Seeds germinating, second year bulbs (happiness)

Colleen silkie@frontiernet.net
Sun, 24 Jan 2016 15:31:06 PST
Hi Travis.

I suggest you start with a ben seed on cotton in a clear glass/jar.  Of
course she isn't going to fully understand what she is seeing, but the
images will be there in her brain forever.  Help her plant some beans
outside shortly after.  Then you can take the glass outside and help her
compare what she sees in both plants.  Kids also like the really tall
sunflowers.  I suggest you also always use the correct terminology for
plants, plant parts, etc.  No "baby" talk (itsy- bitsy- greeny- thingy)
unless you are definitely in a joking situation.  Children also store
sounds/words which will make it easier for her to later understand the
terminology.  Test, maybe Cornell, were done by reading Shakespeare to
babies which were followed up on and it was found they had an easier time
learning the Bard in the upper grades than those who had not been exposed to
the sounds earlier.  Our brains store all sights and sounds so pick and
choose what you want to put into hers.

Colleen NE Caif.

-----Original Message-----
From: pbs [mailto:pbs-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Travis O
Sent: Sunday, January 24, 2016 1:57 PM
To: pbs@lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [pbs] Seeds germinating, second year bulbs (happiness)

Hi Fred,

Yes it is exciting, but thus far I've seen no flowers from any of my seed
grown bulbs. Judy Glattstein wrote something along the lines of (from
memory, far from verbatim), "there's a difference between 'It flowered!' and
'garden worthy.'" Meanwhile, I'm just happy to keep them alive!

Only some of the Narcissus in my garden produce seed, and they are all
hybrids to begin with. I do no hand pollination, so the resulting seeds are
from either pollinators or selfed. In the spirit of my hobby of observing
plant-pollinator interactions, I'd like to raise plants that are of interest
and usefulness to pollinators. 

Narcissus are low on the list of "pollinator plants" outside of their native
ranges, bees being more interested in Crocus pollen and other early blooming
bulbs. Aside from raising plants that are acclimated to my garden, I'd like
to think they can become acclimated to the local pollinators as well (or
vice-versa?). It's like a mini evolutionary experiment. I wonder if, over
many years, I could raise Narcissus that are essentially "hand picked" by
pollinators and thus visited more frequently than the current daffodils in
my yard (which are visited very infrequently, if at all). It's an ongoing
area of interest for me.

And I hope my daughters will want to be involved, with gardening in general.
My two-year-old is great in the garden, she is very kind to plants, yet a
little scared of bees (I've got to work on that). I'm going to get some
seeds for her to plant this year (probably borage, nasturtiums, beans/peas,
other largish nontoxic seeds that are easy to grasp). Fun is on the horizon!

I'd be happy to hear other ideas of how to involve kids in the garden. Brent
and Becky's Bulbs suggest a Crocus "smiley face," something I'll have to
explore in the future.

Travis Owen
Rogue River, OR

http://www.amateuranthecologist.com/
http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/






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