Sorting Seeds

Right before Labor Day, I took a couple days of vacation to build a compost bin and install the stone steps in the west hill. I didn’t accomplish either of those projects. The weather didn’t cooperate fully. And, truthfully, although my heart was in it, my body just wasn’t up to it. So, I puttered. I planted here; I weeded there. I moved things around and mulched.

And, a funny thing happened when I was puttering here and there--I noticed the seed pods and seed heads. When I was mulching the lupine hill, I noticed the coreopsis had set seeds. When I was weeding the rose corner, I notice the stellas had seed pods. And, when I was watering the herbs, I noticed that the cilantro had turned to coriander.

So, I got out my seed sorting equipment and spent the afternoon sifting and sorting seeds. I like my plastic Tupperware colander for the first round of coriander and lupine seeds. The chaff and stems stick to the plastic rim and I can clear it off with my finger. After most of the chaff and stems are gone, I can pour them into the smaller strainer. Then, they can go into the baggies. The coreopsis was harder to sift and sort. And, if you’ve ever seen a coreopsis seed, you don’t have to wonder why one of the common names is tick-seed.

Stellas don’t really need any sifting, you just pour them out of the seed pods into your hand (or the baggie)—unless, an earwig comes out of the seed pod with the seeds, in which case, the seeds get scattered from here to kingdom come while you’re doing the ookie bug dance on the sidewalk. Thankfully, they’re big, shiny diamond shaped seeds that are pretty easy to see. So, I was able to recover some of them.

Seeds made an appearance at our neighborhood plant swap today, too. More on that tomorrow. Carol brought Baptisia seeds. Mary Kaye brought 4 o’clock seeds, and Theresa brought perennial hibiscus seeds. The hibiscus pods are so interesting, I asked her to hold them in her hand for a snapshot before giving them away!

I guess the point of my meandering, puttering tale is that if I had stuck to the plan and built the compost bin and installed the stone steps, I most likely would have missed the opportunity to collect and save the seeds from some of my favorite plants!

An Award, For Me, Really?!

Donell at Sheshapesup bestowed the "Versatile Blogger" award meme to Auntie K’s Garden. The rules of the award meme require me to mention the awarding blogger, tell you seven (7) things about myself, and then nominate 7 other blogs for the award. Nominating the blogs will be easy. I have so many favorites I can hardly keep up! I’m not very good at talking about myself, though. Yes. I know. I reveal bits about myself in various blog entries, but this will be like a seven-course meal of all me. But, those are the rules, so here goes:

1. I’m a first-born, a Capricorn, and a Norwegian. Some people have told me that’s the trifecta of overachievers.
   
2. I belong to three book groups: One with my neighbors, one with the senior high girls at my church, and one with a group of mostly lawyers. (I’m not one.)
   
3. Saturday mornings are my Sabbath time. I take Monty for a walk and then drink an entire pot of coffee – reading or writing whatever, until the coffee is gone. Then, and only then, do I do actual work.
   
4. I was an English major when Computer Science and Information Technology were the popular (and guaranteed to make you a million) programs. Many friends scoffed at my choice, but 30 years later, I still have a job in my chosen field.
   
5. I love baseball – especially Little League. I’m the scorekeeper for both nephews’ teams. It’s a rare occasion when I miss one of their games.
   
6. I celebrate all 12 days of Christmas. I put my tree up on the first day of Advent and take it down on Epiphany/the Twelfth Night.
   
7. I met my closest friends when I was a synchronized swimmer in Junior High School. We’ve laughed and cried together more times than I can count since then. I love them like sisters.
   

Okay. Each of blogs/bloggers on my list has encouraged and/or shaped Auntie K's Garden. I'm grateful for their support:

• An Oregon Cottage
  
• Book Besotted Librarian
  
• Canoe Corner
  
• Miscellaneous Missives
  
• My Northern Garden
  
• (Not So) Urban Hennery
  
• Rachel Rambles and Ravels
  

That Floofy Thing on Top

When you’re interested in gardens, people ask you questions about plants. When you’re interested in gardens enough to volunteer for the Horticultural Society, more people ask questions – of all kinds. Most of the time, people ask about re-potting their plants or how much water they should give their cacti. But, an interaction with one woman has stuck with me. Here’s sort of how it went.

