Story behind the art of Betsy Barry

Botanical Art Worldwide 2025-A More Abundant Future:

Diversity in Garden, Farm, and Field

American Society of Botanical Artists at the Foundry Art Centre, St. Charles, MO

Garlic

Allium sativum

My choice to grow this garlic came after a season of my lackluster vegetable growing. I had a poor showing of tomatoes and peppers and was looking for something for my raised garden beds that would produce a vegetable I knew my family would enjoy and that would move away from the usual suspects.

I came across a few varieties of hardneck garlic, which send up a flowering stalk called a scape. The scape begins at the bottom of the garlic bulb and grows up through the neck, making it hard. Softneck garlic does not have the scape structure and keeps its “soft neck” at harvest time. I was intrigued by the thought of drawing garlic scapes (the long green shoots). I chose this historical specimen: Allium sativum var. ophioscorodon, sometimes called purple stripe. This garlic is one of the most ancient horticultural groups in the Allium genus and has been cultivated for thousands of years. The thought that this would have been the same variety of garlic grown in the original garden of my 1739 home made my choice clear. 

My cool northern climate in Connecticut made the garlic easy and very satisfying to grow and I was able to harvest an abundance of scapes for eating and drawing. Ultimately, I chose to draw the garlic with the hardneck and the scapes included as I love the way all the phases of the plant are visible at the same time. Including the spent leaves and the interesting shadows made the simple subject complex and really fun to draw. The only addition I think I might make to the drawing in the future is to add one of the cloves to the composition, as they are a beautiful shade of purple and magenta. 

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