Wildflower Burdock Sun

Wildflower Burdock Sun (in three editions)

From a fantasy vision out of the distant Ecotopia comes the realm's transitional star. It started with a gift of Ornamental Corn: Glass Gem back in the autumn and survived a few failed attempts along the way to "stellarize" the corn as art. Then came Spring and the first Burdock harvest. Burdock is a distant relative of Artichoke. Both are thistles. When I was young, many of my older relatives harvested Burdock stalks as "Cardoons" (Cardone). I still pick and cook Burdock even as I also grow the more traditional Mediterranean variety of Cardone. While the Cardone of Italy is blanched and harvested in the fall, stalks of the American Burdock are only tender for about two weeks in the spring. The leaves are not eaten. Here I have used those leaves as the sky behind the beautiful corn and assorted wild flowers: Feverfew, both blue and white Forget-me-nots, Dandelion blossoms and flowers of Sweet Woodruff. The center of the star consists of a single flower of Leopard's Bane surrounded by Viburnum blossoms.