Mercurial Milkweed

Elementary school teachers everywhere, take heart. You know those little plastic cups you have your students plant seeds in a few weeks before Open House? The beans and flowers and shrubs you sprout to teach life science standards? The tiny plants you figure probably die a few short days after the kids walk out the door with them in hand?

SOMETIMES THOSE SEEDLINGS DO SURVIVE!

Take this science experiment, for example. Last year my mom (also an elementary school teacher) brought home an extra milkweed seedling left over from another class' science project at her school. Knowing my interest in butterfly gardening, she passed it along to me. I promptly planted it... and then it grew... and grew... and grew.

The tiny milkweed sprout that came home in a red plastic cup at three inches tall now towers over me, standing more than 13 feet high. I was completely in awe of this plant for its sheer vertical growth habit.

And then these appeared.

These mercurial orbs encapsulate the seeds of the milkweed plant. They float in and among the leaves, gracefully, in alien patterns.

They seem to have an almost architectural quality to them. Their shape and texture are both modern and organic.

Gazing at these planet-like plant structures dreamily, I almost expect them to float off into space. Don't you think they are mesmerizing?

This would be an interesting shape for a pendant lamp. In white. Above my dining room table.

Ikea lighting designers, take note! Inspiration, after all, comes in many forms.