a little bit of heaven On Mother Earth’s tender breast, with a shy welcome smile, It rewards our relentless pursuit. |
Are there any of you children who wouldn’t rejoice at the first blue baby girl you find in the spring? Are you ever tired of this delicious flower? Even if you lived next door to a whole field of Baby-Blue-Eyes, you’d still love them. Their bright blue faces seem to smile at us as sweetly as children do.
But if Baby-Blue-Eyes reminds us of a cute little baby, she’s not helpless. She is well able to carry on with her work. She is also very honest. She is willing to pay well for any insect she helps.
She waves her blue mites over her leaves to invite Mrs. Bug to dinner. This lady is very happy to accept the invitation. She is not waiting to send an answer. She scurries along herself, very hungry for a feast. When you get to Baby-Blue-Eyes, you find many pleasant surprises.
Mrs. Baby-BluerEyes didn’t dye every Corolla bright blue. Near the center, I kept it white. Lest the insects not mind the plain white, I splattered dots of dark blue and black over the lighted places.
When Mrs. Bug approaches Baby-Blue-Eyes, her nose begins to tickle.
“Honey! Honey! Honey!” It speeds along, buzzing in time for its wing strokes. “Hurray! Hurray! Hurray!”
Look and see what you will find. You see the corolla is bell-shaped. There are five petals, which fit nicely together to make a circle. Now look inside the bell. Each petal generously presented food – not one, but two dishes. Think about it! Two layers of honey for each petal. Now, can’t you believe that Mrs. Baby Blue Eyes has a generous heart?
There are little honey trails that lead to the dishes. If Mrs. Bug has a cold and can’t smell honey, she can still find it using her eyes.
Mrs. Baby-Blue-Eyes doesn’t want the smallest insects, who can sneak up without touching their stamens, to sit on her table. She is willing to make a good meal, but wishes for fair payment for it. So, she hung a barrier of fine hair over the honey pots. Your parents put screens on the windows to keep out the flies, right? Just like that, Mrs. Baby Blue Eyes hangs screens in front of her honey to keep out insects she doesn’t like. Large insects, which will help them, can easily bend the hairs to one side and stick their tongues between them.
Mrs. Baby Blue Eyes has shaped her little brown figure like an arrow. It runs toward the petal, rather than the center, as many flowers do. When Mrs. Bug steps on a petal, she begins to walk down the honey trail. knocks on the foot of the stamen. Like a flash, the anther opens open and fine gray pollen is poured onto it. It’s as if you flip a switch on the wall and a light bulb blinks. This only quickly opens the anther when Mrs. Bug touches the foot of the stamen.
When Mrs. Bug eats all she wants in that baby blue, she goes to another. Here, as she enters, her head is sure to shrug off her stigmas. Leave some pollen on it. They send pollen grains to the ovules and the seeds start.
If, after a while, no insect comes to Baby-Blue-Eyes, they turn their anthers around, so that they face the center. Then they open and pollen falls on the stigmas of that same flower. Then you make the seeds into the seed tray. Baby-Blue-Eyes loves pollen from one flower to go to the ovules of another flower. Makes the seeds better. All plants like pollen from one flower to reach the ovules of another flower. That is why they call on insects to help them.
Baby-Blue-Eyes feels sure that their plan of action is a good one to help the bug. So, it raises only five stamens. Remember the number of stamens of the buttercup and the poppy and the cup of cream held aloft. They can lose a lot of pollen and still make seeds.
Sometimes the wind carries pollen from one flower and it falls on the stigmas of another flower. Do you think it is certain to fall on the same kind of flower? Is it as sure as if Mrs. Bug was carrying it?
Baby-Blue-Eyes don’t depend on the wind. She sets out to please Mrs. Bug and she succeeds. Mrs. Bug finds her honey so delicious that she will definitely try the same kind of flower for a taste again. Some days, you just love chocolate soda, right? No matter what types are offered to you, you still choose chocolate. Some days you opt for strawberries instead. Well, it’s the same with Mrs. Bug. Some days, her fancy is set on Honey Baby-Blue-Eyes and no buttercup soda or any other flavor will satisfy her sweet tooth.
Healthy Baby Blue Eyes Seeds. You can plant them in your garden and they will grow into good plants. Florists sent seeds all over the world. Do you know what a florist is? I thought you did. The seeds grow well in distant countries. They grow healthy and send up many flowers. Their flowers are beautiful to the people out there, but they would look a little faded to us. Corolla is not as bright blue as our wildflowers wear. Baby Blue Eyes, in order to be truly beautiful, you need to look up at the California sky.
Wander through fields of Baby-Blue-Eyes or
Nemophila with Mochi Mochi My