Here are some of my favorite patterns I carve on my pottery, each inspired by Alabama flora. —Sara
Oakleaf Hydrangeas
Alabama’s State Wildflower grows among the pine forests and in backyards across the state and the Southeast. It’s known for its full white or green blooms and oak-shaped leaves.
Pitcher Plants
Sarracenia Alabamensis is one of Alabama’s native carnivorous plants, growing in bogs of sphagnum moss, long grasses, ferns and long-leaf pines. It grows tall pitchers filled with seductive nectar and digestive juices, luring insects inside its disorienting, window-like leaves.
Witch Hazel
My momma always used witch hazel as a skin astringent when I was a girl, and I recently fell in love with its wiry, waxy yellow petals surrounding a deep red seed pod that explodes its fruit when it opens in the dead of winter.
Dogwood Blossoms
The dogwood tree’s red-stained white blossoms are actually the covering of its true flower: the green center opens up into tiny blooms in the middle of what I always thought were petals--adding to the magic in a flower already surrounded by myth and symbols.
Cotton Bolls
This pattern was inspired by my Gamaw’s quilt pattern, and eventually grew thorny eyelashes, in true Southern belle fashion. It’s softness and burrs remind me of my Momma and my home.
Ginkgo Leaves
The ginkgo is an ancient tree that entered my heart as a student at Birmingham-Southern College. Our campus tree’s smelly fruit and textured leaves in fiery gold or light-filled greens are hard to forget.