[ Lost in the Landscape ]

snowflakes and insects

Snowflakes? What does this San Diego guy know about snowflakes?

Maybe a couple things—at least if we’re talking about the cut paper kind.

I’m sure it was an elementary school project at some point, folding sheets of paper, then cutting through the different layers with scissors, and then finally unfolding the paper to reveal an intricate paper-lace snowflake. I thought it was magic the way one nick with the scissors, cutting through multiple layers of paper at once, multiplied into many identical little removals all over the snowflake. And I still kinda think the process is magic.

I was reminded of those paper snowflakes when I saw this gorgeous photo Jenny sent me of a canna leaf that had been munched by some garden beastie. It looked like the leaf was still developing when the bug burrowed a hole from the outside towards the stem. When the leaf unfurled, the insect damage unfurled along with it, creating these uniform, rhythmic little cuts in the leaf.

Pretty artistic insect, no?

November 21 2008 | Categories: art • gardening | Tags: cannas • insects • Jenny • snowflakes | 4 Comments »