Flowers for Friday

If you’ve eaten okra but never seen it grow, you probably have no idea that those sometimes prickly pods have such beautiful origins. This time of year, morning walks always include picking pods and checking out the bumble bees in the okra blossoms. Last year I saved seeds from my burgundy okra using pantyhose and paint bush to prevent cross pollination with the neighbors’ green okra. Several of the plants are producing greenish pods, so my methods weren’t perfect. These flowers grace the entrance of the boys’ bean teepee, or “Teebonacci”. The bean vines of the teepee are entering the okra patch as they look for new avenues of upward growth.