Flowers and Seeds

The heat is keeping me from traveling much farther than Park & Seventh, but luckily my yard is producing some interesting images. The Cosmos plants above are the 14th generation of some that were planted on the grounds of Seattle Center. Attending the Bumbershoot music event on Labor Day weekend in 1996, I saw the plants being trampled by crowds on the last day and picked a few seed heads to stash in my bag. The annuals came through the next summer in my yard and have done so every summer since.

Here's how the seed head looks when ready for saving. The brown seeds must be separated from the yellow cases and saved in envelopes or bottles for spring planting next year. Or left to their own devices, they will self-sow in the same spot.

This year for the first time I grew Thunbergia, or Black-Eyed Susan Vine. Figuring out the seed mechanism was rather intriguing. I spotted what looked like a seed structure inside a green capsule, but didn't see anything like the ones in the packet.

They mystery was solved one night when I heard a faint "pop" and the case, now brown, split open to reveal the seeds. The force of the seed's splitting tossed the outer case about a foot from a table onto my keyboard.

The variety of seeds and seed pods never ceases to amaze me. Whether they explode, fly, roll or just drop to the ground, seeds guarantee the future of the next generation.

--Bernice