You all know how much I love seedpods. I wax on about them. I wax off about them. And one lovely thing about this time of year is the plethora of pods one can find. Here are a small handfull - not that these pods are small, and they are not in my hands. But still.
Just check out these beautiful orangey yellow berries - don't you just want to string them into a necklace? They are the result of the flowering process of a sub tropical shrub (it may actually be a sub shrub. A sub tropical sub shrub. I'm not kidding - poor plant. It must battle feelings of inferiority all the time) called Duranta repens. The flowers are delicate little blue dainties, and they hang in small panicles off the end of the branches of this very big, very lazy, tree-like plant.
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The image above is not some mutated honeycomb - it is the complex seedpod of Phlomis russeliana, a very Dr. Seussian plant if ever there was one. My phlomis is not a great specimen, in fact, it is little more than three lax stems in search of an horticultural identity, but the pods are wonderful - and so weak little phlomis lives on in my garden so that I can enjoy them. And now you can, too!
Oh, my - the seedpod of the gaudiest, sublimely tackiest of plants, Canna 'Tropicanna'. I don't think I can explain how much I love this plant. People hate this plant (actually, many hate cannas in general), they fear its pizzazz, its technicolor stripey leaves, its brassy, flouncey flower. And if you are one of those timid, meek, small-minded folk - there is another thing to fear. Tropicanna's bright red, fuzzy pod. It just doesn't quit, this plant - unless the dreaded whitefly gets it. (Take a look at Germinatrix's stunning Tropicanna)
The rose; so frilly, so elegant. Once the petals all fall off, however, there is still something to see - even if it is a hip-less variety. Check out the star created by the bracts - it is a shape that you'll see plenty of in the plant kingdom, usually behind the flowers. I love it, the simple geometry that holds up the beauty. I find it kind of magical.
So this fall, don't cut your flowers when they wither - let them go further, let them develop ... This is the season of the pod. Enjoy them!Related: Hoping for a fast-growing garden? Here's how to create a lush, rich Eden in just three months.
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