White Egret Flower, Bamboo, daily painting by Everglades artist JoAnn Sanborn

Bamboo

acrylic on canvas 5"x7

With Spring in the air and with Art in Bloom next week at the Artist Colony's Last Wednesday Art Walk, I've had flowers on my mind. I did this small daily painting of bamboo cuttings, have been been cleaning up the garden and looking for signs of new life, new sprouts after the cold winter.

When a box was delivered to my front entry from the White Flower Farm in Connecticut, it brought back fond memories. The White Flower Farm was a place from the past and I had ordered and received many wonderful plants from there in another life, long ago. Their catalogue was a wealth of knowledge to be pursued and enjoyed throughout the New England growing season.

Since we’re zone 10B here on Marco Island, I didn’t know they carried plant suitable to the humid Southwest Florida climate. It wasn’t my birthday, or Mother’s Day, or Christmas, so I wondered as I opened it just who it was from and what it contained. I discovered the package had been sent from my sister, an avid gardener, due for a visit.

The box contained a very small envelope with some pretty dry wood chips and what possibly was a single, small bud about half the size of a peanut. I didn’t recognize the Latin name of “habernaria radiata,” so went to the computer to see if I could get more information. When the name “White Egret Flower” came up, I understood why it had been a wonderful choice for me.

Further web investigation uncovered the weeps and woes of trying to start the tiny bulb. Some web reports had people trying again and again to get the little bulb to sprout. Turns out it’s actually a bog plant, and there’s a fine line between wet feet and drowning.

I dug up the tiny bulb three times to look for signs of life. When my sister arrived she called the farm to tell them it was dead, and was told to wait, and counseled patience. When I watered it yesterday, no signs of life. Can you see it? Today, it's small but it's up, green and has a bright future. If I can remember to keep it moist, I'll show you a plant of white egrets in full bloom, er, flight, sometime in July.