Browsed by
Category: Plants and Gardens

Hildie stands on a balcony at her home. She wears a red and gold saree.
A Vision From a Different World

A Vision From a Different World

By Jan S. Gephardt To a certain extent, every piece of fiction opens a vision from a different world. But in works of science fiction, fantasy, and speculative fiction, the idea of “a different world” is often more front-and-center. But translating that into visual art can be tricky. As I’ve described in the last two blog posts, “Visualizing a Character” and “Portraying Hildie,” this winter my friend Lucy A. Synk and I undertook a multi-painting project. We sought to create…

Read More Read More

Three scenic views of the stone buildings, water features, and native plantings of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
Lady Bird and the Wildflowers

Lady Bird and the Wildflowers

By G. S. Norwood It’s March in Texas, and that means wildflowers — specifically bluebonnets. For the next two weeks, roadsides and fields will be covered with our beloved state flower, a hardy lupine that loves rocky soil and early spring sunshine. Fields of bluebonnets cover the hills of the Texas Hill Country, often peppered with clumps of Indian Paintbrush. People take pictures of themselves, their sweethearts, their babies, and their pets in bluebonnet pastures. Senior citizens who take up…

Read More Read More

“A Bone to Pick” by Jan S. Gephardt, envisioned as an ebook on the left and as a trade paperback on the right.
The story of A Bone to Pick’s Cover

The story of A Bone to Pick’s Cover

By Jan S. Gephardt It’s way too late for this to be a “reveal,” but the story of A Bone to Pick’s Cover deserves telling. Because it was not an easy—or short—journey! Late update: I unfortunately timed this post just when Jody had retired her old website and hadn’t quite gotten her new one ready. If you’re reading this in late 2021, her links may not work. The Artistry of Jody A. Lee For most of my adult life it has been…

Read More Read More

The looming rose bush that inspired this post.
Great-Grandpa!

Great-Grandpa!

By G. S. Norwood Family Weirdness My sister and I call ourselves the Weird Sisters, but the truth is, we are not the only eccentric people on our family tree. Not by a country mile. Trust me on this. There was, for instance, our grandmother, Ethel Briscoe Sherrell. The story of her father – our great-grandpa – and the hand-tinted photograph of an elderly farm wife with a giant rose bush, is only one example of our family weirdness. A…

Read More Read More

This is how the strong survive, a montage of happy roses.
Only the Strong Survive

Only the Strong Survive

By G. S. Norwood I have blogged about my flower garden before. Heaven knows my Facebook friends are tired of the new iris and rose photos I post every spring. But this year it felt a little different, stepping out into my garden after the Great Texas Deep Freeze of this past February. When our temperatures dipped into single digits, I was afraid everything in my garden would die. With temperatures like that, only the strong survive. Total Loss Let’s…

Read More Read More

Photos of five featured buildings, “Bosco Verticale,” Parkroyal on Pickering, Namba Parks, Ivry-sur-Seine, and the Chicland Hotel.
Literally Green Buildings

Literally Green Buildings

By Jan S. Gephardt Happy 51st Earth Day! Followers of my Artdog Adventures blog may remember earlier posts about environmentally-friendly architecture. I tend to post them around Earth Day. People sometimes talk about “green buildings.” But there’s “green” as in eco-friendly, and then there’s “green” as in literally green buildings. And some are both. What do I mean by “literally green buildings”? When I say “literally green buildings,” I mean green with plants. Lately, more and more architects think about…

Read More Read More