Unfolding

It seems so late in the season, racing past the middle of May, but the last frost date just sailed by so in a sense, the growing season here in Boston is just taking off. One signal of this is that the leaves of some plants are still unfolding.

The leaf, this wonderful structure that supports the mechanism for photosynthesis. Countless protein-laden chloroplasts inside, the dynamos that convert solar energy into chemical energy. The plant can't risk losing them, and the soft body of the leaf can't withstand frost.

So as the growing season goes into full swing we finally see the unfurling, the unfolding, the exploding of the photosynthetic universe. Its geometric forms are as amazing as the biochemical processes they enable.