When I first came to Seattle, I was excited to learn how many things grew here - and that even an inexperienced gardener like me, coming from the extreme weather of Colorado, could quickly develop a green thumb.
I was impressed by the vigor and beauty of Fennel and Dill plants - first introduced to me at Seattle Tilth, a volunteer garden in the Wallingford neighborhood of Seattle. These plants grew rapidly, reaching 5 or 6 feet tall, with amazing structure and delicate little umbels at the ends of rigid branches. They were a crowd pleaser for kids too. My wife and I grew some fennel plants at the kid's elementary school - and we let the kids chew on some fennel seeds while we talked about how the plant attracted honeybees and butterflies. Most of the children loved the licorice taste of the seeds - and I remember one little boy stuffing his pockets with fennel seeds to take home. Luckily, fennel plants are prolific seed producers (careful if you plant one, you might have 100 new plants next spring!).
I had done a few variations of Fennel and Dill images as rubber stamps over the years, but I was struck one day on a walk by a beautiful Dill plant growing at our neighbor Lynne's house. Lynne had bought the house and neglected corner property about 5 years ago - and had transformed it into a lush garden. The fence was draped in clematis, the planting strip along the sidewalk was now a row of flowering crabapples with skirts of california poppies and johnny jump ups. Each year, more and more lawn was removed and replaced with roses, japanese maples, a border of succulents, peonies and siberian iris. The dill plant, growing along the walkway to the door was just starting to bend up over the fence, and I photographed it one bright afternoon. I studied the pictures and sketched the Dill Print (F1356) over a period of about a week - editing out all but a simple silhouette of the dill.
I think it turned out well - and plan on using it for lots of projects in the future!
Oh Dave, I love this dill card - so simple, and so classy. Thanks for all your "garden memories". Missing and loving you.
Posted by: Joanie Guggenmos | May 26, 2010 at 09:10 AM