Plant renderings on display
Thousands of years ago, the art of botanical illustration was a matter of public health. The first detailed plant depictions, printed in Dioscoredes’ De Materia Medica, featured illustrations intended for proper identification of medicinal plants and their purported properties. But archaic printing technology sometimes limited proper identification in these early pharmacopoeias, which could cause disaster. When the Latin binomial nomenclature system was developed and detailed botanical descriptions became the means of identifying plants, botanical illustration still prevailed — even after the invention of photography. Artistic, but scientifically accurate, renderings based on an idealized specimen were popular and commissioned regularly as an opportunity for education, and even for interior design.
For the past 12 years, Amy Roebuck Jones has been using botanical art to educate the community about Virginia’s natural history. We met at Chesapeake Central Library, where through July her “Wildflower of the Year” posters are on display. The posters feature a native plant and — intertwined in the leaves, branches and roots of each specimen — information about its habitat, growth and physiology. Each poster also illustrates native species of insects and birds that depend on the plant for food or shelter. I spent some time studying all the information hidden among the sweet pepper bush branches. Jones reminisced on the inspiration for it: “A park ranger in the Great Dismal Swamp took me on an adventure to find this one, a true specimen.”
Jones, who has a master’s degree in landscape architecture, explained.
“In landscape design people always try to tell you how to garden, stick to the numbers and patterns. They use technical terms, like parterre. It’s all about right or wrong,” she said. “But what if there is no form? What if it’s wild? My art is the same way. It doesn’t have to be perfect.”
Before she became a landscape manager at Southern Branch Nursery, she directed a children’s art program for nine years. Her art — a lifelong passion ignited — represents an escape from conformity and control, a call back to nature. She credits her parents, especially her mother (who served for 25 years on a conservation commission) with instilling in her a love of nature. That love is made apparent through the intricate details in each of her works.
This is the first time the entire collection has been on display. After the Chesapeake Central Library exhibit ends this week, it will move to the Norfolk Botanical Garden for August and September. Jones herself will be moving in the spring and feels dejected about leaving her Virginia Native Plant Society teammates behind.
“I wanted to tell a story about native plants,” she said. She hopes the posters can stay together and stay in Virginia, and she plans to keep making the wildflower of the year artwork, even after she has left.
Be sure to check out her collection on display through Friday at the Chesapeake Central Library, or at the Norfolk Botanical Garden in August and September.
Chesapeake Central Library, 298 Cedar Road, Chesapeake, 23322; chesapeakelibrary.org, 757-410-7100.
Norfolk Botanical Garden, 6700 Azalea Garden Road, Norfolk, 23518; norfolkbotanicalgarden.org, 757-441-5830.
In Full Bloom is a weekly feature from Allissa Bunner that focuses on sustainable gardening, environmental stewardship and related community news and initiatives. She can be reached at acbinfullbloom@gmail.com