Printable Vintage Art: Maria Luisa of Parma by Anton Raphael Mengs

A portrait painting of Maria Luisa of Parma in a garden setting, holding a pair of dahlia-like flowers. Her magnificent court gown is richly adorned with decorative plants and flowers. This fine artwork was executed by Anton Raphael Mengs (1728–1779) around 1765. Maria Luisa of Parma (Luisa Maria Teresa Anna; 9 December 1751 – 2 January 1819) was, by marriage to King Charles IV of Spain, Queen of Spain from 1788 to 1808 leading up to the Peninsular War. Maria Luisa was interested in music and art, and known as a protector of artists, most notably Francisco Goya. [Source: Wikipedia]

If you like, you can download my digitally enhanced version of the painting (seen above) as a high-res, printable 8” x 11” @ 300 ppi JPEG here.

Here is a photo of Dahlia ‘Zorro’ growing in my garden from the 2025 season. While I planted nine varieties of these powerhouse tubers today for the 2026 season, none of them included Zorro, unfortunately. I decided I wanted to try ball/pom-pom dahlias this season and due to budget and lack of space, I had to sacrifice getting Zorro. If the pom-pom dahlias end up being underwhelming, I will go back to my razzle-dazzle dinner-plate dahlias next year!
Photo © FieldandGarden.com. All rights reserved.

Digitally enhanced reproductions of public domain fine art are shared under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Printable Vintage Art: Tulips by Charles Sheeler

A flower painting of tulips by Charles Sheeler (1883-1965), done c1925-26. An essay from the famed auction house Christie's describes the artwork as follows:

Tulips is part of a small group of graceful still lifes from the 1920s in which Charles Sheeler focuses on the contrast of natural and geometric forms, a theme he explored throughout his career in various mediums and subject matter.

The genre of still life was particularly appealing to Sheeler as he could leave the elements--which were often chosen from his collection of American decorative arts--set up for long periods of time and maintain a consistent light source through the use of photographic flood lights. Carol Troyen and Erica E. Hirshler write of this body of work, "The remarkable series of still lifes Sheeler produced in the mid-1920s were constructed from deceptively simple means. He generally used a traditional formula: fruits or flowers arranged on a tabletop, supplemented by simple articles of furniture, glassware and pottery. He painted the same forms repeatedly...The objects Sheeler painted again and again in the 1920s were consistently plain--the flowers were never exotic species, the glassware and furnishings were distinguished by their proportions rather than by the surface embellishments--and he rendered them in an understated, self-effacing way. (Charles Sheeler: Paintings and Drawings, Boston, Massachusetts, 1987, p. 106)

The present work is considered to be among Sheeler's most successful compositions within his series of still life paintings. Troyen and Hirshler comment, "Red[sic] Tulips is one of Sheeler's most elegant still lifes, with pleasing contrasts between crisp, sensuous outlines and softly painted, opalescent passages. Thinly brushed in delicate color...and with a slightly dry surface, the painting reveals both Sheeler's sensuality and his restraint. But in contrast to the satisfying elegance of Sheeler's technique, his simple arrangement of flowers on a table is vaguely disquieting. Although blossoms are arrayed in harmonious symmetry across the picture's surface, they nonetheless wind and sway on their elongated stems, bobbing out toward the viewer and twisting back into the shallow space in a kind of contrapuntal rhythm. The apparently perfect, restful compositional balance Sheeler achieved between the vase, the tabletop, and the goblet is undermined by the fact that the tabletop is pushed noticeably off-center and is tilted up, pressing the glassware forward." (Charles Sheeler: Paintings and Drawings, p. 106)
Tulips manifests Sheeler's interest in the challenge of creating compelling works with everyday objects. The result is an innovative and modern rendition of a traditional genre, and a tour-de-force within Sheeler's body of still life paintings.

If you like, you can download my digitally enhanced version (seen above) as a high-res, printable 4” x 6” @ 300 ppi JPEG here.

First tulips of the 2026 season in my zone 6b garden. This clump happens to be a first-year, mail-order tulip bulb mix from a Prince Edward Island grower called Veseys that included single, double and fringed varieties. A few of the initial blooms have unfortunately been eaten by bunnies! We will see how the rest of the patch fares in the coming days.
Photo © FieldandGarden.com. All rights reserved.

Digitally enhanced reproductions of public domain fine art are shared under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Printable Vintage Art: A Thistle by John Crome

Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence.
Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.
Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.
Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.
Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.
The slogan “Press On!” has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.
― Calvin Coolidge

A botanical painting by John Crome (1768–1821). This one is simply titled “A Thistle” and was painted circa 1812. Oiginally found on Wikimedia here. You can download my digitally enhanced version here.