Woman: What’s that plant outside with the long leaves and that floofy thing on top? Me: Cattail? Milkweed? Woman: No. It couldn’t be that. Wait. I’ll go take a picture with my phone. (pause) Here it is. Me: Oh. That’s purple fountain grass. Woman: It can’t be grass. My grass at home doesn’t have that floofy thing. Me: Well. That’s because we mow the grass before the seed head forms. If you stopped mowing your grass, it would get a seed head, too. Not quite as magnificent as the seed head on the purple fountain grass, but it would get one. Woman (to the other volunteer): She’s kidding me, isn’t she? Other Volunteer: No. She’s not kidding.

I was talking to a couple of friends about “that floofy thing on top” and Courtney reminded me that some seed heads aren’t floofy, they’re spiky. Since that weekend, I’ve been looking at grasses and noticing their seed heads. From far away, they all do look “floofy” – almost like a fox’s tail -- but up close, some are quite stiff and others are spiky. I don’t have any grasses in my garden (I took these snapshots in a neighbor’s garden) but because of that one conversation, and a couple weeks of looking closely at grasses, I’m thinking about including them in my garden next year.

What about you? Do you have grasses in your garden? Are their seed heads floofy, stiff, or spiky? Post a comment and let me know!

Note: Apologies for the lack of Purple Fountain Grass photos. I haven't seen any since my volunteer shift!

Dated Gardens

Do garden styles come in and out of fashion? Are there plants that are so “yesterday” no self-respecting gardener would use them in her/his garden? If so, what are they?! (Say it ain't so, Stella.) These are the questions that have been plaguing me since I had a conversation with a guide at one of the State Fair gardens. He told me one of the gardens would be overhauled during the off-season because it was “dated.”

I’ve been really intrigued by his comment because I can spot a dated kitchen a mile away. (Harvest Gold, anyone?!) And, even I, not a fashionista by any stretch of the imagination, wouldn’t be caught dead in a polyester dress shirt anymore. But, I can’t for the life of me figure out what makes a garden “dated.”

I have noticed that gardens/plantings at businesses at industrial settings have a similar look (a couple of spirea, some day lilies, and a hydrangea or two) but the home gardens I see on a regular basis don’t seem “dated” to me. They seem to reflect the interests and passions of the homeowner/gardener. Each one is unique. Even on my block, where we share plants, which could create a bland look, each garden looks different. I think that’s because the personality of the gardener comes through.

I still don’t have an answer to what makes a garden “dated.” If you have any ideas, please post a comment and help me out!

MN State Fair Garden Tour – Part Two

It hardly seems possible that The Fair is over for another year. In my four trips to the Fair this year, I’m sure I covered most of the 320 acres of the grounds. During yesterday’s visit, I did get to all of the 32 gardens on the grounds. Here are a few of the gardens I didn’t show you the other day:


Friends School of Minnesota. Since I go to their plant sale every Mother’s Day weekend, I thought I should include them. There’s a begonia in this garden named “Raquel Wood,” for the founding director of the Friends School in Minnesota. This garden also includes one of the Tree Sculptures, carved from stumps of Elm trees that had Dutch Elm disease.


There’s a wildflower garden by the Creative Activities building and the butterflies were loving it! I was lucky to get a couple shots of the butterflies.




This garden is provided by a local landscaping firm. It’s one of several gardens with a water feature. People love to come and sit on the ledge or up in the gazebo.





These galloping horse topiaries aren’t on the map, but I saw them as I was wandering from garden to garden, and I liked them! They are lighted and have straw manes.





This is one of the more vibrant gardens on the grounds. It’s by the Administration building and is chock full of annuals and perennials, surrounding a boulder that bubbles water.




The blurb in the brochure for this garden (with Snoopy and Elvis) says it’s a favorite spot for napping. And, I did see a dozen or so folks taking a snooze, either on the shady lawn or on the benches in this very shady and tranquil garden spot. I could hardly believe over 100,000 people were roaming the grounds when I was in this garden.




