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This spring I bought several Iceland poppy plants. I tucked them in front of the various boxwoods that frame my front door. I have watched with fascination the fuzzy elongated green buds open little by little and finally unfold into flowers with ruffled organza petals and golden crowns of stamens.

The fuzzy sepals that wrap around the bud to protect it before opening finally start to crack open to reveal delicate petal edges. Unlike most buds, the Iceland poppy does not unfurl or spread open, but rather it unfolds from a fist-like position with petal edges breaking out at the bottom of the sepal. To think that these gathered, gossamer thin petals emerge from this cramped position without any evidence of their captivity to appear for their grand finale of bloom is a miracle of design and engineering.