Did you know that there are more than 60 native and introduced species of thistles in Canada alone? While many of these varieties are considered noxious weeds due to their persistent and invasive properties, they are a fantastic source of food for pollinators. In my garden, I have a modestly-sized, but controlled, clump of Echinops (globe thistle) that I grow as companion plants to my Echinacea (coneflowers). Both have the same watering requirements, being very drought tolerant, and both attract pollinators by the hundreds, if not thousands, every season! The spent flowers also attract plenty of birds, particularly finches, to devour the seedheads that develop, which adds to the lively atmosphere in the back yard. Keep these spiky plants at the back of the border but within easy reach so you can dig out a handful or two should they become too unruly.

Globe thistles emerging in late spring to provide sculptural contrast in the garden
Photo © FieldandGarden.com. All rights reserved.

Digitally enhanced reproductions of public domain fine art are shared under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

My Photo Journal: January Cold (1)

“January”

The days are short, / The sun a spark
Hung thin between / The dark and dark.

Fat snowy footsteps / Track the floor,
And parkas pile up / Near the door.

The river is / A frozen place
Held still beneath / The trees' black lace.

The sky is low. / The wind is gray.
The radiator / Purrs all day.
― John Updike, A Child's Calendar

It is growing cold. Winter is putting footsteps in the meadow. What whiteness boasts that sun that comes into this wood! One would say milk-colored maidens are dancing on the petals of orchids. How coldly burns our sun! One would say its rays of light are shards of snow, one imagines the sun lives upon a snow crested peak on this day. One would say she is a woman who wears a gown of winter frost that blinds the eyes. Helplessness has weakened me. Wandering has wearied my legs.
― Roman Payne

Image shows a winter-bare tree standing in a field of snow-draped goldenrod and other native vegetation, their wild beauty unbowed by harsh winds or icy cold. I took the photo on a walk around the Civic Recreation Complex in Whitby, Ontario. Are you still going out and about despite the inclement weather? Or have you decided to cocoon at home until spring returns? Leave a comment below to tell us how you're handling January.
Photo © FieldandGarden.com. All rights reserved.

Printable Vintage Art: Still Life with Flowers in a Glass by Jan Brueghel the Elder

Still Life with Flowers in a Glass, 17th century
by Jan Brueghel the Elder (1568–1625)

What we do see depends mainly on what we look for. ... In the same field the farmer will notice the crop, the geologists the fossils, botanists the flowers, artists the colouring, sportmen the cover for the game. Though we may all look at the same things, it does not all follow that we should see them.
― John Lubbock, The Beauties of Nature and the Wonders of the World We Live in

It is easier to tell a person what life is not, rather than to tell them what it is. A child understands weeds that grow from lack of attention, in a garden. However, it is hard to explain the wild flowers that one gardener calls weeds, and another considers beautiful ground cover.
― Shannon L. Alder

A somewhat dark and somber flower painting, which was par for the course in art from the 17th century (sometime between 1600 and 1625). Oiginally found on Wikimedia here. I thought this picture rather echoed my general mood when winter starts to descend in earnest. I can feel the malaise beginning to creep in around the edges and it can be helpful to stave off depression with a small posy of flowers (or at least, a picture of one if you can't get your hands on the real thing). You can download a digitally enhanced version of the vintage artwork (seen above) as a 7” x 9” @ 300 ppi JPEG here.

Three Callas, Winter Edition © FieldandGarden.com. All rights reserved.
Digitally enhanced reproductions of public domain fine art are shared under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

My Photo Journal: A Walk on Michaelmas Day with Bushels of Michaelmas Daisies

The Michaelmas daisies, among dead weeds,
Bloom for St Michael's valorous deeds.

We had such a lovely walk this morning through fields bursting with Michaelmas daisies (Aster). The weather was glorious as Fall decided to cosplay Summer for Michaelmas Day. Do you think, perhaps, this is just capricious Fall's way to tease a warning about a potentially prolonged Winter ahead? In Irish folklore, clear weather on Michaelmas warns of a long winter: "Michaelmas Day be bright and clear there will be two Winters in the year." 2025's Farmer's Almanac has already predicted colder than mornal Winter temperatures for southern Ontario so I feel we are being given notice...

But who could possibly worry about Winter when golden light appears to have infused every nook and cranny of the landscape and the world seems to be caught up in a Summer fantasy?

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
― Robert Frost

Yes, the gold will doubtless fade into gray but for now, surely, surely, we can simply bask in the bold and brawny sun-soaked day?

© FieldandGarden.com. All rights reserved.

