This month's Gardening Gone Wild photo contest has the topic "Green World." I love the photo contests and so enjoy spending some time in my garden exploring the topic the wonderful judges suggest. As I thought about the Green World, it suddenly struck me how the buds of many flowers are actually green. Sometimes, a hint of color shines through, but the bud of the California poppy you see above is undeniably -- green.
I made some other photos of buds, and will show first the photo, so CA native plant enthusiasts can try to guess. Then I'll tell what I photographed. So, here we are:
Yes, those are the buds of Carpenteria californica (bush anenome) waiting to show their big, beautiful white faces, but right now, green.
This one's easy if you have the plant: Lepechinia fragrans (pitcher sage), still wrapping its violet buds in green tissue paper.
Not quite so easy, this is a side view of Eriogonum arborescens. I'm already looking forward to the pale pink blossoms, but I also enjoy the green buds.
And this last one -- I swear -- had completely green buds, though they look tinged with yellow in the photo. It's Aquilagia formosa (Western columbine) waiting to unfold and show the pretty orange and yellow bells.
That was fun! And I wouldn't even have noticed if I hadn't decided to participate in the contest. And now, let's see what everyone else has in store.
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