this too is jack-in-the-pulpit

when we think of botanicals, especially flowers, we tend to visualize them in their peak expression—the perfectly concentric rose, the radiant sunflower. but every one of those plants has many stages…that are all equally worthy of our attention. and in my mind, equally interesting and beautiful. 

october seed stalks of jack in the pulpit

here today, gone tomorrow

my eyes keep tightening and relaxing trying to bring these leaves into focus. they can’t obviously, because the image already is in focus. the leaves simply appear not to be. i noticed these yesterday evening when steve and i were out walking the puggle.  i didn’t want to pick them then because the light was waning, and i didn’t want to carry them for the rest of our walk. so i asked steve “do you think they will still look like this tomorrow?” he replied cheekily, “how long have you been doing STILL?”. so i picked them, and photographed them in the blue evening light. and boy, am i glad i did. because today the remaining leaves were not nearly as interesting–still variegated, but completely dull. ten years, and i am still surprised at how fleeting it all is.

snakeroot leaves in october

packed like sardines in a can

i opened a milkweed pod before it burst and was dumbstruck by the perfection hidden inside.

common milkweed seeds in pod (Asclepias syriaca)

a different kind of fall colors

i don’t think i have ever seen this before–the way the color has drained from these petals. at first i thought is was pollen dust staining the petals. i am not sure what meteorological conditions conspired to create it. but i am all in. i think it is beautiful. it looks like an unfinished painting to me.

 sweet coneflower in october (Rudbeckia subtomentosa) (?)

seed pods!

these seed heads are every bit as beautiful as the spotted turk’s cap flowers that preceded them in july. i would plant these in my garden with or without the summer flowers, because these delightfully weird seedpods are enough for me. i am hoping they will stick around all winter, poking their raised fists defiantly above the snow in triumph.

american tiger lily seed pods in october (Lilium superbum)