Beschorneria yuccoides and a Yucca11.5" x 17", pencil and coloured pencils
copyright Katherine Tyrrell
Do you know how long it took me to identify this plant? Do you know how completely unhelpful the RHS website is at identifying and providing images of plants in its own gardens? Can you tell I got more than a bit frustrated while trying to identify this plant? That will teach me to forget to photograph the name plate of the plant I'm drawing!!!
After nearly an hour of searching on the web and trying out various search terms and plant directories, Ifinally came up with Beschorneria yuccoides - confirmed by the Cambridge Botanic Garden and this site - Cool Tropical Plants which was the most helpful in terms of telling me what it is and how to look after it in layman's terms.
Anyway - it's a very spectacular plant and I found it on Weather Hill at Wisley, just near the top entrance to the Vegetable Garden. They've got about 3 or 4 growing up there and it was very spectacular at the end of May when we visited Wisley on that hot bank holiday weekend.
I'm toying with doing this one as a formal drawing for next years botanical artists exhibition. You may see it again!
Sketchercise and gardens - I find that visiting large gardens is a really great way to combine walking with sketching - and the bigger the garden the more walking gets done. RHS Wisley is a fabulous garden from this perspective. However I wasn't too keen on the bit where I couldn't get reception on my mobile phone so I could ring "he who must not bored while I sketch" who was having a very nice time sat next to the lake with the Sunday papers. I had to scoot all the way down the hill and across the stream and across seven acres to tell him that we needed to reschedule the planned meet-up....and then had to scoot all the way back up the hill again to get back to my spot for drawing these plants. But I just kept thinking about how it was probably doing me the world of good!
Sketchercise on 31st May 2009: 7,409 steps and 3.5 miles
Hi Katherine,
ReplyDeleteI know how frustrating it can be to identify plants, I found some 'new' wildflowers on my hike Sunday and am having trouble correctly identifying them using several guides. I hate putting pictures or drawings on my blog without knowing what to call them. I like to educate as well as entertain!
I liked your post today, Can't wait to walk in some English gardens.