Wednesday, June 08, 2005

The beautiful foxglove, but very poisonous. The bell-shaped flowers are said to resemble the fingers of a glove. I thought the following was really interesting.....An excerpt from www.botanical.com ........The Foxglove is a favorite flower of the honey-bee, and is entirely developed by the visits of this insect. For that reason, its tall flowers are at their best in, the hot summer days when the bees are busiest. The bottom lower lip of the corolla forms an alighting platform for the bee, and as he pushes his way up the bell, to get at the honey which lies in a circle around the seed vessel at the top of the flower, the anthers of the stamens which lie flat on the corolla above him, are being rubbed against his back. Going from one flower to another flower up the spike, he rubs pollen from one blossom on to the cleft stigma of the next blossom, and thats how the flower is fertilized and seeds are able to be produced. The life of each flower, from the time the bud opens till the time it drops off its corolla, is about six days. A vast number of seeds are produced, a single Foxglove plant provides from one to two million seeds to guarantee its future propagation. End of quote, which I changed abit. This beauty was photographed at the Niagara Falls greenhouse. I'd love to have a greenhouse full of this stuff, wouldn't you? It makes one pause and just for a second, cast a longing thought upon the privileges of the wealthy whom I imagine have more on their plates than they can ever really enjoy. And, after all, all of earths blooms are for the enjoyment of each of us, no money needed in most instances. Even the beauty of the wild morning glories have made my breath 'catch' in my throat. For "He doeth all things well".
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4 comments:

SuburbaMom said...

I was just passing a florist today and the smell was just heavenly. I was thinking that if I were rich I'd have flowers all over my house.

Laney said...

I just wanted to pop in and say, Hello. Thank-you for visiting my blog.

Your blog is just lovely and your photos are breathtaking, what a wonderful reminder of God's creation!

jettybetty said...

You give my so many great pictures to praise God for his gorgeous, incredible creation!
JB

Becca said...

Foxgloves have long been a favorite flower of mine ... ever since I was a Shakespeare English major in college and grew a "Shakespeare garden" of only flowers mentioned in his works - beautiful! Your photo is lovely and I totally agree that the most glorious things in life are created by God and can be enjoyed by everyone!