Indianapolis Museum of Art Blog

The weather has been absolutely gorgeous of late, lots of 50’s at night and 70’s for daytime highs. It doesn’t get much more perfect than that. I could just about give Mother Nature a big open-mouthed kiss.

image courtesy of neatorama.com

I admit these temps are not ideal for maximum growth on my precious tropicals but for everything else (including me, okay, especially me) it’s fantastic. The Hydrangea paniculata ‘Kyushu’ along the mall has never been so happy. Not that they have looked bad other years. It’s just they look extra full this year. Read the rest of this entry »

Yeah! Another Horticulturist has become a blogger. I just love watching my little seedlings grow and blossom into their full potential. This week Jim Kincannon posts his first IMA blog. Jim is not only a great Horticulturist but he also is the catalyst for us having entire conversations based on song lyrics. You won’t find that in other departments I bet. My hope is we will hear from Jim of Geoff (or Katie or Patty or Chad or ….) every other week opposite my weeks. Eventually we will get a bio up for each and they can quit posting under my blog. I don’t mind them being under my thumb, but under my blog? No way.

Uh-oh, somebody left the blog-o-graph in the Division of Environmental and Historic Preservation unsecured! Well, I am done cleaning Irvin’s and Geoff’s garden trowels so let’s see how this thing works…

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When I wrote the intro to Geoff’s blog a couple weeks ago I told you I was prostituting myself for plants at the Perennial Plant Symposium. There is some truth to that.

Image from slantmouth.com

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While I am in Saint Louis prostituting myself for plants at the Perennial Plant Symposium Horticulturist Geoff VonBurg is filling in for me. One of Geoff’s gardens here is the recently restored Orchard. But I have no idea what he is blogging about. Thanks Geoff.

Irvin Etienne, Aesthetic Czar, whose garden trowel I am not worthy to clean, is away this week.  He said something about a professional conference in St Louis, but I hear Dolly Parton is performing in Branson, so I’m not sure…

Anyway, he left me keys to the blog-o-graph and said, “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

More and more this season, I have been enraptured with wonder at what nature does.  For the blog’s title, I turned to Jens Jensen, one of the great evangelists for the church of mother earth.   In the first chapter of Siftings (1939) he said that the “[natural world] about us has within it all the joy and happiness that we need.”  Amen.  As much as my life is enriched by the amazing work I see in our galleries, more nourishing for my soul is the beauty and humility of plants.  I want to offer three little samples.

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You may remember that in my last blog I reported the imminent arrival of our honeybees. They are here – the drones, the workers, and of course, Her Royal Majesty, the Queen. They are quite active already. I can see them flying in and out of the hive from my office window. Chad chose a spot along the old Interurban railroad line that is nice and sunny.

It’s also generally out of view to some degree and less likely to be disturbed by staff and visitors. The bees are not aggressive but if you mess with them they are defenders of their territory. The honey is so sweet but the stinger is so sharp.

Tuesday Chad did the first inspection of the hive. This requires a wee bit of prep. You don’t go in with street clothes, at least not the first time. Here’s Chad all suited up for the inspection. Notice the smoker at his feet. The smoke calms the bees somehow. Maybe that explains why so many humans are addicted to cigarettes.

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