The biggest threat of all

I’ve been reading a book called “Growing Trees from Seed,” by Henry Kock [©2008, Firefly Books], which is filled with practical advice for growing native species of trees in North America. It’s a bit scary, too, because the author makes you aware of the various hazards to the health of a seed: chipmunks, slugs, soil [...]

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The seedling knows

Is the soil barren? No. All around the place where I planted the red buckeye seed, green of other kinds is spreading. Violets, grasses, unidentified plants. Did the seed dissolve, rotted? No. I dug my fingers into the soil twice, trying to find it. But it is still there, solidly under the ground, with the [...]

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Seedling in waiting

We’ve had a spell of rain, and warm weather. But still no sign of the red buckeye seedling. I dug my fingers gently around the seed, to make sure it was still there and to loosen that tight red clay soil a bit. The bulging seed was intact, and the sprout seemed to be heading [...]

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seedling update

Although it’s been marvelous weather, the buckeye has not yet made an appearance. I sat with it for a few minutes today, watered it, and did some Reiki on the soil. I felt the tingling of its reach toward the sun….

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seedling report

Still just bare dirt where I planted the seed. Should I water it?

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Act of Faith

“I’m going to plant that red buckeye seed today,” I told Tom this morning. Caught in my voice was that thin blade of iron resolution that’s usually reserved for tasks like sweeping mounds of wet leaves off the decks. “That’s exciting!” he said. Mmm. I had put it off for two days – my mentor [...]

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Seedlings

Red Buckeye seedling Conversations with botanists usually leave me wondering how I ended up so far from my true calling, which was clearly biology. I love to learn about plants, animals, natural adaptation, the interconnectedness of the environment – the whole realm of how the universe is constructed. Inevitably, though, the botanist I am interviewing [...]

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Finding the tree

When I first moved to North Georgia, in 2007, I turned away from my lifelong dedication to words. I gave all my energy to photography. I devoted myself to seeing, rather than saying. In those first six months, the smallest things captivated me. I spent hours in the dirt photographing mushrooms. I took a hundred [...]

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