STORY BEHIND THE ART OF IRENE BLECHER

17th Annual International

American Society of Botanical Artists at The Horticultural Society of New York

Rose of Jericho

Anastatica hierochuntica

Some years ago I found this amazing plant in a dry river bed near the Dead Sea and I fell in love with it. One day I felt that I had to draw it and began to work on a composition. My husband asked me why I did not depict a green and flowering specimen also. I said: "I do not know. I love it dry". Now I do understand why. When these desert plants are green they look very similar, small white flowers among green, pressed to soil leaves, but when they are dry, every one has its own shape and size. The wind and water, desert stones and heat are sculptors of these dry "Roses". Each "Rose" keeps inside many seeds and waits for a big rain, for a new life.

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