Tiny Wildflowers, 2

Thomas Drummond, my new favorite Scot

Hello, Poetry Friend

This month my painter friend Nan Henke and I have a poetry-painting show at Fredericksburg Art Guild called Tiny Wildflowers. It’s built around a fella named Thomas Drummond, a Scotsman who roamed all over the U.S. and Canada, documenting birds, mosses, and flowers. He spent almost two years in Texas, between 1833-1835.

painting by Nan Henke

For almost two years Drummond documented everything he could find, from Galveston Island to the Edwards Plateau. He collected 750 plant specimens and 150 bird specimens in all, and his collections were shared with museums around the world.

During his adventures Drummond became ill many times — from starvation, snow blindness, boils, ulcers, and cholera. After shipping one last box of specimens to Glasgow, he boarded a ship for Cuba. He died in Havana, of unknown causes, in 1835.

Twenty years after his death the genus Drummondita, a class of flowering plants, was named after him and his brother, James (also an explorer and botanist). Many wildflowers bear Drummond’s name, including three in the exhibition: Allium drummondii and Scutellaria drummondii and Oxalis drummondii. My own yard contains Malvaviscus drummondii, which somehow manages to bloom even through a Hill County August.

Only one bee out of a dozen stayed still long enough for this photo.

Most of the poems in our show are in Drummond’s voice, praising the tiny wildflowers as if they were beloveds, or at least, beloved friends. But two of our poem-painting pairs are about Nan and I, respectively. I’ll write about those next week.

And if you’re in town, drop by the Fredericksburg Art Guild, Thursday through Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. during August. Feast your eyes on the tiny wildflowers Drummond couldn’t take his eyes off of.

August 2-September 1, 2024

Happy poeming!

Megan

P.S. Painting & Poem combinations may be purchased by contacting the guild at 830/997-4949 or FredericksburgArtGuild@gmail.com.