Freshen up your home. Remake a room, move some art around or maybe purchase a new work for your home! Below are some of P. Hope Brannon's "Spring Inspirations" and a bit of history to boot!
Spring Flowers Along The Coosa River, Alabama, P. Hope Brannon, Oil on Canvas, 24" x 24", Sold: Commissions Available.
Wisteria… a sure sign the spring has arrived
in the South. The cascades of blue to purple flowers look spectacular and are beautifully fragrant, providing a feast for the senses! We had a vine on a telephone pole in our backyard along the Coosa River. It slowly overtook the place, but was a showstopper in spring.
A little history: China and Japan were closed to Westerners until the late 18th century. Chinese Wisteria sinensis was unknown until 1812, when a small number of English agents entered strictly for trade. In 1830, plant explorers finally introduced the Japanese species, Wisteria floribunda to the West. In these early years only the seeds were exported from China and Japan. It is from these seeds that the first plants were grown in the West, and from that original stock many contemporary plants descend.
Weeks Bay Pitcher Plant Bog III, Fairhope, Alabama, P. Hope Brannon, Oil on Canvas, 24" x 24"
Weeks Bay Bog III is an impressionistic depiction of the bog after a rain.
Pitcher plants begin to blossom in the early spring followed by the emergence of pitchers and the blooming of many orchids in late spring and summer. During the fall in Alabama bogs we also see wildflowers that serve as hosts for several species of butterflies. A part of Weeks Bay's restoration activities includes prescribed burns of the bog. While the immediate effects of a burn might appear devastating, the plants and animals that call the bog home are quick to recover.
Weeks Bay Pitcher Plant Bog II, Fairhope, Alabama, P. Hope Brannon, Oil on Canvas, 36" x 36"
Weeks Bay Bog II is an impressionistic depiction of the Bog after a rain.
We stumbled upon Weeks Bay Pitcher Plant Bog while on a trip to Fairhope, AL. It was the first time I had seen a Pitcher Plant in its natural habitat and found it fascinating. The bog is located on County Road 17, one-quarter mile north of U.S. Highway 98.
Gulf Coast pitcher plant bogs are among the most diverse habitats for flowering plants in North America. Most bogs where carnivorous plants occur are open and sunny and contain nutrient poor, acidic soils. Carnivorous plants obtain some of their nutrients by capturing insects and other small creatures.
Peach Orchard In Bloom, Chilton County, Alabama,
P. Hope Brannon, Oil on Canvas Panel, 14" x 26"
The earliest reference to peach cultivation in the state is from 1850, when Dr. H. V. Wooten of Lowndesboro, Lowndes County, reported planting five dozen peach trees. Soon after the Civil War Irishman John Howard Parnell, brother of famous Irish leader Charles Stewart Parnell, established a farm of nearly 1,500 acres in Chambers County, much of which he devoted to peaches.
The Alabama peach industry intensified with the arrival of Scandinavian immigrants Theodore Thorson and John Peterson, who established the settlement of Thorsby in 1895 in Chilton County. Peach trees were set as early as 1898, and the hilly landscape and climate seemed ideal for their cultivation.
Although Georgian P.C. Smith was the first horticulturist to raise peaches commercially in Chilton County, it was the Scandinavians and other Thorsby growers who established a significant number of orchards, vineyards, and berry fields. Elberta was the variety of choice at the time, and Thorsby's farmers set between 135 and 170 trees on their 10-acre plots, netting about 75 cents per crate (slightly more than a present-day bushel). Today the peach is Alabama's leading commercial fruit and the orchards are a beautiful sight in the spring. – Encyclopedia of Alabama