The Science of Seed Germination

Seedlings of 'Bright Lights' chard at Hayefield

I’ve gotten quite a few emails asking about seed-starting in the last few months, mostly from those of you who took part in my seed giveaway last fall. The same thing happened last year, so I should have known to give specific sowing directions along with the descriptions. I guess it’s just that my usual approach to starting seeds these days is about as low-key and low-tech as you can get, so I normally don’t think much about the details. See, my fantasy seed-starting setup would look something like this:

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Death Becomes Them

Arc borders with Pennisetum alopecuroides 'Cassian', Solidago rugosa 'Fireworks', and Molinia caerulea 'Skyracer' on the right and Pennisetum orientale 'Karley Rose', Echinacea purpurea, Veronicastrum virginicum, Panicum virgatum 'Rotstrahlbusch', Symphyotrichum oblongifolium, and Panicum virgatum 'Prairie Sky' on left at Hayefield

Misspelled words are usually either annoying or embarrassing, depending on whether you’re reading them or creating them. But every once in a while, they inspire a whole new line of thought. When I recently ran across “necrofilia” (never mind where, but really, it was nothing horrible), I read it as “necrofolia,” and suddenly, there was the perfect term for an entire horticultural subculture.

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What’s in a Name? Let’s Get Animal

Erythronium dens-canis

It’s the season for studying seed catalogs and seed-exchange lists, which always gets me thinking about how fascinating botanical names can be. For this part of my What’s in a Name? series, I’ve collected a bunch of epithets that relate to mammals. Sometimes, these epithets refer to plant traits that resemble the shapes, markings, or parts of particular animals. In other cases, the connections are tenuous at best, perhaps existing only in the mind of the person that chose the epithet in the first place. Even if you don’t know why a plant has an animal-related botanical name, it may at least help you remember the connection between its botanical and common names.

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See the Movie or Read the Book – or Both!

Hayefield late December 2012

The calendar says it’s just turned winter, but as far as I’m concerned, we’re already well on our way to spring. I used to wait until March to do my outdoor cleanup, trying to get every last bit of enjoyment out of the garden before giving up on the previous year’s display. Unfortunately, the voles also got a great deal of enjoyment out of that approach, and I eventually had to switch to cutting down both the garden and meadow in mid- to late fall so the voles were forced to find other places to spend the winter.

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The Wide View

Diagonal Path Panorama at Hayefield September 2012

The Diagonal Path at Hayefield ~ September 2012 (click image to enlarge)

A few months ago, reader Alan of It’s Not Work, It’s Gardening! posed an interesting challenge to me: to create some panoramic shots of the gardens here at Hayefield. (You can see some of his own panoramic shots in these posts.) You don’t need to buy a special camera for this, because there are programs that can help you turn a set of ordinary pictures into a striking panoramic shot.

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Three Neat Plants

Vigna unguiculata 'Pretzel Bean' at Hayefield

It’s been a while since I’ve trotted out some neat plants, and probably about as long since I’ve written about some interesting edibles. So, in this installment of Three Neat Plants, I present to you a trio of intriguing vegetables. Continue reading

From My Garden to Yours

Front garden at Hayefield

Edit: Please note that as of December 1, 2012, I have sent out all of the seeds I had available to share this year.

After five years of blogging, it still surprises me that people are visiting, reading, and leaving comments on my posts. I’ll never get to talk to most of you in person, so I’d like to thank you for your time and interest in another way, by once again sharing something that means a lot to me: seeds of my favorite plants. Some of these are repeats from last year; others are new this season. Take a spin through the list, see if there’s anything you find of interest, and then check out the details at the end of the post. Enjoy!

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