fugacious and otherwise

Diane Whitehead voltaire@islandnet.com
Tue, 24 Apr 2007 13:24:26 PDT
I find it very hard to understand fugacious flowers.  All that effort  
for a couple of hours of show, and it is not as though they just did  
the minimum necessary.  Often they are incredibly intricate in  
colour, shape, markings, scent.  I guess they must grow in an area  
with a guaranteed sufficiency of pollinators.

I much prefer flowers that hang around hopefully waiting.  Like  
trilliums.  John Gyer reports that the flower opens, then the pollen  
ripens and two weeks later the stigma is receptive.  Then the flower  
remains open another week or so to receive pollen.

Or snowdrops.  I should keep track one year.  It seems that I have  
had Galanthus woronowii in bloom from early January to late March.   
Those are the ones outside my kitchen window so I see them every  
day.  I don't know how long the other species out in the garden  
last.  Certainly they all give good garden value.


Diane Whitehead
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
maritime zone 8, cool Mediterranean climate
mild rainy winters, mild dry summers




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