Zinnia

Redwoods

What were these two seedlings in 2009:

Redwood - Giant Sequoia

Redwood - Dawn Redwood

Are now these:

Redwood - Giant Sequoia

Redwood - Dawn Redwood

If they had been in ground they would be a lot bigger at this point, but I've kept them going in pots, and I don't fertilize. Only occasionally with fish/kelp stuff, plus I mix in new soil when putting in bigger pots.

I know the parent of the dawn redwood, and while I know the grove from which the giant sequoia came, I do not know the individual parent. But they are both from seed from the same park/forest.

I have meditated sometimes in the evening about where I would plant the trees, going over all the places that I know of where I could plant them and they would escape the hundreds of ways that people would kill them. This is the kind of thing you have to think about carefully, going over and over very deliberately in your mind - meditating like one of the Australian Aborigines traveling their forest paths in fine detail while sitting stock still.

I figure maybe I'll donate them to the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden in Vancouver to be kept as bonsai specimens, or one of the Buddhist temples that do bonsai - as an act of ecumenical outreach?

That's probably the best option.

Sand Leaves

A few of the very bottom leaves. They are always small and the first to go yellow and cure, outside under the plant. They are called sand leaves because of the dirt spraying up on them from watering and rain.

I picked up those three from the ground and put them in my car, and with the heat of day they very quickly gave off that sweet tobacco smell - Virginia, or Canadian Virginia.

I can't describe how much I love that smell. It is one of the glories of God. He gives these leaves that give sweet aromas after they have died and dried - like Katsura leaves, and like the Pacific Northwest's own Vanilla Leaf, or as it also called, Sweet-after-death.

 

Hiedroefillick

Canada produces 90% of the world's mustard

from which you have your condiments.

You're welcome.

The world's oldest peach pits (to date) have been found

This is most excellent news.

2.5 million years old.

"We found these peach endocarp fossils just exposed in the strata," Su said. "It's really a fantastic finding." --Tao Su, associate professor at Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden

H/T: Ben Greenman

Last of the Chilean Guava

They ripened earlier this year. The last handful pictured above I'm using for seed. Which works well, since they are overripe. That doesn't mean they taste bad, but that they've gone from "sherbet bomb" with that faint spice-like juniper I-want-to-keep-eating-more flavour to just full-on "all sweet" - which isn't really my cup of tea.

Besides, it's sweeter to see this:

From seed sown at the beginning of '15. Photo taken today.

Chilean guava seed, by the way, takes a loooooooooong time to germinate. If you're growing it from seed, never throw out the soil thinking they were duds. Just keep watering it. Patience. It takes over three months. Some of the seeds even longer. And then you have to study the soil closely to see the teeny tiny little sprouts. They're so small one would easily overlook them and decide to throw away the dirt, just when they've started.

Chilean guava makes for really easy cuttings too. Don't bother with "rooting hormone". Just stick the twig ends in soil. Keep it watered in shade to partial shade.

Hyssop!

A pinch of seedlings from The Thousands are dying to be put in the ground. They're not literally dying but figuratively dying. Hyssop readily sows itself here, since I have found seedlings hatching in between the established shrubs.

Above are some of the hyssop plants from which the seedlings came. This is at a corner of the garden. There will eventually be a double border of hyssop (interspersed with lesser amounts of thyme, rosemary and oregano). That yellow-green shrub at the very corner is a variegated sage. The hyssop is just about to start flowering.

Oh look at that. A little bit of baby burly. And here's a little bit of Canadian history for you. B.C. can go head to head with those Ontario boys.

Lamb's Quarters I leave. Like I leave plantain. Like I leave chickweed. Like I leave purslane. Like I leave a lot of the good gentle weeds that are good to eat and which keep other bad weeds at bay. It's good to bring them into your garden and let them seed themselves.

Like this one: sheep sorrel. So tasty. I'll always be grateful to the botanist lady who brought this one to the attention of my taste buds after, you know, seeing it all over the place all the time. Later I discovered it is also one of the four ingredients in the "Essiac" recipe - oh, look at that - more Canadian history! But don't expect that kind of history to be taught in the school system, if you catch my drift.

Pehuén!

This is green

I can't wait for the day when this activity becomes illegal. Then it will be so much more fun.

Twenty five is better than one

Monkey puzzle seeds are slightly easier to count than seeds of hyssop.

