IN 1829, NATHANIEL BAGSHAW WARD buried a sphinx moth chrysalis in some soil – he called it “mould” – in a closed glass bottle. While he waited to observe the insect's metamorphosis, his attention shifted to something quite unintended and unexpected: a tiny fern and a few blades of grass emerged in the mould and continued to grow without the addition of more water to the bottle. Thanks to this diminutive event, an unsuccessful gardener was empowered, and his frustrated desire was liberated into a genesis story of radical potential in the least forgiving of circumstances.