My Fig Tree or My Wasp Nursery? Either way I’m eating ‘em.

I knew figs were not fruit. However I didn’t really know what they were. Didn’t even think about it.

My son says- “Mom, figs are flowers. They contain little wasps.”

And I’m like- “Huh???”

So I looked it up. How Stuff Works Figs and Wasps

Penny Watson probably knew this because she’s got like a masters degree… in science… Botany to be exact. To be even more specific I think it’s like turf which is why I felt perfectly comfortable asking her why my dog’s pee kills all my turf and what, if anything, I could do about it. And she said, “Nothing.”

Anyway- Read it and weep:

“What we call a fig (a structure called the syconium) is more inverted flower than fruit, with all its reproductive parts located inside. After a female fig wasp flies over from the fig plant she emerged from, she must travel to the center of the syconium to lay her eggs. To get there, she climbs down through a narrow passage called the ostiole. The passage is so cramped that the tiny fig wasp loses her wings and antenna during her claustrophobic trek. Once inside, there’s no getting back out and flying to another plant…”

You know historically speaking, figs are supposed to be an aphrodisiac, with the fragrance of honey and the appearance of female unmentionables. It’s true.

I’m just gonna eat ‘em and not think about wasps and female unmentionables because my tree is really producing this year.

Oh… speaking of reproducing- here’s the most robust baby from last year’s giant fist-sized garden spider:

Big baby spider living in my garden.