One is better than none

Squirrels like them too.

I saw dandelions in flower today. Dandelions in flower in the middle of January. The snowdrops are not even prying yet. Though I'm sure those are just around the corner. If you think about it, only seeds contain time value; only seeds are a store of value - not money. Money is sterile. Begetting money from money is usury. The way our money comes into existence is through usury. As Bat said, we have "debtflation". In other words, we have both inflation and deflation due to debt. That is in fact what national debt is: inflation that is at the same time deflationary. A continuous back-suck on the public interest, on the common good. The bulk of the money circulating is money that has to be paid back, plus compounding interest, which compounds 24/7 without stopping for anything. In the meanwhile, this means that the very way that system works is that more and more money has to - has to - keep being "borrowed" in order for that system to keep going. This is why "austerity" will not only not work, but will further a "recession". Austerity will not work because we have deflation. This is why you see rising prices but no people wallpapering their walls with trash cash or people wheeling their wheelbarrows with mountains of trash cash to the store and not even able to buy a loaf of bread or people viewing their chequing accounts and seeing gazillions of worthless digital dollars therein. Our money is borrowed into existence with compounding interest. There are somewhat safer ways to do it than others, but all of them do the same thing: put a horrifically unjust burden on the labours, talents, productions and produce of man. Everything is not only devalued but is more and more enslaved, because our governments borrow the bulk of the money supply into existence at compounding interest, not because of mere overprinting. Debt is the invisible, multiplying thread that is woven throughout the entire economic structure, and one tug can bring it all down. The first step is to make sure that the thread gets as far woven as possible. This is done by incurring those in authority - like government - into the debt-money scheme. It really is a thin veneer of a puppet show being played before our eyes. The devil rides fiddle sticks. And he hands out fiddles galore.

"I am a shepherd who with his people has begun to learn a beautiful and difficult truth; our faith requires that we immerse ourselves in the world. I believe economic injustice is the root cause of our problems; from it stems all the violence." --Servant of God and Martyr, Archbishop Oscar Romero

UPDATE: The snowdrops are prying. I checked a location that gets more daylight.

Cornus Kousa!

Grows well in PNW as in other places. Collected for seed. Easy to grow from seed. Fruit is sweet and mild. Has to be fully ripe. Looks like martian eggs.

Cannellini

These are called Cannellini beans, the minestrone bean. I bought a packet when I went to a Seedy Saturday event at Van Dusen Gardens a few years back, and I can't remember if I had bought them from Salt Spring Seeds or Full Circle Seeds. I planted that original packet, which yielded a big bowl full of seeds. I saved those and didn't plant any of them until this year. I only planted a couple rows, hardly anything. I think the seeds were around three years old. As far as I could tell all of them came up.

So now there's this second generation and the brown bag full of the "first generation". They all have a destination for the dirt. Plus I took some for soup.

Appaloosa

These are called appaloosa beans. I bought a packet when I went to a Seedy Saturday event at Van Dusen Gardens a few years back, and I can't remember if I had bought them from Salt Spring Seeds or Full Circle Seeds. I planted that original packet, which yielded a big bowl full of seeds. I saved those and didn't plant any of them until this year. I only planted a small patch, hardly anything. I think the seeds were around three years old. As far as I could tell all of them came up. About half a big bowl full.

So now there's this second generation and the brown bag full of the "first generation". They all have a destination for the dirt.

Hyssop!

What is that, around three hundred plants? Rainman estimators eat your hearts out.

Borage!

As happens with borage, the ones from last year sowed themselves and came up sure as anything this year. You just pull up the ones you don't want and let whatever masses you want do their thing. I like them because of all the insects the flowers attract - especially honey bees. The flowers taste good too. I like to nibble on them. They're sweet.

I was concerned because while I saw different insects on the flowers, I didn't see any honey bees, or bumble bees. Usually they are swarming borage like gangbusters.

But I saw them out today, in spite of rainy cloudy weather.

It was a relief to see the honey bees.

I let the overwintered kale from last year go to seed in the hopes of collecting the seed. But I noticed as the pods dried (the immature pods are quite tasty if somewhat chewy, by the way) something was splitting them and taking the seeds.

Then one day I saw a pair of birds in the patch. One of them has a bright red head. I don't know what kind of birds they are, but they are nice. They look somewhat rare. And they really love the kale seeds.

Aloha III!