Some of the perennial herbs that I grow, either in the border or vegetable garden, add more than flavor to cooking; they are also beautiful plants, especially when they are flowering. Above is Sweet Cicely, with soft, finely cut, licorice flavored leaves, and delicate white flower clusters, with elongated green seed pods rising above them.
Chives have a very decorative flower; I'm very fond of the early stage of their growth, when the bulbous pointed shape of the buds are pregnant exclamations gracing the tubular foliage. The form makes me think that the onion dome, familiar to Russian Orthodox church architecture, was based on the flower rather than the vegetable. It certainly has inspired some marvelously fanciful structures.
Saint Basil's Cathedral, Moscow, by Stan Shebs via Wikimedia Commons
Oh I have been so taken up this week with organisaltional matters as well as painting and reading Altoon. I have missed my normal frequent visits to your farm...the inspiration to be gleaned from that. So...here i am cramming!
ReplyDeleteDo love to see these herbs growing so abundantly in your garden. And the reference to the onion dome...and I'm with you on that likeness to the flower rather than the onion itself!