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July 22, 2010

Mallows

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Okra has to be one of the best "bang for your buck" veggies. It's easy to grow from seed. It survives in 100+ degree heat. It makes tons of fruit. And, my favorite feature of all, it creates these beautiful flowers.

Turks Cap Bloom
Okra is a member of the mallow family along with turk's cap and hibiscus. We have turk's cap blooming in the shade in the front yard. I can see family resemblance, especially in the pistols in the middle of the flowers.

Okra and spent bloom
I wish you could keep cut mallow flowers, but even on the plant, the blooms only last one day.

Okra Bouquet
While I was harvesting okra pods, I accidently cut too deeply and wacked off a few leaves. They were so beautiful, I put them in a vase half expecting them to shrivel up in few hours. It's been three days and they haven't shown any signs of wilting.

1 comment:

  1. I'm not a fan of okra, but I may change my mind now that I see how pretty the flower is! I didn't know it was in the mallow family. I have a Luna Blush Hibiscus with plate-sized blooms that last only a day.

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