ears

i dragged the ladder out of the basement again today to have a look towards the top of the teosinte plants...i found seventeen distinctly defined and developing ears on the oldest and tallest stalk whose flower bloomed nine days ago...like its cousin northern tepehuan teosinte, the ears are forming one on top of the other along stems branching off the main stalks and, if there is time ( we survived a "frost warning' whose frost did not materialize two nights ago...forecast lows are well above freezing for the foreseeable future however this variety is taking much longer to develop...no guaranties ) and the seeds develop ( none that i could feel yet ) the ears should erupt from the stems like the northern tepehuan in the bottom photo..it's still a race against the frost...so far we're winning..we will see how far we get.