Tag Archives: master gardeners

Birmingham Historical Society, Grandmothers Garden

Grandmother’s Garden at Sloss

This Facebook video created by Lisa Jones of Jefferson County – Alabama Extension – shares details surrounding the beginning and evolution of Grandmother’s Garden at Birmingham Historical Society’s headquarters at Sloss Quarters. Narrated in part by BHS Director, Marjorie White, the video also pays tribute to retiring longtime Urban Regional Jefferson County extension agent, Sallie Lee, as well as master gardener volunteers who have helped plant and maintain the garden since its beginnings fifteen years ago.

For a look at some of the native plant materials included in the garden, please refer to BHS publication, Pretty Posies, Healing Powers –An Herbal Primer

Book Sale, Book Signing, Exhibition, Grandmothers Garden, Watercolors

Sunday, October 13, 3-5PM

Sunday, October 13, 3–5 p.m.—Garden Party, Publication Celebration, and Exhibit of watercolors from Pretty Posies, Healing Powers–An Herbal Primer by featured artists Sumter Coleman, Gail Cosby, Ellen Erdreich, Louise McPhillips, and Jane Reed Ross, all Birmingham residents. Grandmother’s Garden at Sloss Quarters, 10 North 32nd Street.

October 15–November 30—Watercolors from Pretty Posies, Healing Powers–An Herbal Primer. Birmingham Botanical Gardens Library Gallery. Here’s a preview!

Watercolor illustration of blackberry plant featuring white flowers and green leaves on the left, and ripe blackberries with leaves on the right.
Illustration of Chickweed (Gail Crosby_H01) with green stems and small white flowers, along with a close-up of the leaves.
Watercolor illustration of a dandelion plant with yellow flowers and its root system on the left.
A watercolor illustration of a Plantain plant with broad green leaves and slender stems on the left.
Left artwork depicts a violet plant with green leaves and purple flowers, illustrated in watercolors.
Left: Watercolor illustration of a violet plant with purple flowers and green leaves on a light yellow background.
An illustration featuring two herbal plants: oregano with pink flowers on the left, and parsley with green leaves on the right.
A watercolor illustration of a rosemary sprig with purple flowers on the left.
Thirty-four watercolors are included in the exhibit at Botanical Gardens Library and are available for sale at $300/each. Books are available for $20/each. Proceeds benefit the Botanical Gardens and the Birmingham Historical Society.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Maria Antonia Viteri, a native of Mobile, has studied Western and Southern Appalachian herbal traditions in Alabama and California. Viteri, a Master Gardener, is also licensed in Architecture and Landscape Design. She currently resides in Sterrett, Alabama.

ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATORS

Birmingham Historical Society “Artists in the Garden,” all avid gardeners themselves, have been painting en plein air in Grandmother’s Garden for many years. For this volume, they sketched our herbs from specimens and photographs, coordinating their work at lunchtime gatherings at Gail Cosby’s home.

Sumter Coleman is a psychiatrist now retired to her mountain top residence where she writes and paints.

Writer, editor, publicist Gail Cosby now employs her talent as a watercolorist.

Artist and art historian Ellen Erdreich first sketched herbs as a teenager.

Louise McPhillips, an architect by profession, currently specializes in making portraits of her family.

Landscape architect Jane Reed Ross has left her mark on many Birmingham area park and greenway projects.