My Photo Journal: Early Fall in My Garden (2025)

Is not this a true autumn day?
Just the still melancholy that I love - that makes life and nature harmonise.
The birds are consulting about their migrations,
the trees are putting on the hectic or the pallid hues of decay,
and begin to strew the ground,
that one's very footsteps may not disturb the repose of earth and air,
while they give us a scent that is a perfect anodyne to the restless spirit.
Delicious autumn!
My very soul is wedded to it,
and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.
― George Eliot

With the onset of cooler weather, garden tasks turn to include the splitting and transplanting of perennials. Here, I've managed to divide several large clumps of Echinacea ‘Cheyenne Spirit’ (see my picture above). ‘Cheyenne Spirit’ was introduced by Kieft-Pro Seeds in 2012. It is a well-branched, sturdy coneflower that won the 2013 AAS (All-America Selections®) award and Europe's FleuroSelect Gold Medal award for garden performance. It flowers the first year in a wide range of bloom colors, including purple, pink, red, orange, yellow, cream or white ray flowers with a brown cone. It grows 2 to 2.5 feet tall and 1 to 2 feet wide [Source: Missouri Botanical Garden]. I do have many other varieties of coneflowers in my garden including ‘Magnus,’‘Fragrant Angel,’‘Ruby Giant,’‘White Swan’ and ‘Green Twister.’ Next year, I intend to add ‘Primadonna Deep Rose’ and ‘Starlight.’

In the process of planting and generally cleaning up my garden beds, lo and behold, I was stunned and thrilled to find a solitary lily still blooming late into the year (see photo below)! This is by far the latest I have seen any of my lilies bloom. Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce ‘Miss Feya’. Lilium Miss Feya has large rosy red flowers with a white edge and a speckling of black dots. The flowers are fragrant and measure 3-6“ on stems that stand 6 to 8 feet tall. After it is established it will produce multiple stems with a mass of blooms in late July and early August. Miss Feya is an Orienpet hybrid, a cross between an Oriental lily and a Trumpet lily which combines the tall, strong stems of the Trumpets with the fragrance and shape of the Oriental lilies. These hybrids have an increased ability to withstand late spring frosts as well as hot summer days [Source: Chicago Botanical Garden]. Since this is a 1st-year plant for me (I planted 3 bulbs earlier this spring, and this was the only bulb that flowered), the stem is still very short, and produced only this single flower. I will wait eagerly to see what happens with this particular variety next year.

Have you made any joyful or unexpected discoveries in your early autumn garden? Feel free to drop a comment below if you would like to share. Meanwhile, I hope you are experiencing thus:

I was drinking in the surroundings:
air so crisp you could snap it with your fingers
and greens in every lush shade imaginable
offset by autumnal flashes of red and yellow.
― Wendy Delsol

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My Photo Journal: Fleur de Villes Exhibit (2025) at the Royal Botanical Gardens Canada: Downton Abbey Theme

There are random moments - tossing a salad, coming up the driveway to the house,
ironing the seams flat on a quilt square, standing at the kitchen window and looking out at the delphiniums,
hearing a burst of laughter from one of my children's rooms - when I feel a wavelike rush of joy.
This is my true religion: arbitrary moments of of nearly painful happiness for a life I feel privileged to lead.
― Elizabeth Berg, The Art of Mending
How truly privileged I feel! To be able to witness the incredible beauty and creativity on display during the 2025 Fleur de Villes exhibit at the Royal Botanical Gardens last weekend brought a truly humbling sense of awe and gratitude. The Downton Abbey-themed celebration showcased the artistic talents of Southern Ontario floral designers who did not disappoint with their thoughtful and painstakingly crafted creations. I cannot imagine how many hours of effort must have gone into putting this show together but the results are spectacular!

Whether you love flowers or gardens or you simply want to spend an interlude daydreaming of a bygone era, and you happen to be in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), I strongly urge you to drop by and explore this floral extravanganza. The exhibit runs until September 21, 2025. Below are a few photos I took of the marvellous displays but there is so much more to see and experience in person.

© FieldandGarden.com. All rights reserved.

My Photo Journal: Summer Phlox (1)

The first week of August hangs at the very top of summer, the top of the live-long year,
like the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses in its turning.
The weeks that come before are only a climb from balmy spring,
and those that follow a drop to the chill of autumn,
but the first week of August is motionless, and hot.
It is curiously silent, too, with blank white dawns and glaring noons,
and sunsets smeared with too much color.
― Natalie Babbitt, Tuck Everlasting

All in all, it was a never-to-be-forgotten summer
— one of those summers which come seldom into any life,
but leave a rich heritage of beautiful memories in their going
— one of those summers which, in a fortunate combination of delightful weather,
delightful friends and delightful doing, come as near to perfection as anything can come in this world.
― L.M. Montgomery, Anne's House of Dreams

What is currently blooming in your garden this summer? Phlox and black-eyed Susans are obviously enjoying their moment in the sun but other perennials presently thriving in my garden are Buddleia (butterfly bushes), Echinacea (coneflowers), various lilies, summer roses, hardy hibiscus, and Japanese anemones, just to name a few.

