In small gardens, and in gardens such as Squirrelhaven where full sunlight real estate is at a premium, vegetables have to do double duty as ornamental plants. When I was buying seeds for this year's vegetables, the boy wasn't interested because he doesn't eat them. However, he did ask me to plant one edible, sunflowers, as he loves sunflower seeds. I duly procured a shorter variety and sowed them in the garden. I weeded, watered and waited. And waited. And waited some more before I realized that nothing was going to come up. Someone had stolen the seeds. Lucky for the boy (he's a very lucky person), that someone dropped one of the seeds in the gravel on the south side of the house, where it sprouted and grew.
I deserve some credit here for recognizing the seedling and not weeding it out.
Now that it has matured, I'm endlessly fascinated by the beauty of the plant.
I've had some fun with it in Photoshop.
Even the leaves are interesting.
Do you see the Greenman?