Friday, August 22, 2008

Cleome

How can something so pretty smell so bad?
My Cleome , or Spider Plants, are at their
peak. My friend, Carolyn, has hundreds of seedlings
every spring that she gladly gives away. They make a
wonderful presence in the garden, but they have an
unpleasant odor, rather skunk-like, at certain times
of the day. But I forgive them since they're so tall
and graceful and full of color. Oh, yes, Carolyn grows
them, too. How else would she get the seeds? But she has
a bad sense of smell and can just enjoy their beauty.


The bees love them and are always hovering
and rubbing against the stamens. I just couldn't
get one to sit and pose for the picture.

1 comment:

Lora Martin said...

Here in Santa Barbara, we seem to have an abundance of valerian growing everywhere. I mean, you can't get rid of the stuff once it gets into your yard! I thought ours was gone, but two years later, its back. Anyway, it is very pretty but smells so awful I just can't imagine the first person who decided to try it for its medicinal properties. What? They thought, this smells deadly, let's see how much of it will just relax us instead of killing us?