Ken,  I think we may have a stray copy or two of George AIKEN's "Pioneering
with Wildflowers."  And maybe a catalog from his nursery too.  Senator
AIKEN was first and foremost a nurseryman and a poltician second.  After
Senator AIKEN sold the nursery my Dad worked there for a number of years
and knew a lot about all the different wild plants.  Sadly, Dad doesn't
remember any of it now.

I have always liked wildflowers from the time I was little and my
grandmother and I used to go for walks around the farm and see the flowers.
We have arbutus, Adder's tongues, Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Lady Slippers and
some others that I don't know how to spell.  When I was in grade school we
used to have wild flower contests in the spring to see who could bring in
the most different ones.  One time I went to pick a Jack-in-the-Pulpit and
it came up by the roots.  I was so upset I took it home and Grandma said to
plant it out by the steps so I did.  It came up for years but when we moved
back here I didn't see anything of it and assumed it had just died out.
Last spring I was clearing some of the weeds out of that small flower bed
and there were several Jacks, not in the exact spot, but there so
apparently it seeded itself, or whatever they do.  Ruth




At 4:47 PM -0500 2/4/05, Gabriel Orgrease wrote:
>jc & Ruth,
>
>I go through spurts of interest & non-interest in growing plants.
>Our small parcel of property is an odd and diverse collection.
>We have a very nice and abundant sheld fungus growing out of one of our
>many oaks.
>The years of commuting took a lot of the gardening out of me.
>This last year I revisited the small raised earth garden, it had been
>taken over by really neat thimble-type berries.
>I dug out the berries and relocated them. Then went to tomatoes and
>peppers, but no ambition.
>One year I grew tomatoes 15' high. They were remarkable and I had to use
>a ladder to tend them.
>Lots of lettuce this year, but mostly I stood in the garden eating arugula.
>Next year I want to design the garden strictly for my grazing habits.
>Nobody else in the house has an interest in any outdoor plants.
>And this with vegetarians... you would think they would take an interest
>in homegrown food.
>We have a tall thistle weed that grows near the light pole and I
>fertilize it.
>I don't know what it is but I like it just the same.
>The lawn is a mix of grass, crocuses, clover, moss and trimmed weeds
>that I have not bothered to look up their name.
>The fern garden did pretty well this year. I bought an Amaranth and am
>waiting to see how it does.
>For a while I was into miniature roses, but then my climate changed.
>We have wild roses here and the domestic variety does fairly well
>without tending.
>I was raised collecting and cataloging wild plants.
>A particular favorite is the Adder's Toungue
><http://elib.cs.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?query_src=photos_flora_com&enlarge=1335+3153+0216+0123>.
>
>][< (member, Raiders of the Lost Iris)
>
>--
>To terminate puerile preservation prattling among pals and the
>uncoffee-ed, or to change your settings, go to:
><http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/bullamanka-pinheads.html>

--
Ruth Barton
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Dummerston, VT

--
To terminate puerile preservation prattling among pals and the
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