Hi
My dad passed away in December, I was left with his gardening diary and various seed which did not germinate such as poppies, corn, bean etc...some buttons and pennies..even some tobacco seed! I managed to however germinate some lathyrus (latifolius?) seed simply labelled "Butchart Garden Hot Pink" - Plumber. I remember we used to have a plumber living next to us who had them. There is also some tomato seed that another DG'er is going to germinate. The hand written diary lists many observations such as using sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) to get rid of mildew, using willow branches to root roses as they contain Salicylic acid..as does aspirin (will try it carefully) "1 Bayer 7 litre water - tonic" and "kill Queen Ant - Boric Acid, mix sugah (spelling) water, cheese" (maybe to kill mice??)
There was a packet of MG seed there, I remember seeing them grow when I was about 7 or 8 (1977) and they were proper red red because my dad used to moan that we used them mashed up as 'fake blood' (as boys do!) but remember moon flowers. The moon flower packet was from T&M no germination labelled "Belle de nuit" He wrote in pencil then in pen "Calonyction aculeatum, Ipomoea bona-nox???" The seeds were tan but looked off.
I managed to germinate 6 ipomoea nil seeds of Scarlett O' Hara from 1973, only 4 have survived, the Canada ones seem quite compact, the pigmentation is different as is the leaf shape.
Which makes me wonder is SOH 67 a variety from a mix because the flower looks fuchsia? I am growing both to compare, Canada SOH has yet to bloom. I will do the detailed comparison in each post. Here is Canada SOH by the packet - notice the shape of the leaf on the packet...