I've harvested massive handfuls of tomatoes and baskets full of Swiss chard, okra, strawberries and early potatoes from my vegetable beds. The garden is teeming with life and beauty, and my senses are overloaded with nature's plenty. I feel blessed and thankful as summer asserts its glow on my heart.

True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future,
not to amuse ourselves with either hopes or fears but to rest satisfied with what we have,
which is sufficient, for he that is so wants nothing.
The greatest blessings of mankind are within us and within our reach.
A wise man is content with his lot, whatever it may be, without wishing for what he has not.
― Seneca

© FieldandGarden.com. All rights reserved.

My Photo Journal: To Rose (1)

Photo © FieldandGarden.com. All rights reserved.

Above, you can find a lovely nature poem entitled "To Rose" by William T. Saward, originally published in 1897.

I am also including an initial letter "R" that has been decorated with an illustration of rose hips. You can download the 3" x 5" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark here.


Antique nature poem and illustration are from my personal collection of ephemera. They can be incorporated into your creative works but are not for resale “as-is.” Credit to FieldandGarden.com appreciated but not required.

My Photo Journal: Sunny Possibilities

Listen to the mustn'ts, child.
Listen to the don'ts.
Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles,
the won'ts.
Listen to the never haves,
then listen close to me...
Anything can happen, child.
Anything can be.
― Shel Silverstein

The bright sunbeam-yellow Black-eyed Susan blooms have been a staple in every garden I've started in the last 20 years. Originally a native wildflower of North America, this perennial cultivar is easy to grow, drough tolerant and attracts pollinators galore!

I currently have two clumps of Rudbeckia fulgida var. sullivantii 'Goldsturm' (originally just one clump but divided in its second year), and one stand of Rudbeckia hirta 'Prairie Sun' (outstandingly prolific this year) but am always on the hunt for more varieties as I expand my existing garden beds.

© FieldandGarden.com. All rights reserved.

My Photo Journal: Happiness (1)

We can complain because rose bushes have thorns,
or rejoice because thorns have roses.
― Alphonse Karr, A Tour Round My Garden

When life is not coming up roses
Look to the weeds
and find the beauty hidden within them.
― L.F.Young

We all live with the objective of being happy;
our lives are all different and yet the same.
― Anne Frank

Lightly textured pink rose with backlighting.
Photo © FieldandGarden.com. All rights reserved.

My Photo Journal: Blackberries from the Garden (1)

You have to wait for a fruit to ripe before you harvest.
You must also learn to wait for the fulfillment of your visions.
― Lailah Gifty Akita, The Alphabets of Success: Passion Driven Life

It's that time of year when fat, juicy blackberries are ripe for plucking and eating! Are you eating yours fresh or making into pies and jam? If you love drawing out the season like me, here is a low-sugar, blackberry jam recipe from Practical Self Reliance that is perfect for putting on scones while drinking tea beside a roaring fire.

Photos © FieldandGarden.com. All rights reserved.

My Photo Journal: Love (1)

We loved with a love that was more than love.
― Edgar Allan Poe

You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep
because reality is finally better than your dreams.
― Dr. Seuss

As he read, I fell in love the way you fall asleep:
slowly, and then all at once.
― John Green, The Fault in Our Stars

Flower photo showing a back-lit pink rose in three-quarter profile.

Photo © FieldandGarden.com. All rights reserved.

My Photo Journal: Sunlight (1)

Don't be ashamed to weep; 'tis right to grieve.
Tears are only water, and flowers, trees, and fruit cannot grow without water.
But there must be sunlight also.
A wounded heart will heal in time, and when it does,
the memory and love of our lost ones is sealed inside to comfort us.
― Brian Jacques, Taggerung

Botanical photo showing three yellow echinacea (coneflowers). Possibly Sombrero Lemon Yellow. or Echinacea purpurea ‘Mellow Yellows’.

Photo © FieldandGarden.com. All rights reserved.

My Photo Journal: Iridescent (1)

"Some of us get dipped in flat, some in satin, some in gloss...."
He turned to me. "But every once in a while, you find someone who's iridescent,
and when you do, nothing will ever compare.”
― Wendelin Van Draanen, Flipped

Flower photo featuring Lilium Lily Looks™ Tiny Padhye. These dwarf Asiatic lilies were developed in the Netherlands and were intended for containers. I have planted them in front of my rock garden where they are partially in shade. They seem to be doing quite well!

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My Photo Journal: Beautiful (1)

It's not my responsibility to be beautiful.
I'm not alive for that purpose.
My existence is not about how desirable you find me.
― Warsan Shire

To be creative means to be in love with life.
You can be creative only if you love life enough that you want to enhance its beauty,
you want to bring a little more music to it, a little more poetry to it, a little more dance to it.
― Osho

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