These native seeds are just coming right along.  Today I found a couple of the prairie clover seeds had germinated.  It didn’t even take a week for these guys to sprout, so I am very encouraged by this.  These seeds are from a single location in Lasalle county, so to have these seeds germinating successfully so that I can preserve them is amazing.

On my way to pick up my 2 boys today, I saw red-winged blackbirds in several locations on my way into Ottawa.  They were all males trying to establish territories before the females arrive in a month or so.  I had to roll down my window so I could hear them calling.  To me, these birds simbolize the coming of spring, as they are one of the first birds to migrate back into our area.

I went downstairs to check on the greenhouse and discovered that the coreopsis lanceolata has begun to germinate.  It took a mere 10 days for the seeds to germinate, with the conditions that I have.  They would probably germinate faster if I added a heat source to the greenhouse, like a 40 watt lightbulb.  I was considering doing this before I even found the seeds had germinated.