This group of four echinacea flowers (purple coneflowers), silky in the sun, caught my attention.
While the pink petals are wriggling upwards, the flowers appear to be a different species. Opening gappy and straw-like (as seen in the smallest flower, centre left) the petals broaden, lengthen, deepen in colour and droop back under the expanding centre of the flower.
The final flower form reminds me of twisting something into a cotton handkerchief for safekeeping, long ago, but what could it have been?
I’m sharing this for Cee’s Flower of the Day.
Susan Rushton 
Beautiful photo for today 😀
Thanks Cee. I hope your day is a happy one.
Perfect shot of four different stages all together.
The transformation of a flower fascinates me. I’ve been watching a pink shrub rose that shrivels and darkens in the middle before the edges fade. I can’t decide whether it is attractive or not, but it is certainly consistent.
They’re a little strange, aren’t they? In a good way!
Flowers so often are! Orchids especially, as you’ve been showing us.
🤣💕
A tooth, of course! When a tooth fell out and you weren’t home, there was always Mom’s hankie to wrap it in! I never thought of the echinacea as silky, but it’s a good word for these. “Gappy” is good too.
Probably a tooth at one time or another. I dare say ‘gappy’ brought to mind a smiling child with front teeth missing?
Good one! I hadn’t thought of that!
I’ve seen these flowers in many gardens and love them but never knew what they are called. The one in the foreground reminds me of an octopus making its way up to the surface of the sea with its tentacles trailing behind.
Your comment made me think I remembered a variety called ‘Pink Octopus’, but on searching, it’s a campanula!
Nicely observed
The petals were shining like beacons – you could hardly miss them.
Of course the twisted handerchief contained coins: for the Sunday School offering, or the school fee, or the bread I was to bring home from the corner store. Pockets were undependable. What a wonderful image you’ve evoked!
A twisted hanky was a wonderful thing in the days before a handbag was deemed essential. Coins, no doubt, but I also remember something that formed a rounded profile. Seeds perhaps, or pebbles or small sweets?
Any of those — or a favorite marble!
Yes!