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| Very sticker and not pretty either |
Eventually something happens. The cardoon(s) have been in uglyville limbo for two months! After the fluffy, purple, honeybee-attracting blossoms closed up and morphed into brown, stickery balls, I've been waiting. Checking to see what was next has been on every Things I get to do today list since then. See, there it is: "Check to see if the cardoon is making a pretty puff ball." Until today the answer has been no.
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| Biggest blossom ready to send out fairy puffs |
Suddenly, but just one at a time, the hundreds of seeds in each head are putting out their two-dozen wings and soaring off on the wind: destination unknown.
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| Individual seeds ready to take the next wind. |
They spring from a clamped-tight ball or from the golden fur of the first flower to bloom on the stalk. Either way, the fairies are playing games with these exquisite parachutes. Magic on the wind!
I never heard of them. How unique!
ReplyDeleteWell! I now have a bucket of seeds I could share with you. They're a biennial plant with striking leaves, cousins to artichokes and thistles.
DeleteThey are lovely. So stodgy, then so etherial.
ReplyDelete