#desert garden
Challenge 144: 10 Years, Looking Forward: Growth
This ended up being a difficult challenge for me, because although in theory I love this theme, in practice I kept coming up against a creative block. With the past year of the pandemic and concerns about climate change very much haunting my thoughts, it was a bit crippling to try and find some positive spin that I know I wanted to do.
Then at some point I remembered a thing I had just done that was a small investment in the future.
My husband and I recently took some time to clear an area of the front yard to plant some native cacti and trees, alongside the wildflower seeds I’ve gathered around the neighborhood and scattered in the past few years. I’m hoping these plants will take off and provide a little sanctuary of sorts for the local wildlife, like rabbits, quail, other birds, lizards, even javelina. This of course will take time, but I hope in 10 years time, even if I’m not still living here, this patch of native wild will be flourishing.
The uncolored sketch is how the yard currently looks- pretty bare except for two prickly pear cacti we planted a few years ago, some wildflowers that I’m so happy sprouted, grew and are in bloom, and some troublesome grass.
The colored drawing is what I hope to see in 10 years.
-I graduated from SCAD in 2012
-I’m currently freelancing as an illustrator! Mostly working on book illustration as of right now.
-What will I be doing in 10 years? I hope I’ll still be illustrating, working on cool books from the big publishers, doing surface design pattern work for products, maybe creating some cool artwork and products of my own? I hope the world gets its act together so that a positive future is still possible for all of us.
On a sentimental note, thanks to everyone at Square Carousel for being such troopers especially this past year! It’s been great being able to collaborate with you all throughout all the challenges we’ve tackled together in our own unique ways. Thanks so much to the other admins, Caitlin, Elizabeth and Jordan for keeping this train a-rollin’, and on its tracks as well pull into our final stop. You guys rock, thanks for bringing me along for this journey <3
And thanks to you, followers for cheering us on!
Wishing us all a wonderful decade ahead!
-Sayada
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Just some weird & wonderful plants doing cool stuff:
A native of Australia, fiery red blooms emerge from this Eucalyptus macrocarpa after its tiny pointed cap (known as a calyx) pops off. See it blooming in the Australia Garden.
You can’t miss the brilliant turquoise flowers and hot pink stalks produced by the Puya—see three different varieties ( Puya alpestris, Puya venusta, and Puya coerulea var. violacea) blooming now in the Desert Garden.
Did you know that cool spring weather can affect the shape of rose petals? In varieties like ‘Mellow Yellow’ and ‘Easy Does It II,’ found in our Rose Garden, the flowers produce frilly petals only during the first bloom cycle of early spring.
Chorisia insignis, also known as the silk floss tree, palo borracho, samu'ũ, paineira, or toborochi, is native to Argentina and part of the baobab family. After flowering in the winter, it disperses seeds within balls of fluffy, fibrous matter, similar to wool or cotton. See it fluffing near the Huntington Art Gallery.
