Botanical Curves

Plants are full of curves - gentle curving petals of a deciduous magnolia,

 

The cups and spirals of young leaves that will flatten out as they expand to their mature form,

 

The graceful white markings that follow the veins on a tropic leaf,

 

The round nuts on a palm,

 

An old smooth edged leaf caught by deep green leaves,

And the folds of an amaryllis bud.

Are there any straight lines in nature? Or is ‘straight’ simply a matter of perspective - where we don’t have a large enough view to discern the curvature?

Amaryllis

Brookside Gardens has several amaryllis in all stages of blooming in their conservatory when I visited in early March. The large flowers are the culmination of the unfurling of tightly compacted buds. Enjoy the slide show of the various stages of that process below!