Foxgloves in Graphite and Watercolour

My Foxgloves workshop will be at the

Birnam Institute  :  Sunday 14th July, 10 am - 4 pm  :   Price: £40

Foxglove and bee

Find out about these fascinating plants with botanical artist Bill Phillips. Foxgloves are poisonous but featured in folk medicine and were an important source of drugs to treat heart disease. Bill will describe the structure of foxglove flowers and how this relates to bumble bee pollination. Working from real specimens and photographs, you will develop your own composition and explore the graphite and watercolour techniques needed to produce an attractive final painting.

All materials can be provided, but bring your own if you prefer. Price includes a soup and sandwich lunch.

To book, telephone the Birnam Institute on: 01350 727674

Cut leaf beech at Falkland Palace

Off to Falkland Palace, partly to see the magnificent cut leaf beech, also called fern-leaved beech, Fagus sylvatica asplenifolia...

You can see the feathery foliage typical of this unusual variety of beech tree. The photo below shows the shape of the leaves and male and female flowers present at this time of year.

Cut leaf beech trees are not common. You can sometimes find them in botanic gardens including Edinburgh and Dundee and sometimes in the gardens around stately homes. Glamis Castle has a splendid example and there is an avenue of cut leaf beech along the drive leading to St Martins House, near Balbeggie in Perthshire.

The cut leaf mutation is a heritable characteristic and cut leaf seedlings can be found growing close to parent trees. However, the mutation does not appear to be altogether stable. Most cut leaf beech trees have some shoots which have reverted to the normal leaf shape.