Infinity in a Flower

Yesterday was a rather big Bloomsday, so in honor of the 100th anniversary of the events that take place in James Joyce's "Ulysses," I thought I'd share a bloom or two from our garden. These blossoms are not traditionally "beautiful" flowers, but they point to the endless cycle of life and stretch the concept of what it means to be pretty and what it means to be alive. In the coming days, I'll post many more "attractive" flower photos all taken on the same day (last Friday after a lovely rain) in our garden. The images in this album are less about eye candy and more about mind candy. Enjoy.

Here are some handsome and delicious red Russian kales planted among several species of self-seeded lettuce and other yumminess.

We let lots of umbelliferous plants (carrots, parsley, fennel, et al) go to seed...

...because theses lovely blooms attract ladybugs (who love to eat aphids!)

Here's some lettuce going to seed, doing work so we don't have to.

My favorite selfie of 2014: Look closely at the bottom -left side of raindrop and you might see me and my camera-phone.

Not the most gorgeous of blooms, but it sure packs a powerful punch...already looking forward to eating its offspring this fall.

Who says there isn't any blue food?

Here's an accidental "keyhole" garden created by a whole bunch of lettuce plants taking off in a path between garden beds. Keyhole gardens are little cul-de-sacs that make excellent use of valuable space.

We've also got four or five young chile starts in the 32 sq ft bed. The kale and lettuce herbs act as living mulches, that can be removed when the chiles grow up and need more space later in the season.

Tune in next time when we look at the six or seven different self-seeded lettuce species thriving in our backyard--all of which are descendants of plants sown 15 months ago.

06/20/2014 | (0) Comments

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