Amaranth In Bloom

 Right now, the gardens surrounding the Museum of the American Indian are full of tall amaranth. Their tasseled heads wave in the breeze. Look closely and you can see the tiny nutritious seeds that have been harvested by generations of native peoples. In the same beds, giant squash leaves cover the bottom third of the amaranth, with round squashes hiding under them. Here and there a tobacco plant blooms, as tall as the amaranth. These gardens are an illustration of how people lived and sustained themselves before their world became the New World.