Mount Wellington Tasmania

 First Images Helichrysum baxterii and Helichrysum rutidolepis

I'm just back from Tasmania sorting through and trying to identify all the pictures I took. At right is Helichrysum baxterii in cultivation at a Native Plant Nursery part way up Mount Wellington, which overlooks the Southern City of Hobart.  Beautiful plants.  The picture below shows a very similar species, Helichrysum rutidolepis, a Tasmanian endemic in habitat near the top of Mount Wellington, in a dolerite boulder rock garden.  This was very much a drive a mile stop and photograph, check the sky to make sure it wouldn't rain for a few minutes and repeat and repeat.

Lachenalia Haru No Yume

I've been growing Lachenalias for as long as I can remember.  They were one of the first bulbs I successfully grew from seed.  My collection grows a bit each year with four or five new seedlings showing their first flowers, generally in the second or third year from seed.  Flowers reach their full potential after a season or two of blooming.  Most produce offsets, and these bloom much more quickly.  Lachenalias were the reason for my first set of miniature pots.  They require little room, and do well in small spaces.  There are lots of hybrids around, but Komoriya Nursery in Japan has been releasing some exceptional hybrids.  One of the best is shown here.  More are in my Hyacinth folder.

Color and Distortion

A new clay for me (Rod's Bod)  was not working with my normal glazes and stains, coming out too dark, and much too uniform.  In desperation, and to use up the remaining 50 pounds of clay, I started a series of hexagonal pots, with the intent of putting a Carbon Trap Glaze to give some pattern and texture, and to hide the clay.  The clay is an absolute joy to work with, the problem is with how it looks when done.

In any case, the first pot to come out of the kiln was spectacular, great coloring, fantastic color trapping, fire marks on most of the pot, a bit warped, but tolerable.  See the pots on skyviewsucculents.com.  The next two came out with small cracks, unsellable, but still interesting.  The two after that cracked in bisque.  The next two came with great markings again, but this time so badly warped as to be useless.  The next came out cracked, and then two without much warping, but with no carbon trapping and no interesting co
lor.  An experiment gone bad.,  Back to other stoneware.