Photographs of this planting through the 2026 season, oldest first.
The photographs
Week of 1 JuneA Purple blush tomatillo on 1 June, its first flower nodding open with five yellow lobes and a brown-purple blotched throat, the green five-angled husk already cupping the back of it and a second still a closed cone of petals above.Week of 1 JuneBacklit by low sun on 5 June, a Purple blush tomatillo whose first bud already carries a ribbed husk inflating around it before the flower has even opened, a purple flush running up one side of every stem.Week of 29 JunePurple Blush tomatillos on 29 June, eight or ten husks hanging taut and netted over with dark purple-brown ribs, the biggest hanging full and the newest barely swollen, all of it side-lit from the left with long low shadows drawn out.Week of 29 JuneA Purple Blush tomatillo on 29 June seen from underneath, its husk drawn so tight that the ten purple-stained ribs stand out and the skin between them reads faintly translucent, with cirrus streaking the blue sky right behind it.Week of 6 JulyPurple Blush tomatillos on 9 July, eight papery lanterns hanging at once — the nearest already ribbed tight by the fruit swelling inside it, ten dark veins running down to a point — thinner empty husks above, and yellow maroon-throated flowers open past them.Week of 20 JulyA Purple blush tomatillo on 20 July, its largest husk backlit until the darker ribs show through the papery wall like veins in a paper bag and the lower edge starts to split into lobes, another beside it filled out smooth by the fruit.Week of 20 JulyPurple blush tomatillos on 23 July, five or six husks swollen tight round the fruit with purple-brown ribs netting down over the paper from each stalk and the sun coming through where it has thinned, the leaves shot through with small round holes.Week of 20 JulyTwo Purple blush tomatillo husks on 23 July, blown up taut into five ridged faces with no purple in the veining yet and hanging from short thick stalks, the stems around them bleached almost white where the direct sun strikes.Week of 3 AugustA Purple blush tomatillo on 4 August, its papery lantern ribbed by ten raised veins with several flushed dusky purple-brown, the wall thin enough that a fine vein network shows through from inside, a brown split just starting at the point.Week of 3 AugustPurple blush tomatillos on 5 August, the husk ribs flushed dark maroon along their whole length, and above them the flowers open: shallow yellow bells crimped at the edge with a large sooty purple-black blotch at the base of every lobe.
