Day 14: The vining hydrangea (Japanese climbing hydrangea, Hydrangea anomala) doesn't provide much visual interest during spring and summer, but its few white flowers and lush green foliage fill the gap between the House of Chirp and Pussywillow Cottage nicely and give me something to look at through the kitchen window while I'm washing dishes. That said, when autumn delivers its Midas touch and the foliage turns to gold, it is utterly spectacular. For the better part of two weeks, it's been asking to sit for a portrait, so with a cold snap threatening to shatter the leaves' tenuous hold on their stems, I snipped a small spray, flattened it against the paper and traced around the edge. I have a very limited palette of watercolours and an even more limited stock of artistic talent, and was not quite sure I wasn't biting off more than I could chew with four (count them!) leaves instead of one, but here you see the result.
Stick with me, people. It's hard to find blog material in the winter months even without a pandemic and political turmoil. Hopefully, I'll be able to return to informative natural history posts at some future date.
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