Ouroboros garden

This is the well-known, traditional, poppy. The plant is well known for its medicinal uses (some varieties producing opium), for food uses (breadseed poppies), and as ornamentals. The species name, “somniferum” comes from the Latin “somnus” for “sleep”, and “ferre” meaning “to bear” in recognition of the medical aspect. The seeds we’re providing here are from an open pollination between a large number of varieties. The parental plants include white, pink, red, and purple colours as well as single or double-blooms (see images below). I find the seeds result in a mix of characteristics from these flowers, resulting in a warm palette of flower colours. The flowers are bee-magnets, not because they produce nectar (which they don’t at all) but for the massive amount of pollen they produce, the nutrition source of bees. Research shows that pollen from poppy plants is significantly less fungi than average pollen and thus less mycotoxins which have a negative effect on bees. You can see the pollen baskets many bee species have on their legs. I’ve seen bees forcing their way into poppy flowers about to bloom, maybe to get the cleanest pollen, maybe to get the pollen first? Plants are short-night induced, requiring nights of less than 10 hours to bloom. This means they will bloom later in more shaded areas; in my semi-shaded garden in Halifax I see my first flowers in late June. Germination instructions: One of the best ways to plant poppies is winter-sowing. In late winter, even with snow still on your garden, sprinkle the seeds in the areas you’d like plants to come up. This method does require a little foresight as you need to prepare the bed you’re planning in advance of the snowfall. Alternatively, wait until early spring and sow on the surface of the soil; just before a rain is the best time to do this if you choose this route. The plants are very temperamental when it comes to transplanting, usually doing very poorly when removed from a pot and put in the garden. However, I have learned that by using soil blocking, plants can be started weeks earlier indoors for explosive growth after putting into the soil outside once it’s warmer. It must be that the roots of the plant are very sensitive, as soil blocking greatly reduces root stress during “transplant” (really it’s just planting) to the garden. This site gives a good soil blocking explanation and recipe: https://shiftingroots.com/soil-blocking/. The plants thrive on neglect, and readily self-seed; once they’re in place, often all that is needed is thinning out in the spring.

This plant, well known for it’s anxiolytic/sedative effects also has other benefits in the garden. In the first year, this plant appears as a fairly low, rosette of fern-like leaves. In the second year however, it explodes in size, reaching up to seven feet. It is also in this second year that the plant first flowers. The flowers are white-pink umbels (similar to dill or parsley, though Valerian is in the honeysuckle family, Caprifoliaceae not Apiaceae) with a beautiful sweet scent that spreads a significant distance from the plant. At the end of the second year, after the frosts have come, is when the plant is normally harvested for it’s roots which is where the anxiolytic/sedative compounds accumulate but it will grow up to about 5 years if left alone. Germination instructions: Cold stratification can improve germination of Valerian but is not strictly needed. The easiest way to do this is to plant the seeds in late fall and allow winter to do the work for you. Otherwise, put the seeds in damp medium and keep in the fridge for a minimum of two weeks. The seeds also have better germination with light, so it’s best to sow very shallowly or even surface-sow. Once sown, seeds take about 2-3 weeks to germinate, with faster germination at temperatures between 15ºC and 20ºC . If starting indoors, allow the plants to reach several cm tall and grow their first true leaves. Then harden off and transplant to the garden.

The name “columbine” comes from the Latin word “columba”, meaning dove in reference to the flowers looking like a dove in flight. The genus name, “Aquilegia” may also refer to a bird, from the Latin “aquila” though it could also be from the Latin “aqua” for water and “legere” meaning collect because the spurs of the flower collect rain. The plant is native all across the northern hemisphere including Canada. In eastern Canada including Nova Scotia, the native species is the red-flowered Aquilegia canadensis. Many species of Aquilegia will hybridize freely; with this in mind these seeds, which come from plants allowed to open pollinate are likely the European Aquilegia vulgaris but may or may not have introgressed genes from other Aquilegia species of North America. I have no idea which Aquilegia could be near our garden in Halifax. Germination and growing instructions: Aquilegia seeds are very easy to germinate, similar to their cousin, the poppy (both are in the Ranunculaceae family) and like the poppy their seeds are fairly fragile, they can be crushed easily. The plants are short-lived perennials, usually living a handful of years depending on their species or hybrid. Aquilegia freely self-seed, their pods dispersing hundreds of seeds in late summer to early fall, so replanting them is rarely needed. These seeds come from plants that show genetic variability in their flowers, they’re likely to produce a variety of different blooms again. The plants are very cold hardy (zones 3-8) even continuing to grow into December in Halifax. the picture of an Aquilegia rosette above was taken in mid-December. 100+ seeds per packet.

The kousa dogwood is native to East Asia. Similar to the herbaceous understory plant native to Canada, bunchberry (Cornus canadensis), and the Pacific dogwood tree (Cornus nuttalii), this tree has four showy white bracts that look like petals. The fruit of the tree is edible, often described as “tropical” in flavour, though it contains a lot of seeds and the rind while edible has an unpleasant texture that is often described as grainy. This means the fruit works better for making jams and jellies than fresh eating. Each packet has 15+ seeds.