Of Frost and Seeds

I am a summer boy. Give me eye-searing heat and the type of humidity that congeals in your lungs over a day in the low thirties. I like to be able to feel my fingers, thank you very much. What’s the point of existing if you can’t feel anything, I ask my Canadian friends.

Despite that, I am certainly capable of appreciating the aesthetic qualities of winter. Crystals spring like fractals from the mock-verbena. Legions of little white Cheetos form on the leaves of lyreleaf sage. Frost blankets the once green turf, killing it. I openly pray that the cold works its way into the roots and terminates the lawn outright. This irks my mom.

Glandularia canadensis and Salvia lyreata. I don't have any pictures of the lawn, because who the hellgrammite takes pictures of lawns?

We are fast approaching the onset of what is likely to be a damp slap in the face with a cold rag. This means, of course, that it is time to start sowing seeds. (It’s actually better to sow them earlier in the season, but college made it impossible to do so.)

I have been blessed with a network of friends who generously provide me with seeds, and have also had the privilege of collecting many seeds myself. Here is a list of the species I am trying to germinate this winter. Many of them will be available for purchase in Spring 2021, but some of them will not be ready to transplant until Fall or the Spring of 2022.

1. Andropogon ternarius (Splitbeard bluestem)

2. Aristolochia tomentosa (Dutchman's pipe)

3. Asclepias amplexicaulis (clasping milkweed)

4. Asclepias viridiflora (green comet milkweed)

5. Baptisia alba (white false indigo)

6. Castilleja coccinea(Indian paintbrush)

7. Chasmanthium latifolium (inland sea oats)

8. Delphinium carolinianum (Carolina delphinium)

9. Dracopis amplexicaulis (clasping coneflower)

10. Euonymus americanus (Hearts-a-bustin')

11. Eurybia hemispherica (single-stemmed bog-aster)

12. Ipomoea pandurata (wild morning glory)

13. Iris giganticaerulea (giant iris)

14. Liatris squarrosa (scaley blazingstar)

15. Lilium catesbaei (Catesby's Lily)

16. Macranthera flammea (flameflower)

17. Manfreda virginiana (virginia false aloe)

18. Mimosa microphylla (littleleaf sensitive briar)

19. Penstemon laxiflorus (nodding beardtongue)

20. Platanus occidentalis (moon sycamore; seeds from a tree that was on the Apollo XIV)

21. Polygonum americanum (American jointweed)

22. Ratibita pinnata (grey-headed coneflower)

23. Scirpus cyperinus (woolgrass)

24. Senna marylandica (Maryland senna)

25. Silphium laciniatum (compass plant)

26. Solidago rigida (stiff goldenrod)

27. Sorghastrum nutans (Indiangrass)

28. Stokesia laevis (Stoke's aster)

29. Symphoricarpus orbiculatus (coralberry)

30. Tephrosia virginiana (goat's rue)

Thanks for reading!

Nate Venarske