STORY BEHIND THE ART OF BETSY ROGERS-KNOX

19th Annual International

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

Symbiotic Harmony

Asclepias syriaca

In much of the USA so many of us in our childhood years were drawn to the ubiquitous milkweed plant. There were the fragrant, purplish pink flowers during the summer of course, but the big attraction was the unusual roughly-textured seed pods which developed as the flower petals began dropping off in August. A milky white substance oozed out and stuck to our fingers as we pried open a pod, displaying and releasing into the breeze hundreds of flat, brown, bearded seeds encased within. Often we shared our interest with one or more orangey-black butterflies fluttering around the plant.

It was an easy choice for me as a botanical illustrator to revisit and study the milkweed plant more closely in an attempt to visually document its unique botanical properties, and to execute the painting in a stage most remembered from my earlier years.

Along with my yearlong observation of the plant was an informational study which included the fact that the colorful butterfly sharing the plant was called a Monarch, and that its attention to the milkweed was motivated by its very survival, since it is completely dependent upon the plant. The leaves are its sole food source during its early development. Furthermore, it was disclosed that milkweed is rapidly being eliminated by the use of chemical herbicides, land development and climate change, drastically reducing the Monarch population.

Perhaps additional attention devoted to the plight of the milkweed plant and the colorful butterflies dependent upon it will contribute to an added awareness, assisting in the long term survival of both.

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Read more about this artist’s work: 18th Annual International