Have you ever wondered why the tulip drops its petals just as orchids are unfolding and while pansies and petunias go on blooming? Is it the heat of summer that makes them fade? Or some aversion to longer days?
Blame it on plant genetics. Flowers don't die off; they are deliberately strangled by the rest of the plant.
A tulip's bloom, however beautiful, serves one purpose to the plant: pollination. A lingering flower saps the energy a plant needs for bulb and seed development. Once pollinated, its beauty is a useless distraction from unpollinated flowers, and so it dies like Desdemona at the hands of Othello, its life tragically cut short.
Continued at... Full Bloom
Rural Delivery
Out There
Growth Spurts
Artwork: Tulip
