Growing Fabric

The Youngest Lamblet (yes... youngest of two... :-P) asked us sometime in spring if we would plant cauliflower for her. Grizzled said sure, he'd give it a go... even though he wasn't sure if we'd have success since cauliflower is kind of finicky as vegetable plants go.

I can't say that I'd ever seen a cauliflower plant before and I expected it to be somewhat like cabbage... a low, squat nest of leaves holding the beloved veggie. It's anything but low... and it's got the most awesome color. While the rest of the veggie plants are more or less a bright yellow-green, the cauliflower is a smokey blue-green-gray... and better yet, it's got this awesome texture that reminds me of a silk. I can't decide if it's peau de soie, or dupioni, or maybe even a shantung, but it's definitely silk. It's got this iridescence and "pearlescence" going for it that is gorgeous... and it's kind of puckered. It looks like a piece of silk that has gotten wet in places and is poofing and puckering just a tad. This photo doesn't do it justice. While you can see the color and the puckering, it almost looks more like latex in this image and not like silk. In person, it looks very much like you should be able to touch it and have it feel like fabric.

I can't stop looking at it... many times a day... in varying lights. In fact, I think I heard one of the lamblets the other day telling their father when he asked where I was, "I think she's out looking at the cauliflower again, Dad."

I love looking at all of it... even though we came back to a gardens taken over by weeds, it's all so wonderful at this time of year... the colors, the contrast, the textures. It's crack for visual circuits.  And as if that's not enough... it draws wonderful butterflies, birds and other flying things. I have a patch of zinnias that is a magnet for butterflies, bees, moths and goldfinches. The goldfinches love to beat the crap out of them... plucking petals willy-nilly, but I don't care... seeing half a dozen goldfinches frolicking on the fleurs is more than enough payback for them ripping them up.

I tried to get a shot of them for thundra, but was not fast enough. I did get a lovely bumblebee and a moth. Woo-hoo! Even a moth seems over the top at this time of year.

"Where's Mom??"

"She's out looking at moths, but she looks happy, so don't harsh her mellow."

Comments

[Jennifer]

Be sure to enlarge the cauliflower leaf photo as large as possible. When you max it out, the morning dew on the right leaf looks like glitter!

[Snag]

The moth is what adds the crunch to a nice bowl of steamed cauliflower.

[ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®©]

That moth looks like a skipper, Jennifer.

Using the handy-dandy butterfly identifier, I'm guessing a Leonards Skipper or a Pecks Skipper.

I hope we'll both be welcome at the Old Entomologist if we should ever make it to New Zealand!
~

[ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®©]

Here's another picture of a Peck's Skipper.
~

[Jennifer]

Ha! Well it's nice to know. We have a ton of those this year.

[ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®©]

Here's a list of skippers native to Wisconsin.

Both Peck's and Leonard's are on the list, as is the Common Checkered Skipper. But that one seems a bit brighter than the Peck's and the one in your picture.

I'm pretty sure it's a skipper, at least...
~

[Kathleen in Oakland]

beee-utiful!

[Jennifer]

thundra- but what about ones native to IL??

Thanks, Kathleen!