Monday, September 6, 2010

Deconstructing Agapanthus

Agapanthus used to be to be a popular landscaping plant in the Northern California Bay Area.  It's easy to grow and rewards us with a big bloom of blue flowers once a year. I planted two about 10 years ago. Sad to say the flowers feel dated to me now. Flowers fall in and out of popularity.  Which  brings up the whole idea of the changing popularity of flowers and plants throughout history. Now there is an abundance of varieties from all over the world to choose from in just a plane trip (or 2 or 3) away. In our great grandmother's day, the selection was more restricted to what grew in the area or was carried; by hand, cart, wagon, and ship from place to place. What was coveted on the table and in the garden in St. Paul in the 1940's or Barcelona in the 1790's?

But as for today I decided the spent Agapathus flowers needed to be trimmed off. The flowers had dried and fallen to the ground in blue drifts. The remaining parts proved interesting.