Nature Does It With Flair! Columbines!

Hardy orchid Bletilla

Everytime I go out the door I am awestruck by the world outside. Mother Nature never does anything by half, and there is more drama and intrigue out there than ever in anyone's imagination on daytime TV. I could never understand why anybody would want to stay indoors and watch soap operas when there is so much going on just outside the walls of their own houses!

Oh, the columbines this year!

All of these columbines have hybridized into these shapes and colors, and have reseeded in the garden with no help or interference from any human.

But what;s really neat about these plants:

Notice the flower on the right, normal position, new bloom. The one above it is starting to turn up, in horizontal position. The one at left is setting seed, the petals ready to fall, in upright position. See the seed capsule standing upright above the shriveled petals? When it ripens, it splits open and the seeds fly out everywhere! What a great seed delivery system! 

I love Mother Nature!

"This life, sae far's I understand,

Is an enchanted fairie-land,

Where pleasure is a magic wand

That, wielded right,

Makes hours like minutes hand in hand

Dance by fir' light."

           

--Robert Burns