Fans ofThe Far Sideknow how much writer and artistGary Larson loved the natural, which manifested in many different ways throughout the comic’s tenure in publication – including these memorable panels focused on flowers and other plant life. By taking a closer look at how plants appeared in Larson’s work, readers can develop a more organic understanding ofThe Far Side’snature.
Flowers were no exception toGary Larson’s tendency to anthropomorphizeinanimate objects and animals; the author’s humor thrived on the way he gave them personalities, and using them to deliver punchlines that were often as strange as they were funny.
In this sense,The Far Sidewas absolutely teeming with intelligent life. From the grass under a person’s feet, to the trees looming over their head, everything inThe Far Sidehad the potential to have thoughts and feelings – making it an all-the-more hilarious and precarious existence for Larson’s characters, human and otherwise.
10"Zuzu’s Petals": The Far Side Was An Anthology Of Absurdities
First Published: August 22, 2025
In thisFar Sidepanel, a man in a pipe and smoking jacketshows off his luxurious flower collection to a guest – pointing to one in particular, which he calls “Zuzu’s Petals,” which he says he paid a “king’s ransom” for. The humor of this panel comes from the mash-up of depicting the behavior of a rarities collection, but applied to something much more accessible: flowers.
Most readers will be familiar with the modern meaning of the word “anthology,” as applied to written works, TV and film anthologies, or collections of music. Interestingly, the word is also used to describe the collection and study of flowers.
Of course, there are rare flowers, just as there are rare gems, or rare insects – and what elevates this cartoon above just being merely amusing isGary Larson’s sly detailwork, particularly in how “Zuzu’s petals” are framed in a large cases with such reverence, at the very center of the man’s collection. In a strange sense, this panel could serve as an analogy for Larson himself, with his odd jokes being the rarities he has captured and framed for posterity.
9"Down On My Luck": Gary Larson’s Way With Words Makes This Strange Far Side Unforgettable
First Published: July 02, 2025
ThisFar Sidepanel anthropomorphizes four-leaf clovers – all in service of delivering an obvious, yet flawlessly executed pun,as a city full of busy clovers bustle past one sitting on a street corner begging for change, with a sign that says “down on my luck.“Wordplay was an essential aspect ofThe Far Side,and often was the key to explaining some of Gary Larson’s strangest creative decisions.
While some ofLarson’s strange creative choiceswill remain a mystery to most readers, the ones that readily reveal themselves to a wider audience often stick in peoples' minds as their favorites. This is one great example, which answers the question of why the artist would draw four-leaf clovers with human bodies with its perfect punchline, which astute fans will recognize as the likely genesis of the entire endeavor.
8"The Nose Collector”: One Of Gary Larson’s Most Underappreciated Jokes
First Published: June 21, 2025
At first glance, thisFar Sidewill have many readers asking “What-the?“That is actually the glory of it, however, because the panel rewards readers' patience with what is actually a classicFar Sideflower joke.The image features a fanged flower growing against a fence, with a trio of human noses mounted above its head – and the shadow of a man’s head looming in framefrom the bottom left corner, indicating that the flower is about to add another trophy to its collection.
The Far Side’s “Cow Tools” Comic: The Most Confusing Joke Gary Larson Ever Wrote is Still Impossible To Explain
“Cow Tools” is widely considered the hardest to decipher Far Side cartoon of all time; even decades after its release, it still confuses readers.
Again, the details are important here – readers' attention will immediately be drawn to the strange imagery of the noses on the fence, while a closer look makes the flower’s smiling face, and sharp teeth, clear. Here, Gary Larson asks the readers to put the pieces together to complete the punchline, and it is a greater reading experience as a result.
7"Mrs. Talbot’s Flower Bed”: This Far Side Cartoon Blends Several Classic Elements
First Published: June 27, 2025
The Far Sidefeatured many recurring elements, and it is always especially fun when they overlap. Flowers might not be the central focus of this cartoon, but they play a crucial role, as casualties of the latest escalation in the war between canines and gardens.
Captioned “Ginger decides to take out Mrs. Talbot’s flower bed once and for all,” here,Gary Larson hilariously supposes what would happen if the neighbor’s dog abandoned conventional digging and used a bulldozer instead.While these flowers are unfortunate bystanders in an unrelatedFar Sideconflict, this comic is a great example of the hilarious chaos of Larson’s fictional world, in which anything could be alive – and anything or anyonecould be doomed at any moment.
6"How They See Themselves”: This Is Perhaps The Far Side’s Most Memorable Flower Panel
First Published: July 05, 2025
As much as Gary Larson adored nature, flowers did not make as manyFar Sideappearances as readers might think – yet when they did, the results were above-average memorable for fans of Larson’s work. This is perhaps the greatest example of that, as theartist uses a split-image paneltocontrast “how we see flowers” and “how they see themselves” – with the difference that in the latter illustration, the flowers all have incredibly goofy faces.
