THE PURPLE CLEOME - A FAMILY FAVORITE

Day 29

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3 0   P A I N T I N G S   I N   3 0   D A Y S

Today's painting is another botanical - this time the Purple Cleome.  I have fond memories of the Cleome, or Spider Plant, from 50 years ago!  When I would visit my grandparent's house, one of my favorite places to hang out was in their backyard where my grandfather kept his garden.  My family has a long string of great gardeners and he was one of them.  Grandpa used to brag about his Cleome plants saying, "They get so big by the end of the summer that I need to chop them down with an axe!"

The Cleome does grow to be quite tall - sometimes as high as 6 feet in my garden.  The seed pods that burst out on long stems, dry out, and crack open in September and October leaving thousands of seeds for next year's growth.  It's quite an amazing and enormous plant with relatively shallow roots,  and all coming from one very itty-bitty seed.  They take no effort at all to grow and faithfully return year after year all on their own.

You can find my watercolor illustration, "Purple Cleome" on Etsy.  Just click the photo below.

Also available:

               

           

Thanks for looking!

-Nan