Archive for March, 2007

Prairie clover germinating

Monday, March 5th, 2007

petspeciesgermThese 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.

Red-winged blackbirds return

Sunday, March 4th, 2007

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.

Coreopsis germinating in greenhouse

Saturday, March 3rd, 2007

corpalgermI 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.