tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6343122535318547716.post5621751442485708096..comments2024-02-25T13:25:26.434-08:00Comments on Owl's Farm: Seeds of ChangeOwlfarmerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15373358232893937182noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6343122535318547716.post-34236355926702577282008-01-17T08:08:00.000-08:002008-01-17T08:08:00.000-08:00I know what you mean. Years ago, I had a wildflowe...I know what you mean. Years ago, I had a wildflower garden (well, I thought it was a garden; my neighbors thought it was a weed patch) that I referred to as the "East Plano Suburban Ecology Project." One night a neighbor drove his lawnmower over it because I had mentioned that I'd received a warning from the city. <BR/><BR/>Now, fortunately, having the "accidental garden" allows me to cultivate my volunteers--and I just noticed that the mullein has leapt across the driveway, to just below my volunteer catalpa tree. The latter has messy pods, but orchid-like, lushly scented flowers, and my grandmother and her mother had grown them. So when mine drifted in, scion of a seed from down the street, I let it be. <BR/><BR/>In case I haven't mentioned it before, the best "accident" occurred right after we moved in: a basket flower. I had no idea what was growing up next to my wood pile, but the leaves were interesting, so I kept it. It bloomed into a gorgeous purple, thistle-like flower on top of a basket-like base. I think I kept seeds (I'll have to look for them now that I've remembered this). A couple of years later another appeared. I think the rarity of some of these gifts is well worth enjoying, and brings a particular kind of pleasure.Owlfarmerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15373358232893937182noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6343122535318547716.post-30836474918519815572008-01-17T07:47:00.000-08:002008-01-17T07:47:00.000-08:00Owl - some years ago, when we lived in Burnaby, at...Owl - some years ago, when we lived in Burnaby, at the side of our house was a gravel wasteland intended for parking, which we never made use of. One day while browsing at the UBC Botannical Garden I came upon a planting of Mullein and various other plants indigenous to the dry interior of the province. The architectural form of the mullein I found handsome and of fit with its gravelly surroundings. Bought a packet of seeds, took them home and broadcast them in our gravle no-man's land. The next year I had a casual crop of these beauties; they grew in informal manner as in nature. far more beautiful is this than the constricted regimented nature of how we "force" plantings in the suburbs. A neighbour asked why I grew these, which are weeds that volunteer on the gravel strips alongside up-country hard surfaced roadways. I told him they were welcome to make a life where nothing else could. he didn't "get" it.GEMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11525848943689396086noreply@blogger.com