spring garden invasion!

I just got back from the International Magnolia Society conference and a week of garden visits. During the conference, we visited many gardens and I got a chance to display some of recent botanical illustrations. Here's one of them. This stunning magnolia is called Magnolia dawsoniana.

 

This is magnolia lives at the Huntington Botanic Gardens (BG) here in Los Angeles. The conference brought us to various Bay Area botanical gardens and arboretums. We started at Quaryhill BG, then went on to the San Francisco BG and the University of California BG at Berkeley.

During the conference, I had the pleasure of meeting a garden curator who grows Victoria water lilies Victoriana cruziana. I had no idea that I could become so enamored! These water lilies are huge and often photographed with children sitting on them. In the wild, they're found in Bolivia in the Rio Parana. But, the largest water lily was grown in the courtyard of La Rinconada restuarant in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. To my family living in Bolivia, go see them!

Victorias can hold up to 300 pounds. So, in homage, I sketched a newborn elephant planted on one. Oh, a newborn elephant weights just under 300 pounds. 

The last garden of my garden tour was Filoli. My transformation to aesthete was complete. Filoli is a lavish estate and gardens reminiscient of England and all things fancy. I enjoyed the meadows of daffodils, rows of herbs and fruit trees, and the formal walking garden. There was even a gravel driveway lined with enormous "Michelia" magnolias. The main house was full of gigantic flower arrangements, gilded bits and beautiful botanic illustrations... I drew these doors in their ballroom. 

Well, that's it. I'm back in Pasadena. Thanks for keeping in touch. I'll be posting more magnolia painting before long.

Cheers! Andrea