I’ve just watched a program on television that we taped. It was on Nova, on PBS, and the episode was called “First Flower”. I didn’t realize this but the origin of the flower has always been in question. It was one of the lingering mysteries that plagued Darwin.

In this program, botanists explore an area in Northern China where one paleobotanist believes the first flower originated. In this program they find a fossil that is believed to be the oldest flower fossil ever found.

You can read more about this program Nova/First Flower on the PBS.org site. There’s quite a bit of information about paleobotanists – scientists who study ancient plants and their fossils, and areas of China where todays modern flowers are believed to have evolved. They refer to China as the mother of gardens.

The program was filmed in high definition, the scenery, the mountains, the gorgeous colorful flowers – all are just spectacular to view as you watch this program. If you get a chance to watch this program you should. It’s just wonderful to look at all of the flora that’s discussed and of course to view the scenery of the Hengduan Mountains of southwestern China and other scenic places.

In this program, one paleobotanist states that flowers evolved rather late in the fossil record, but they came to dominate the earth. if it weren’t for the evolution of flowers it’s said that humans might not have evolved because without flowers we would not have the products of flowering plants to eat.

Isn’t that an amazing theory? Are we, modern gardeners, worshiping the plants that allowed us to live and evolve in the first place?

I never really thought of visiting China before, because when I thought of China I’d always think of over crowded cities, but now, after seeing this program I have a different view of China and you never know, I just might visit the country one day.