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Flowers have been grown and nurtured over years for personal and business purposes. A flower provides visual bliss in addition to a soothing aroma and an array of delightful colors. One can give cut flowers as gifts to celebrate events, express feelings or just grow them in a backyard.
It may sound strange when a botanist refers to singular divisions of a flower while referring to male and female reproductive organs. However, this is true. Flowers are used as a reproductive organ only in certain angiosperms plants. A pistil is located in the center of a flower and it contains female organs. It has a rounded lower base, which is the ovary. These contain reproductive cells called ovule.
Pistils contain a style and a stigma, which are sticky. Pollen grains stick to the stigma through fertilization or pollination from insects, wind or other means. This facilitates the development of pollen tubes inside the style, which navigate down to the ovary. In the ovary, the sperm fertilizes a reproductive egg cell also known as an ovum. In due course of time, this ovum grows into a seed.
Use of flower seeds is an economical means of growing flowers, especially when a gardener wants to cultivate a large quantity. Purchasing plants is more expensive and there may be fewer varieties to choose from. Flower seeds are affordable and a gardener can experiment with a number of unusual varieties. A gardener can also put away seeds from plants for later use. However, plants grown from a saved seed may not always have the same features as the original parent plant.
While experimenting with saved seeds, there is a possibility of producing a new hybrid variety. Growing a plant and flower from a seed is a perfect way to introduce gardening as a hobby to children. Some types of flower seed, such as sunflower seeds, are also edible. Others can be used as bird feed. The pleasure of planting a single seed and see it grow into a full-fledged plant is immensely motivating. It spurs a person to take up gardening as a permanent leisure pursuit.