Bean Flowers

It's easy to focus on the gustatory pleasures of fresh veggies straight out of the garden, but what about that which comes before the vegetable?  Many garden plants have beautiful flowers that attract essential pollinators that, in turn, aid in the successful production of fruit.  These days we are enjoying a variety of beans and southern peas at the dinner table. With their symmetric, outward flairing side-petals, the flowers of the bean and pea plant family (Legumes) are reminiscent of butterflies.  Here's a little gallery of bean blossoms that are currently blooming in the late summer garden.

Jade Bush Beans

Asian Long Beans

Rattlesnake Pole Beans

Pink-Eyed Purpled-Hulled Peas