Awesome Joolie

After almost a whole week of rain, the sun came out and the world is blooming. I have a lot of really beautiful flowering plants around the yard I'd like to show you, but first, let's visit some of the, uh, less conventionally attractive ones.

The arugula flower is almost aggressively homely: four sparse petals with dark veins. I'll be seeing a lot of these as they bolt and go to seed. I plan to collect all the veggies' seeds this year. I mean, they come free with the plant, so why not try to save a few bucks next year?

Sometimes I stick the root ends of used green onions around the edges of pots to get another round or two out of them--they grow back pretty well. I accidentally let these get really big, and now they are flowering. The flowers are tiny and unremarkable, although it's been fun to watch them burst out of their papery pods. I guess they will produce seeds too. Probably a lot of them, judging by the looks of these things. Anyone want to plant onions this spring?

I didn't know paddle plants flowered! But this year they did, sending up big, cream-colored stalks. This particular pot of them served as our wedding table centerpiece, so I am particularly fond of it. I don't know if they produce viable seeds--they seem to propagate just fine on their own. We've got paddle plants all over the damn place here.

Anyway, the flowers themselves are small, crowded, and kind of weird looking, but that's okay. This bee sure doesn't seem to mind.

Next time: Pretty flowers!