Night Queen

The Queen of the Night is the closest you'll get to a pure black tulip. I love this flower-- and if you Google the name, you'll find dozens of beautiful pictures of Queen, so other people must like it too. It's unusual, but also one of those strong bulbs that come back every year.

Speaking of tulips, we just watched an interesting PBS documentary called The Botany of Desire. Michael Pollan talks about apples, tulips, cannabis and potatoes, and how from an evolutionary point of view, plants are as advanced as we are. The "genius" of plants is the way they evolve in usefulness and beauty in order to get us to work for THEM. Anyone who spends an afternoon in the garden understands that.

And how about my new pot tower? It should be pretty when those sedums drape down the sides. Something I learned to make from that know-it-all Martha Stewart.