Under the Scope: Magnified Wildflower Seeds
In my house I have a tapestry that I found at a garage sale that I just couldn’t resist. The tapestry says: “A single seed can fill a field with flowers.” This simple optimism seems to be relating to the individual’s ability to affect change in the world. This could also be a statement about the perseverance of nature, sprouting against constant forces that promise its destruction. The wildflower seed is particularly vital and essential to local butterfly populations and other pollinators. The varieties of colors add splashes of vibrant life to a endless fields.
Each seed is a powerhouse of genetic information and energy. The seed has a strategy of persistent distribution because just one of these seeds must find a suitable environs that suits it to sprout next spring and continue the inherent cycles of life. Most of the seed is pure energy, this is what makes many seeds a perfect food source to wildlife. The protein of the seed is the plant that will sprout forth when the ambient signals line up just right and switches a genetic response to grow leaves and start making energy from pure light.
There is a book by Eric Carle, called The Tiny Seed. This book is so simple and tells the story of the harrowing journey of this seed that travels by the grace of the wind throughout landscapes beautifully illustrated with the signature style of Eric Carle’s books. There is an irony in the fact that these seeds both face the gravest of challenges that nature can put forth in order for them to sprout and grow, yet they are so abundant that without fail you can welcome each season with it’s wildflower varieties.
There is a true macro complexity to plants that draws the eye and when interacting with any part of a plant, each has its own sensual experience. One can employ the tactile sense to feel velvety petals, crisp leaves, rough branches and hard seeds. One plant provides so much information. The plant broken down into its component parts serves civilization more thoroughly than any other kingdom! Plant life affects the cruder human needs of food, home, clothing, energy and the finer aspects of life with medicine, musical instruments and house plants. Our whole experience of life is shaped by our interactions with the vegetable kingdom.
As the summer in North America starts to merge into the transitional autumn, the seeds start to be dispersed again by the winds, travelling birds and whatever other conveyance the plant has acquired by the experience of year after year showing up without fail. Indeed, one seed can fill a field with flowers, but it is much more likely for there to be many more.