I’ve walked by this “garden” at the bandshell hundreds of times and not even noticed it. The brochure says that the garden Is “overlooked by a rake imitating the rising sun and hopeful semi-finalists competing for a chance to perform on the big stage.” (The bandshell is where the preliminary talent competitions occur. Finalists get to perform at the grandstand the last Sunday of the Fair.)




These next snapshots are at the garden sponsored by the Minnesota Nursery and Landscape Association. This shot is of an annual (here in MN anyhow) called Indian Kale. It has these wonderful leaves and wine colored stems.

Here’s a little garden angel that surprised me on the path in the MNLA garden.




This gazebo with green roof and goat is part of the garden sponsored by the Minnesota Horticultural Society! I loved this idea. It reminded me of traveling through Norway where I’ve seen live goats grazing on roofs.


A colorful wading bird sculpture is perched at the edge of a pond in the Hort Society garden.



The last garden on today’s tour is the garden at the entrance to the International Bazaar. Even though it’s in full sun, people sit on the ledge to rest their feet while enjoying a cool beverage. This garden is filled with tropical plants.




I took a guided tour of the JV Bailey house yesterday and learned that the Canna Lily is the “signature” flower of the State Fair! No wonder I always associate the two! That’s it for the Fair this year. Tomorrow, it’s back to the gardens at Auntie Ks, and planning for the neighborhood Plant Swap on Saturday. Yikes!

4H Garden Projects

One of my non-gardening activities is leading a book group for the senior high girls at my church. We met last Wednesday and ended up talking about “the Fair.” (Today is the last day of the Fair, and life will go back to normal, but it really does dominate conversations, media, and lives for 12 days.) I asked if they stopped by the 4H building. Some had, but some of the girls had never heard about 4H.

I’ll have to admit that until I started going to the Fair with my friend, Annie, most of my 4H experiences were in the animal barns. But, Annie is a costume designer and knew about a myriad of other 4H projects and activities, which she happily introduced me to. This year, in addition to looking at the clothing booklets and watching the variety show (they pull together a 30 minute program with only one week of rehearsals), I checked out some of the garden projects.


These two projects are about sunlight and plant parts. Budding botanist?







These two are about soil and compost. (Hooray for compost!)






And, this one is about garden design! The 4H’er who did this project took before and after snapshots of her site, selected plants (and included colored photos), and drew a map of the site, which she documented on her board.






Regardless of whether she grows up to have a career in landscape design, the skills she learned/used to create this project (and the garden) will remain with her for a lifetime.


Note: I’m not related to or affiliated with any of the projects I took snaps of. I was looking for projects that were related to gardening in one way or another.

Horticultural Society versus That Master Gardener Thing

When I was volunteering for the Minnesota State Horticultural Society the other day at the Fair, a man asked me about the benefits of becoming a member. After I told him, he said, “No thanks, I’ll just do that Master Gardener thing instead.” I explained to him that they were two separate things and that the Master Gardener “thing” was more involved than paying your membership fee each year. He waved as he walked away, saying, “I audited part of the class one year, it’s not that hard.”

It may not be that hard. But, it is work. Maybe I’m sensitive about his cavalier response because I’m in the process of applying to be part of the Master Gardener program for my county. I’ve put more time and thought into completing the on the 5-page application than I have spent hours in my three shifts at the Hort booth at the Fair this year. The “Horticultural Dilemmas” page asks you to show your work in that you need to list the source for your answer, which could be a book, the internet, or “other” resources.

The Horticultural Society encourages its members to volunteer – the Master Gardener program requires 50 volunteer hours the first year and 25 hours each subsequent year. The Horticultural Society offers classes, the MG program requires 12 hours of continuing education every year – plus the core course the first year. A blogger I read frequently responded to the Master Gardener question earlier this year.

That he didn’t see his comparison as apples to oranges astounds me. I would have taken his rejection of the Hort Society much less hard if he had said, “No thanks, I’ll become a member of the Arboretum instead,” since the Arboretum is another member supported organization that offers benefits to members without requiring service in return.

What are your thoughts? Am I being too sensitive about the man’s cavalier response? Is becoming/being a Master Gardener a piece of cake? Post a comment and let me know!