Red Chicory Radicchio and Pocahontas

And that, my dears, in a nutshell...is why I never actually ATE any of the Red Chicory radicchio I planted this spring. 

Before I even considered eating it, I wanted to make sure it played its part in my edible landscape. Beauty and nourishment, you see. And so it did.
Cavorting with the tulips and pansies in the spring garden display up front (though in hindsight, its coloration would have been so much more appropriate for a fall-scape...), and of course being





simply lovely and DIVINE in one of the quadrants of the 
p o t a g e r.  Perhaps even a little too lovely...as I couldn't bear the thought of harvesting and consuming




something of such beauty and perfection. So I just let it stay put for my visual and sensory delight. 







Then the florist in me reared its head, and I began to think just how simply stunning 


it could be as a component of a like-colored spring arrangement. A trip in the meantime, discouraged harvest of the succulent heads...for salads or grilling or




a dalliance with a vinaigrette coquette. By the time I returned, those purple-veined spheres had morphed into something resembling an alien...shooting out a (forgive me) rather phallic looking elongation with fertile intentions, no doubt.

It was indeed, so odd-looking that I just had to wait it out...and that was, of course, where my inner Pocahontas took over and I simply had to let it be.




















And thankfully, I did....for my patience and refrain was rewarded with the most delicate of lavender-blue flowers on thin, wiry stems. An utter delight and unexpected surprise. And there you have it....