Pages

Friday, October 23, 2009

Seedpods And Spikes on Blooming Friday




Flowers and fruit are only the beginning.

In the seed lies life and the future
.


Marion Zimmer Bradley





Welcome to another Blooming Friday. Today it's all about seeds and
seed-heads. To view other participants' posts, please head over to
Katarina at Roses and Stuff.






Throughout the high heat of summer, the Crape Ginger/Costus speciosus
put up a show of red and white. Tiny ants never had to look elsewhere
for food. Almost every photo that I clicked had an ant or ants in
various stages/phases of hurry! And although I'd read that the
Blue-banded bees are drawn to blue and purple flowers, they came
straight for the lovely, white, crape-papery blooms!

As the last blooms faded away, the bracts turned an even more vibrant
shade of red. Now only the black seeds are left within...













Fading beauties...only the pods remain.














Leopard lily curls up before saying goodbye....








The orchids are long gone....













Basil blooms drying up.







On the wayside, grass with seed-heads is the end-of-the-day's
resting place for this butterfly. Most probably, it's the Peacock
Pansy butterfly.








And in the wild, weed seed-heads burst and disperse their legacy....
with the help from the elements.

20 comments:

Lona said...

Sorry to see the beautiful blooms gone but the seeds pods to yours are just as pretty as the blooms.

Tatyana@MySecretGarden said...

I am glad the seeds of these beautiful plants are flying, I'm just dreaming - how nice would be to stop weeds' seeds?

Noelle Johnson said...

Hello Kanak,

I think you made a great point....flowers come first and are pretty and showy. But, they are only the precursors to the seeds which are the real star of the plant.

Anonymous said...

Very enjoyable photos today Kanak. We are having heavy rain again here in GA and the Autumn leaves are covering up all my plants/seed heads. I hope you have a very nice weekend.

Katarina said...

The variety of seed heads is amazing - just as the variety flowers. -I love the quote - so appropriate and true!

Wendy said...

Sad post - I hate to see the flowers die. But the pics are good. I also like that quote. I will google marion, as I'm sure I've read some of her books.

lotusleaf said...

The quotation is very apt. Liked the ginger heads.

Stephanie said...

It is always sad to see those beautiful flowers fade off. But seeds are good too! Plants can be multiplied using seeds :-) Enjoy your weekend Kanak!

sweetbay said...

Loved the quote!

Chandramouli S said...

Oh I love the look of the dry seedheads especially the basil and Asteraceae family! Do you save them? Do they have a long lineage? Curious to know....

Lillebeth said...

Beautiful peon and wonderful pictures. Have a nice week!

Birdy Official said...

Every thing in this world has its own beauty. Like flowers these seedpods are beautiful too. You capture them nicely. The butterfly in the picture is surly Peacock
Pansy. This year we have dry season peacock pansy butterflies, which look like a dried leaf from undersides, no Ocelli at all.

Unknown said...

Thank you for stopping by and leaving your comments. Loved reading them!


Chandramouli, welcome back after a long gap! no, I don't save the seeds. They're wonderful re-seeders and always spring up where you don't even expect them!

Chloe m said...

Kanak,
What a beautiful poem, that goes so well with your photos. I am not familiar with growing orchids, never seen the seeds before, that is most interesting!
Rosey

Sunita Mohan said...

Kanak, the Crape Ginger looks spectacular in its flowerless avtar! Does it dry well?
I use the seedheads of the tulsi in some of my smaller floral arraangements and when I'm pressing flowers. It looks quite elegant, doesn't it?

Victoria said...

Beautiful post! What gorgeous exotic looking plants! I also love that first photo and the gorgeous reds!! Lovely!! I find see pod and seeds so pretty in their own way!Wonderful post!!

Carol said...

The ultimate purpose of our beloved plants is in its last stage of seed morph... as is with most all in nature procreation rules. Each has its uniqueness... I love your 'Fading beauties... and can imagine the tiny capsules inside neatly stacked with tiny seeds... or perhaps some other form. The delicate basil seed heads are more obvious... what might the Peacock Pansy find to sip ... There are many other blooms in your garden as seen in the background of your photos Kanak. Lovely. Carol

Unknown said...

Rosey, these were first-time bloomers so I'll have to wait and see what happens and how long I'll have to wait. Glad you stopped by.


Sunita, they dry really well. Last year's was good but this time I cut them off early because I cleaned up the area. Anyway the rhizomes have fun s-p-r-e-a-d-i-n-g all over the place!

I want to scatter the seeds on waysides so that people will get the same joy that I get when I see them blooming on the roadsides. What say? With tulsi, I do the same too. They look lovely with floral arrangements. But with craft and such creativity, my work is sloppy:( If you want the C.ginger seeds, just let me know.


Kiki, thank you so much! On blogposts, especially, during this season, you come across a whole lot of amazing seed-heads. I'm glad that after some head-scratching and severe scrutinizing of my plants, I managed to get these:-) Had fun selecting them!


Carol, thanks. Loved reading your comment....The Peacock Pansy wasn't sipping there. It had retired for the day. I've seen the Pansy species--three varieties visit often--call it a day by 4.30 in the afternoon, especially on cloudy days. And now, with the nights getting shorter, they'll probably retire earlier.

Autumn Belle said...

Kanak, what a beautiful quote to begin your post with. I love the white flower coming out of the ginger bloom. Bountiful seeds are certainly an indication of a many more new plants.

Unknown said...

Autumn Belle, thanks. There are so many seeds on the ginger seed-head that when you shake it, it rattles rather loudly. It's almost like using a baby's rattle!:)