Yeaaaaaaaaaaa......I can't describe in words how excited and happy I was to receive my first garden gift. Ever since I got into gardening, I or my husband were buying anything that were required for the garden - bird-houses, bird-feeders, garden-flags, fences, seeds, pots, mulches, garden soil and more garden soil!! But, on January 19, 2013 -- all that changed. My best friend gave me this pack of seeds which she brought all the way from Oregon.
I was so elated and felt over the moon that I kept on touching and playing with the packet, most of the time, during a twelve-hour journey from New Jersey to Kentucky! The packet is very poetic, which I am yet to find in any seed packet, and says, Oregon..an ever-changing landscape where lush green forests blanket the valleys, rugged coastlines dance with the sea, mighty rivers forge toward the ocean, magnificent waterfalls tumble toward the earth, and snow-capped peaks reach for the sky creating a breathtaking playground for a myriad of wildflowers. . The seeds are not taken from the wild; rather it is cultivated outside of the national parks and the seed-packet should not be open within the park. Many people might not realize this but many of the native plants of the US are not only getting extinct because of native-habitat-loss, climate-change and use of chemicals, but because of people plucking wild-flowers or digging-out, taking cuttings-of-wild-flower plants in the hope of growing them in their own gardens. The plants, obviously, fail to grow in the gardens, out of their natural place, and in the process the native plant gets destroyed and thus extinct. If one wants to grow native plants (which is always highly encouraged), one needs to buy them from proper source and not take them from wild refuge or state/national parks.
The packet contains about 375 seeds of the vibrant hues of the Poppy, the striking lavender-colored "Flowers of the Starts", the Pacific Aster, and the bright-yellow pompoms of the Wild Buckwheat. . It says that the seeds will grow in most climates of the world. So, hopefully it will grow in New Jersey. The most difficult challenge will be where to grow them in the garden, and how to design the garden so that I will have own small patch of the wilderness of the Wild West.
I am dedicating this post to my best friend Aim-Pie for this most beautiful gift :-).
I was so elated and felt over the moon that I kept on touching and playing with the packet, most of the time, during a twelve-hour journey from New Jersey to Kentucky! The packet is very poetic, which I am yet to find in any seed packet, and says, Oregon..an ever-changing landscape where lush green forests blanket the valleys, rugged coastlines dance with the sea, mighty rivers forge toward the ocean, magnificent waterfalls tumble toward the earth, and snow-capped peaks reach for the sky creating a breathtaking playground for a myriad of wildflowers. . The seeds are not taken from the wild; rather it is cultivated outside of the national parks and the seed-packet should not be open within the park. Many people might not realize this but many of the native plants of the US are not only getting extinct because of native-habitat-loss, climate-change and use of chemicals, but because of people plucking wild-flowers or digging-out, taking cuttings-of-wild-flower plants in the hope of growing them in their own gardens. The plants, obviously, fail to grow in the gardens, out of their natural place, and in the process the native plant gets destroyed and thus extinct. If one wants to grow native plants (which is always highly encouraged), one needs to buy them from proper source and not take them from wild refuge or state/national parks.
The packet contains about 375 seeds of the vibrant hues of the Poppy, the striking lavender-colored "Flowers of the Starts", the Pacific Aster, and the bright-yellow pompoms of the Wild Buckwheat. . It says that the seeds will grow in most climates of the world. So, hopefully it will grow in New Jersey. The most difficult challenge will be where to grow them in the garden, and how to design the garden so that I will have own small patch of the wilderness of the Wild West.
I am dedicating this post to my best friend Aim-Pie for this most beautiful gift :-).
It's nice to receive gardening gifts....I remember mine from many years ago - it was a rather large set of windchimes. Needless to say it didn't stay long in the garden (it gets a bit windy here in Edinburgh, Scotland). They are in a box in the shed should I ever move to somewhere a bit less windy.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your seeds and great sentiments - plants should never be removed from the wild.
That's a sweet gardening gift, and seeing their flowers is something to look forward to :)
ReplyDeleteThat patch of flowers will always remind you of your friend when you see them. I'd go online to do a bit of research about when to sow them and how much soil to cover the seeds with. They should sprout easily for you. They sound like a beautiful combination of plants. :o)
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun gift! It will be so thrilling to see those seeds grow into flowers. And a wonderful reminder of your friend.
ReplyDeletethank you very much for your visit to my blog.
ReplyDeletewaiting to see the pics of the blooming meadow!!!
ReplyDeleteVery exciting. I have received a similar gift in the past which has fed my desire to grow wildflowers more!
ReplyDeleteHow nice that a packet of seeds can bring so much joy to you! It is rare nowadays that people get so excited about "the little things". I hope the seeds will grow and flower for you and I can't wait to see a photo of your wild flowers garden.
ReplyDeleteChristina
Angie -- Thanks for visiting my blog. What does the wind do to the chimes - blow them away or make loud noise? Ah! I would love to come and visit Scotland and see those rolling green hills :-).
ReplyDeleteMark&Gaz -- thank you :-)
Casa Mariposa -- good advice :-). I need to do that as it has 375 seeds and I need a bigger field like Oregan to grow them all :-).
HolleyGarden -- thank you :-)
Levent Ozcan -- thank you also for visiting my blog. Please come again. :-)
Rosa Complicata -- wish me lucks; I am also hoping to see them grow but I have found that I have usually bad luck growing flowers from seeds.
Barb Yingst -- How exciting Barb :-).Do you have any picture of your wildflowers in your blog? Need to search for them.
Christina -- I usually get very excited with any small gifts as gifts mean that the person treasures you and that's so difficult to find nowadays.