Our Silly Terminology

We will add and alphabetize these as our blog grows. Terminology in our gardens takes on a life of its own. We hope you enjoy this as much as we do. 

• Franken Flower: Any flower that did not grow as expected for many reasons. Specifically, in our blog, it refers to openly pollinated morning glories that grew different than the parent plant in a beautiful way. 
• Gray Tray: The Gray Tray is an invisible place in the unknown universe where we 'toss' 'unspeakables' in our garden. These are questions that can be answered a multitude of ways and justified by the answering body.  Example: "Bob grew a seed and sold it to Mary. The seed grew as a different plant than Bob grew. Mary claimed the seed she purchased from Bob as her own because grew in her garden. Did Bob also name this plant something? Should Bob be the governing body of this namesake? Should Mary? I don't know, toss it in the Gray Tray!"
• Seed to Seed: This blog will show growth of our plants that start as a seed and end as a seed. 
• Visitors: Bees, butterflies, wasps, hummingbirds, beetles, moths, lady bugs, spider mites, garden spiders, caterpillars, and any other creatures who find a home in our gardens for the growing season. 
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The Joys Of Open Pollination

CAN WE SPEAK ABOUT THE JOYS OF OPEN POLLINATION?

There are these people who hide their beautiful Morning Glory plants indoors and pollinate them by hand to obtain the most pure specimen of seed. Yet, even when this is done, and it's not done often, there is no guarantee that this plant is going to be true to seed for the next generation. 

In fact, Morning Glory, especially the most beautiful, Ipomoea Nil, mix freely among themselves in many ways including; wind, birds, bees, butterflies, wasps, and all kinds of ways we never thought of. Surely, you can hide your beautiful glories indoors and try to grow them without mixing but the MOMENT someone grows them outdoors, there is a valid chance they will share genetics with other glories. 

Some people take steps to avoid crossing by planting a half mile apart but it only takes one bee with a mission or a neighbor planting too close or a wild glory popping up and tada, mission not accomplished. 

In fact, most growers, both professionals and private, grow outdoors and the mixing of genetics has become the standard, not the exception. 

What does this mean? It means that you can purchase a seed today from a photo of a Morning Glory, grown by the most careful of growers and you may still get a 'Franken Flower', as we love to call them. The good news is, 'Franken Flowers', at least in the Morning Glory selection, are some of the most beautiful flowers in the world!!

The flower above is from our gardens in 2020. We purchased it as a completely different Morning Glory seed from a grower who also openly pollinates. THIS is one example of how tremendously beautiful Morning Glories mix. You never know what you will get. Maybe it will be like the parent plant and maybe not but the chances of it sharing the same DNA structure is almost impossible, in most cases. 

To love Morning Glory is to embrace the beauty and power of the openly pollinated world. We are showing you the parent seed. To expect an exact replica from our plant would be an expectation that is unrealistic. 

Our 'Seed-To-Seed' platform has many purposes. It is to share our growing joy, show the condition of our parent plants for prospective buyers, and teach about the joys of open pollination. 

We hope you will enjoy this wonderful adventure with us. Open pollination of Morning Glory is the standard across the board in growing them. When we say we have never met an Ipomoea we do not love, we mean it! Ipomoea NEVER disappoints! 

 

And So It Begins...

                      AND SO IT BEGINS!

 

    The first post! How exciting! This dish is of joy is filled 152 Varieties of hard to find and rare varieties of Ipomoea Nil, new variations and colors of poppy, some well-loved natives, different variations of Columbine and a few other biennials. This day marks the beginning of our adventure and we hope you will reach into this bowl of joy and find a seed that you are excited to grow. 

    As we begin our germination process this week, each seed will be given its own page that will share its journey from seed to seed.  We hope that you will join in our greatest adventure and give us feedback. We only seek to do better. All feedback is greatly appreciated! In the spirit of another super season, so begins our journey of openly pollinated seeds of joy, that always have a surprise inside.