![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/IMG_1917.jpg\" "\\"Torch")
<\/a>The Mystery Plant in bloom<\/p><\/div>\n
In the spring over about four months, I planted probably 200 to 300 seeds in little cells I put under lights.\u00a0 I imagined I was keeping good notes on what I planted where.\u00a0 I would draw a long rectangle in my journal, subdivide it like the planting tray, and jot the names of the seeds I had planted in the correct quadrant on the diagram.\u00a0 I cleverly stuck a toothpick in one corner of the flat (that holds 72 or so cells) so I would know how to orient the tray to the drawing in the journal.\u00a0 Pretty sharp, huh?\u00a0 Some seedlings were easy to identify like broccoli, red, green, or Speckled Trout lettuce, and okra.\u00a0 But discerning between five different varieties of pepper?\u00a0 Three types of tomatoes?\u00a0 Who was I kidding (besides myself) that I’d be able to remember it all?\u00a0 Why I don’t spring for those little labels on which you write the seed type you’ve planted and then stick directly into the actual cell where you planted it, I don’t know.<\/p>\n
Sooner or later as the seedlings grew and matured and started to bear, I figured out what they all were except for five plants that looked like nothing I had ever seen before, except that they were green with a stem and leaves.\u00a0 I guessed they were flowers but what kind?\u00a0 I waited and waited all summer for a blossom to appear, long June blending into longer July, opening the door to endless August, and still, no flowers.\u00a0 Finally, about the second week of September, buds and pretty orange blossoms appeared.\u00a0 O.K., there’s the flower, NOW, I can tell you what…well… I thought I’d be able to recognize it but I couldn’t.\u00a0 At least I could match the flower with the front of the seed packet, something I’d been waiting about four months to do.\u00a0 They are Torch Tithonia, also known as Mexican Sunflowers.\u00a0 I remember planting them because the packet said they would attract butterflies and hummingbirds.\u00a0 The five plants soon were full of blossoms, vivid orange flowers that added a festive touch to the late summer\/early fall garden and gave me the satisfaction of a mystery solved.<\/p>\n
I think next spring I’ll buy those little plant labeling stakes.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Busy attracting butterflies<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Last Christmas my aunt, who works in a garden shop, gave me a brown paper bag full of expired seeds, packets packaged to be sold in 2010.\u00a0 Never mind that most seeds are viable for two, three, four years and … Continue reading