apple green calyces

Another new-to-me flower: Are you familiar with Bells of Ireland? I am much more familiar with my native northern wildflowers, than I am with cultivated garden flowers. Inside each of those bell-shaped calyces is a tiny white flower. It may not add much color to your garden, but boy does it add some terrific sculptural variety–each sturdy spike of bells reaching up to 3 feet in height. I am excited to dry these and see what happens–so you can expect to see this very stem again in February :-)

Bells of Ireland (Moluccella laevis)