Last summer (2019) my in-laws in rural Saskatchewan made the decision to leave the family farm and move to town. While cleaning up the property over an arduous week in July I decided to keep the bag of seeds that were kept in the garage. So many of us prairie people keep seeds of things we like or people give us, my mom also has a seed collection that stretches from the 70's to now and while the seeds I keep aren't quite that old I also have a bunch tucked away to be planted some day in the future. Since we were in the middle of pandemic panic I decided I would try to grow all the seeds from my mom-in-law as who knew what was going to be available by May? Turned out this was a good decision as plant supplies were hit and miss everywhere!
My trusty greenhouse aids in growing and starting almost anything in our nuts climate.
One of the poppies that were loose seeds in the bottom of a bag.
and some more, once they got going it was a great show!
Shoo-Fly Plant Nicandra physalodes is also called "Apple of Peru" and I'll bet it is known by that last moniker in rural circles!
These Scarlet Runner Beans were over 20 years old but easily grew. In a fun pairing that I did not plan the Lychnis or Maltese Cross also came from the farm many years ago. Now it is an homage in orange flowers to Saskatchewan!
Shoo-Fly plant is a fairly large annual growing to almost 5 feet in my yard. The flowers open in the day and close at night, the papery husks are reminiscent of tomatillo. I have grown this plant before and did have an inkling of what they were, that they were familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on it until they bloomed, Oh yeah!!! That's what they are! Fun stuff, I haven't seen these in many years and will grow them again!
Only a few seeds did not grow namely Lavatera and Hollyhock, they could be too old or not sown in the right conditions or will grow next year after a whole season in situ. We will see. I did manage to sprout the Lupine seeds too, in situ ( in the ground) but other plants took them over so we will see if they survive, they are extremely hardy plants so I will be excited to see if they come back next year.
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