Just this morning when I was watering the peppers again, I stopped to look at the Ichiban eggplant bushes, their dark purple stems branching upward and outward, their light purple blossoms and dark purple fruits hanging downward -- every part of them so colorfully coordinated and balanced they seemed like studies in purple. The eggplant, of course, is one of the most ornamental bushes in the world of vegetables. But even the lowly cucumber vines have a visible appeal. Even now when they're stressed out from the heat and from a month of pumping out a dozen fruit a day, their dark green leaves still float above their bright yellow blossoms and dark green fruit below, somewhat like waterlilies.
Carl H. Klaus, My Vegetable Love: A Journal of a Growing Season
