First Blooms

This morning Mr. Gardener headed out to have breakfast and came back in excitedly to tell me that one of the zucchinis bloomed.  (I knew he got me!)

Aren't they pretty?  

This is the zucchini closest to the end of my sidewalk and the one that I fear has the greatest susceptibility to the neighborhood children.  But, as I have become increasingly unable to deter my growing collection of containers (because clearly the containers are the problem, not my self-control), one of them had to bite the bullet and take this spot.  Zucchini being a somewhat very large plant, I deemed it a fighter and decided that it drew the short straw.

But I have been rewarded with blooms!  Two, in fact!

One is male and one is female.  If I had been smart, I would have shown you up close.  Alas, I was not and it is dark now so there will be no pictures.

But it's easy with zucchinis.  

Well, maybe not as easy as with people.  But easy nonetheless.

I read somewhere (where?  don't know, I have ready entirely too many gardening forums and blogs lately because I am something of a freak perfectionist and want to know exactly what to do with everything) that when the zucchini first starts blooming it tends to have more male than female blooms. Why?  I don't know.  I would guess that it might increase the likelihood of cross pollination (further the species that kind of thing) if there is another zucchini in the vicinity.  But that's just a guess.  Looking at the future buds on my plant, the majority do appear to be male.

But anyway, telling them apart.  Female flowers have what looks like a tiny zucchini on the stem part.  It's a little more swollen.  It's just like a flower with a zucchini stem.  Male flowers have the stem that most of us are used to thinking of when we picture a flower.  Just a plain, skinny, ordinary stem.

That's all there is to it.

Told you it was easy.  And you should believe me, I'm always right.

Ask Mr. Gardener.  ;)