Blooms and seeds...

The heat notwithstanding, things are happily growing in the yard. (It takes a lot of watering to *keep* them happy - but that's what I have teenagers for!) This is one of my favorite poppies - multi-petaled and hot pink. It looks more like a peony than a poppy.



I have almost a dozen hydrangea bushes scattered about. From lace-cap to snowball. Hydrangea color (the pink or blue) is supposed to be determined by the acidity of the soil, but this blue and pinkish one are less than two feet from each other... You would think that would be close enough to make them the same color...?



Are you familiar with borage? Fuzzy, fuzzy leaves and buds. You *can* eat the leaves - but they are a bit uncomfortable, texture-wise on the tongue. I grow them for the blossoms - which are dramatic, beautiful and vaguely cucumber flavored as an edible garnish. Toss on a salad or more especially, float on a cold soup.


This season, I'm trying to let a few more things go to seed. I'm experimenting with what things are effective to harvest seeds from, and what reseeds itself well. In this photo you can see flowerheads-soon-to-be-seeds for onion, carrot and arugula.


I have a duo purpose in letting some of the herbs bloom and go to seed. This is cilantro flowering (which become coriander seed). Herbal blooms, cilantro included, are quite tasty - these taste spicy, citrusy, warm and vaguely floral. They make my salads happy!

I cut paper grocery bags full of dry poppy heads, arugula seed pods, columbine pods, nigella pods and onion blooms yesteryday (nearly died of heatstroke by the time I was done) and dug up clusters of elephant garlic and shallots. That was about the extent of physical activity possible for me!

Anybody else have recommendations of things that are particularly good for seed harvesting?