The News from South Philly

I went to that south Jersey nursery, courtesy of my friend Michael Bruce, who offered me a place in his car if I could get the high speed line to Collingswood NJ. We stopped for brunch at a Vietnamese restaurant before picking up two more people. It was a perfect day for lounging about a nursery, listening to presentations on herbs, and wandering their low-key demonstration gardens down by the Maurice River (a south Jersey blackwater river). I bought two rosemary plants, since mine aren't looking their sparkling best and I'm not sure I'll be able to get any decent rooted cuttings.

I've been 0 for 2 on collecting and starting seeds this year -- both the wisteria and the Franklinia seeds sprouted, put up cotyledons, and collapsed. I have a third botany experiment that appears to be producing at least one offspring. I collected seeds from Liriope muscari in January. I soaked the coatings off them as per instructions on the Internet, sowed them in a yogurt container with a clear plastic lid, and left the whole apparatus out back. Today I took the cover off and discovered a seedling. I'm not getting my hopes up too high.

But look at this pretty thing! I sent some seeds from the Class of 2009 to joeysplanting, who doesn't post here much any more. This weekend he sent me a Flickrmail saying that a couple of his plants have bloomed:



Both of his plants have the thin red edge and the ruffling from the pod parent, and both have lovely coloration. I'm a tiny bit jealous. Of course, he's in southern California, so he has the advantage of me for light and warmth.