Dyana Hesson

The #plant100agaves Project

Open for Business, Octopus Agave Blooms

The #plant100agaves Project
The give away starts Friday, October 23rd

On March 3, 2020 I wrote this post for Instagram:

“So it’s a happy/sad day at the Hesson Hacienda. When we moved to this house in 1996, I rescued some octopus agave bulbils (baby plants) from a neighbor’s plant. They were in pots, then in the garden, and then I planted them as focal points along my courtyard wall. Today I noticed two plants have sent up their florescence. That means the mother plants, after using every last bit of resources to create new life, will soon die. Sounds deep, huh? Well, that’s Gods creation for you. If we care for it, it teaches us, brings us beauty, enriches our lives. And that’s why I paint what I paint. I don’t get tired of these little miracles, of these lessons. Soon I’ll be collecting bulbils and starting over. Thank you, beautiful octopus agaves, for 24 years.”

Soon after that post, human life changed because of COVID. But the plant world did not. I got right to work creating a painting of the glorious yellow flowers of my octopus agave. Meanwhile, the bees and hummingbirds obsessed over the flowers too. Once pollinated, the blooms transformed into baby plants, and I knew what I wanted to do. Every week, with the help of my kid, we collected eight or more bulbils and put them in small jars of water indoors. In a week’s time, the plants had rooted and it was time to put them into soil. Not wanting to purchase plastic pots that would be wasted, we looked in the trash to see what we could re-purpose. The answer was discarded plastic bottles and food containers that were now headed to the landfill because of our city’s suspension of recycling.

Week after week, we propagated agaves.

Meanwhile, in the western United States, we were having record heat and tremendous loss of plant life due to wild fires. Near our own home, the Bush fire obliterated 186,000 acres including the stands of saguaro that marched up the hills to Four Peaks Wilderness, some of which were 100 years old. In my own yard, cactus that had thrived for 25 years were dying.

So now, its time to replant. From my garden to yours, I’m giving away my harvest.  This is my way of encouraging you after a long hard season. Learn about the care and plating of an Agave Vilmoriana, get your hands dirty, and watch new life grow. It is a season of renewal.

Agaves will be given away at Bonner David Galleries in Scottsdale, starting Friday, October 23rd. Stop by and pick one up!
Bonner David galleries
7040 E. Main Street
Scottsdale, AZ 85215
open Tuesday- Saturday 10am-5:30pm
480-941-8500

-dh
Fore more plant education visit:
https://debraleebaldwin.com/agave-photos-labeled-identified/
https://centralarizonacactus.org/
https://plantcaretoday.com/agave-vilmoriniana.html

#plant100agaves
My Flowering Agave:


The propagation project:

Dyana Hesson

Dyana was born in 1966 in the Gold Country of California. There she was always happiest outdoors. Her weekends were spent visiting the local nursery and working on the natural landscaping of her family’s home. When she was 12, her father gave her a camera. She began photographing all that was interesting to her; the trees, the flowers, and the natural landscapes.

After a short stay in Southern California (where she met and married her husband in 1985), she moved to Arizona. Although the climate and landscape varied drastically from that of California, the inspiration did not.

Dyana became interested in painting as a way to express things that she couldn’t through a lens alone. She chose oil as her medium because it possessed a fluid quality perfect for the subjects she was painting. She began to experiment with thin layers of carefully blended paint, and the results were luminous. She earned her degree in Art at Arizona State University in 1991 and graduated Magna Cum Laude. After a four year detour to southern Michigan, Dyana and her family returned to Arizona. She continues to live in Mesa with her husband Randy, daughter Sydney and Dog Boon.

Dyana is always in search of her next painting. She takes long hikes in the desert and mountains, and frequently visits botanical gardens across the country. She feels she has the most success when she has the luxury of bringing her subjects home. She then has more time to study them and combine them with other elements. Using only natural lighting in her paintings, timing and weather are always factors.

Dyana is most excited about using her art to glorify God by drawing attention to His creation. She feels that the relationships and opportunities to serve with her art have been the most valuable aspect of her career.

Dyana is a proud to be a Signature Member of American Women Artists, Founding member of the Phoenix Zoo Art Committee, and Phoenix Home and Garden Magazine Master of the Southwest, 2017.