What are plants made from? Light. Every plant cell is ringed in cellulose, C6H12O6, made from water taken up through the plant’s roots and carbon dioxide taken in through its stomata, and recombined into skeletal cellulose, the cell wall, with the energy provided by light. Do you remember your grade school science?
Plants are the basis for all food chains on Earth because they are able to capture the energy of sunlight to construct their cells. Light becomes life as the sun’s energy becomes matter. The energy captured in each and every plant passes from one form to another, giving life to every animal on our beautiful planet, keeping us warm, fueling our machines, and surrounding us with beauty.

Fuschia
When we look up after a rainstorm and see a rainbow, we are reminded that light can be divided with a prism into many visible colors. Just as the prismatic droplets of water can show us the colors in a rainbow of light, so those colors also manifest in the plants we grow.
Here then, is a rainbow of plants; just a fun reminder of the rainbow, and of the light living in every living thing, including ourselves.
Red
Orange
Yellow
Green
Blue
Indigo
Violet
All Photos by Woodland Gnome
Alan Cohen
Related articles
- Plants, why green? (plantsandprejudice.wordpress.com)
- Winter Rainbow (forestgarden)
I love the poetic words you add to your posts. And this is such a great approach to the mixture of science, art and appreciation for both! Thanks for sharing 🙂 Love these photographs!
Thank you, Jennifer 😉 I”m looking forward to your future one word challenges.
Glad to hear it!!
A garden rainbow, very beautiful 🙂 Annie
Thank you, Annie 😉
Beautifully presented. Thanks to your blog learning so much.
Learning together 😉