And to wrap up the woodland walk post spam; the loot.
3 Sugar maple leaves, 7 canadian yew berries, and spore filled Christmas fern fronds (which tragically I THINK I’M TOO LATE TO SOW NOW WITH THE CRUSTY STATUS OF THE FRONDS!!!!).
Did not find hopniss vine in this forest (I’m not the least bit surprised though disappointed) but it was still a fun albeit exhausting forest trek.
I wasn’t planning to get or germinate any coneflower (Echinacea) seeds this year, but a smart perennials growing business is an opportunistic one.
Snip snip ✂️ into the seed bag these go~
The photos don’t entirely encapsulate the abnormal size this jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum) fruithead has.
While not shown the flowerstalk is at least as tall as the length of my forearm! This is definitely a fruitful year. Perfect for seedbed experiments~
though as I say that all of their harvest is going into one giant metal planter for a seedbed so idk if that can be called an experiments but shhhh
Horsechesnuts (Aesculus hippocastanum) at the local church. A harbinger of autumn~
Have I mentioned that I’m surprised I got any seeds at all from stratford cause of how late in the season the harvest was? Cause I’m still floored I even got so many seeds. Little behind schedule again with seed sowing (I was gonna sow these guys back at the start of 2017 Christmas holidays) but nonetheless in the window of time I’d still prefer to get them their kickstart. Katsura are reputably tender to winter freezes/frosts when young so getting them started now will give them a better chance of survival for the next winter. Window boxes to put it bluntly have very poor drainage for seedlings so most window boxes I’ve been using I’ve been drilling holes into them like patterned swiss cheese to give lots of consistent drainage for when I start watering the trays more routinely. Ngl I’ve been doing the “is there sprouts yet?” checking ever since I sowed these up.
If my memory serves me right within the 20th+ days of this month onwards a lot more seeds are gonna be started from the fridge stratification and it’s gonna definitely fill up my growlights and probably spend through the majority of my currently prepped potting soil <A< sooo good thing I have these lights moved to their new place and already re-set up for the work that’s to come.
“Pepper and Sammy are paid by the taxpayers of Ontario in room, board and veterinary care. These “mice-control technicians,” as one bureaucrat called them, are the reason there is no rodent problem at the Ontario Tree Seed Plant in Angus, Ont., about 120 kilometres north of Toronto.
The cats are soon to be fired, however. The government will shutter the plant next September.
The chorus of critics attacking the decision is not so much about the cats as the future viability of native species of Ontario trees.”
Pair of ‘mouse control technicians’ to lose their jobs when Ontario closes tree seed plant
Kihaku-Gato's Garden Blog (tumblr import) 