Summer’s heady flowers are gone and the last of the autumn leaves were blown off the trees this week by the winds from hurricane Sandy. Instead, we are left with fields and gardens full of seed heads which my dogs have no problem finding and returning home, their coats matted with burdock and other less distinguishable seeds, that take hours to remove without causing pain!

I have also been busy filling bowls and jars of seeds from flowering annuals and bi annuals: Nicotiana, Nigella-love-in-a mist, and the pale yellow flowering Russian hollyhocks to name a few. My favorite seed head belongs to the Clematis vine. The feathery forms remind me of the hairdos of 1960’s pop singers and makes me smile.

Seed head of flowering clematis