Nature sketching 1 - Allan Gardens

I saw a Facebook ad for a nature sketching class run by the Bateman Foundation.  It runs for 8 Saturday's between now and the end of June.  The class was s described here:  

https://www.naturesketch.org/naturesketch-club/adult-naturesketch-club-toronto/

As is my custom, I debated for a while then decided yes I did want to sign up so registered on Thursday.  Yesterday was the first class and we met at Allan Gardens in downtown Toronto.  I'd never been before and will need to make a return visit.  The class was in the children's greenhouse.   The talk this week was about cacti and succulents.   

The first exercise was to study a plant for 30 seconds then go back to the table and draw from memory for 3-5 minutes.  The 30 seconds seemed long but when I went to sketch, I found that I'd studied the shape but not counted the leaves or looked closely at how they related from one round to the next.   

Mine turned out to be a succulent called Echevara.   All cacti are a form of succulents but not all succulents are cacti.  They all store water/sap in their leaves but cacti have spines.   

We could then take a plant back to the table and spend about 10 or 15 minutes sketching it.  Afterwards we could sketch other plants in the greenhouse.  I didn't get the name of the tree with the braided stem or the one in the broken pot with the exposed roots.  

After a short break we went out into the public greenhouse and could sketch anything we wanted.  Mine was an air-plant on a piece of drift wood mounted near a door

It was a good afternoon. The weather was beautiful so the greenhouse was warm.  The main greenhouses were built in the early 1900s.  The one we were in was originally a U of T greenhouse and was moved when the university replaced it.