I never saw a lupine, yet I fell in love with them when I read the picture book Miss Rumphius, the story of an adventurous woman who added beauty to the world by planting lupines. Miss Rumphius helped me make this 12" x 12" fabric collage, still in progress. It began when a friend in the Pacific Northwest got married carrying a bouquet of lupines. I wanted to help her remember, but couldn't move on it because I wanted to see a real lupine first. I was sure I could find one, so I pulled in to Tallahassee Nurseries one day. I asked the right person -- she told me they don't sell lupines, but I could find an array of miniature lupines in a sandy field behind a truck stop on West Tennessee Street -- just not now. I think she said they bloom in spring. She said they need sandy soil and do not like to be transplanted. Our delicate Florida lupines are miniature -- not like those in the wedding bouquet. They may be the same lupines that Florida artist Elizabeth Smith sketches here. And here's a more scientific site from Oregon that gave me lots of lupine information. Finally I went to Barnes and Noble and bought Miss Rumphius.
' 
No comments:
Post a Comment