A gardener's January.
"Almost any plant grows from under the seed upwards, lifting the seed on
its head like a cap. Think if a child should grow carrying its mother on
its head.
It is simply a wonder of Nature; and this athletic deed is performed by
almost any shoot.
It lifts the seed with an always braver thrust, until one day it drops it
and throws it away; and now it stands here, naked and fragile, bulky or lean,
and has on its top two such ridiculously small leaves and between these
two leaves something will become visible later.
But what I shall not tell you yet, I have not got so far. It is only two
tiny leaves on a pale little leg, but it is so strange, it has so many
variations, it is different with every plant — What did I want to say?
Oh, I know — nothing; only that life is more complicated than one can
imagine."
The Gardener's Year — Karel Kapek