growing during the spring. 
The flower stalks have been rising with a tight bud at their tops.

But today, June 14, the buds are now just beginning to stretch up and separate. 

adding a great link to information from the Oregon Hardy Plant Society: 

hardyplantsociety.org/the-lifecycle-of-a-cardicrinum-giganteum-giant-himalayan-https://blog.hardyplantsociety.org/the-lifecycle-of-a-cardicrinum-giganteum-giant-himalayan-lily/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+HardyPlantSocietyOfOregon+%28Hardy+Plant+Society+of+Oregon+Blog%29