Petalless Flowers of the Member of the Grass Family

Corn Silks Exposed and Waiting for Pollen to Fertilize the Ear of Corn

Tassels Heavy with Pollen

Delicate and silky but when magnified, the silks look anything but silky

 I have a total of six stalks of corn growing in the garden this year.  I know that hand-pollinating is a must for a crop this small because there's just not enough pollen floating down from the tassels to find the silks which lead to the corn kernels.

In searching for instructions to hand-pollinate, I learned a few facts about corn which I did not know.

First, corn is a member of the plant family Gramineae which has petalless flowers borne in spikelets, and fruit in the form of seedlike grain.  

Second, corn is a graass as is rice, wheat, barley, millet, oats, sugar cane, sorghum, rye and bamboo.

Knee High By the Fourth of July

Despite the record breaking temperatures this past weekend, the corn is one of the vegetables in the garden which did not get any scorched leaves.

And for the record, this corn is shoulder height and it is only June 22.

Corn--Eight Days Later

After eight days of water and sun, this corn is heading to the sky. Beautiful tassels are appearing at the top of each plant. One ear of corn has appeared with fuzzy silks at to top.