This wasn’t the only time Larson dabbled in “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” as the premise of a punchline, but it is perhaps the most potent, as it reminds readers that the subjectivity of aesthetics is not just limited to how people perceive each other, but how they view the natural world as well.
5"Just Before A Big Date": This Far Side Cartoon Blurs The Line Between Man And Nature
First Published: June 15, 2025
In thisstrangely relatableFar Sidecartoon,a man laments that he always gets a blemish “just before a big date” – except instead of a pimple, he looks in the mirror and finds a tree sprouting from the top of his head. What makes this such a strongFar Sidejoke is the way it balances those two aspects of the reading experience; that is to say, it is both strange, and relatable.
The Far Side Complete Collection
Fans of the far side can’t pass up this master collection of Gary Larson’s finest work. Originally published in hardcover in 2003, this paperback set comes complete with a newly designed slipcase that will look great on any shelf. The Complete Far Side contains every Far Side cartoon ever published, which amounts to over 4,000, plus more than 1,100 that have never before appeared in a book and even some made after Larson retired.
The majority of readers will recognize, and likely have gone through, this exact situation that Larson is lampooning. Yet the unexpected way an absurd visual punchline grows from the roots of that premise will make this familiar experience seem wholly weird. This dissonance, ultimately, is thisFar Sidepanel’s great strength.
4"The Nervous Weed": Gary Larson’s Humanism Encompassed Animals And Plants, Too
First Published: August 07, 2025
In thiswordlessFar Sidepanel, Gary Larson displays one of the most effective things about his work. More than just anthropomorphizing a plant to achieve a punchline, he uses the technique to inject a note of sympathy into the joke, whichfeatures the looming silhouette of a woman, wielding a garden hoe, as she goes to dig out the weed among her flower bed.
By putting a nervous expression on the weed’s face, Larson once again subverts the subjectivity of humanity’s relationship with nature; while humans categorize certain species of plants as invasive, those plants themselves are just doing what all organisms are designed to – trying to survive. Something which this unfortunate, nervous-looking weed seems to know is not in the cards for it.
3"It Moved A Little Closer!" This Far Side Flower Panel Is Open To Interpretation
First Published: June 01, 2025
More than just anthropomorphic flowers, thisFar Sidecartoonfeatures an animalistic pair of garden shears, slowly creeping toward their prey – two tall yellow flowers with looks of shock and concern on their faces. This joke is strange in the classically Larsonian sense of the word; it manages to make flowers more relatable, but does so through the unusual maneuver of giving some level of agency to a pair of scissors as well.
Of course, there is also the alternative interpretation: that this is a joke about paranoia, and that the shears are in fact inanimate. Rather than the shears moving, in this case, it is the flowers' inability to move that traps them in a state of anxious uncertainty, perceiving the dangerous blades as moving, when they really lying still, close but not too close.
2"Danger: Carnivorous Lawn": An Experience Far Side Traveling Salesman Would Never Make This Mistake
First Published: July 28, 2025
Featuring one ofThe Far Side’srecurring ACME salesmen, in this cartoon, Gary Larson takes something most people take for granted as safe – that is, grass – and turns it into a predator. Having ignored a sign on the front gate of a property that says “Danger: Carnivorous Lawn,“the man is shown having taken only a few steps onto the grass before he is apparently bitten, his glasses, and hat flying off his head as he’s brought down.
How The Far Side’s Gary Larson REALLY Felt About the Banjo, Explained (the Truth Is Simple, But Hilarious)
Gary Larson’s legendary cartoon The Far Side took multiple jabs at banjo players, but how did the artist really feel about the instrument?
What made theThe Far Sidestand out was its ability to subvert the conventional. Larson could take the most dangerous animal and make it seem innocent, and on the flip side of that, as exhibited here, he could take the most innocuous plant on Earth and make it a killer.
1"She-Loves-Me, She-Loves-Me-Not”: This Flower Panel Was An Early Example Of Nature’s Revenge, A Far Side Staple
First Published: August 16, 2025
One ofThe Far Side’searliest flower jokes also helped set a precedent for a concept Gary Larson would revisit time and again – that is, the idea of nature turning the tables on humankind, in the most unprecedented ways. Case in point, this cartoon, in which two giant, red-faced flowers hold up a human by the back of his coat,one of the bully flowers leaning in and telling their victim: “And now we’re going to play she-loves-me, she-loves-me-not.”
In other words, the flowers are going to tear the man limb from limb, which to them is no different than having their petals plucked one-by-one, all by some frivolous scorned lover. Plants, animals, and the planet itself would get revenge on humans for their trespasses in many differentFar Sidecartoons over the years, making it aclassic element of Gary Larson’s work, and this is a fantastic early example.
The Far Side
The Far Side is a humorous comic series developed by Gary Larson. The series has been in production since 1979 and features a wide array of comic collections, calendars, art, and other miscellaneous items.
