Seeds Start It All

Okay...so I have a blog now. Hmmmm....how to start, how to start, how to start? Aha: Seeds, of course. The beginning of every little garden. I love to scour greenhouses, garden catalogs, & even grocery stores in search of a new packet of seeds. (sigh) Little envelopes of hope & optimism. Throughout the year, my patients & I exchange little bitty baggies of seeds. (probably very similar to junkies fervently exchanging dime bags, of whatever, in a back alley) Just last week I received some castor bean seeds from a 84 year old gardener. She brought the seeds into the clinic in a pill bottle & had sketched the "skull & crossbone" picture all over the bottle. The pattern on Castor beans/seeds looks just like a snake (to me), which could have been nature's way of warning how deadly the seed actually is. Plus, the coating of the seed is extremely tough & thick. That's to keep other living creatures from eating the innards (ricin oil) which is very toxic. I doubt I will plant the castor beans, but it's fun to look at them & ponder who I could poison if I was so inclined. This is what the odd mysterious seeds grow into: Kinda cool I think. On the opposite end of the seed spectrum, I really like the teeny petunia seeds. These little guys are almost as tiny as dust particles, so they are "peletized". (Coated to make the seed larger & workable). Just a warning for novice gardeners...do not sneeze when working with the petunia seeds... your entire stash will be scattered into the wind.