FRENCH WORD-A-DAY

I love the hanging signs that are all over Alsace. I have a picture of one from a butcher which has on top of the bar for the sign a boy and a dog taking a pig to market. My favorite flowers for seeds are my wife's impatiens which have little pods that explode when squeezed and fling their seeds out. (Now if I just took the time to capture those seeds and plant them in the Spring, I could save myself some dollars that go to replanting the impatiens every year.)

I don't think the passage from The Door Of Everything is "new-agey"...it's spot on! So many people do not know WHERE their food comes from! I am teaching my children this lesson. We harvest the seeds from watermelon and pumpkin and grow them. My seven year old wanted to plant corn, so we did...from a seed my girls witnessed the growth not only of a plant, but their food. We should look at these things with wonder and amazement! Thanks, chere Kristin!

Kristin--first, I love love love the musical shutters--so beautiful--and thought u would enjoy this quote about doors--it seems to apply to so many things in life, including seeds:
“The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live.” Flora Whittemore

This was such a fun post. Love shutters, windows, doors, seeds, the quote from Robyn (Flora)... and I am always passing along this glorious blog to those who might be interested in learning French and those that aren't, but are writers. Love your stories, photos. Love to Jules!

Jewelweeds, members of the same Impatiens family that Bill mentions, grow along irrigation ditches around here (in the same places one finds wild asparagus) and bloom late summer. They are familiarly called touch-me-nots because touching them causes the pod spring to uncoil and pop the seed hither and yon. Despite the name "touch-me-not" they are actually good to touch because the leaves contain a natural skin ointment--good to squeeze some if you accidentally touch some poison ivy.

Having seen your artichokes blooming earlier this summer, I especially enjoyed seeing their seeds! Artichokes and daisies and sunflowers and lots of similar flowers are members of the Composite family. each part of the disk (artichoke) or ray (sunflower) is an entire flower. what we see is a composition of a bunch of flowers appearing as one bloom. hence, all the seeds!

I've "harvested" seeds from avocados and grapefruit, which produce attractive plants, but for some reason, no fruit; maybe they have to be pollinated.

I've tried to harvest seeds from flowering plants,such as petunias, but they don't bloom - maybe because of extremes of hot and cold temperatures. I've pretty much decided to buy seedlings instead of growing my own.

You mention seeds from amaryllis, but don't amaryllis grow from bulbs? Or are you referring to a different variety?

Today's post was interesting - I've never read anything similar about seeds before.

Hi Kristi,

It was worth getting dressed to come to the Coffee Cup for your special story this morning.

As I told you over and over when you were a young girl, "You are a special rose bud just waiting to bloom!" - and you are truly blooming in France. I am so happy your life has taken all the different paths it has so you could arrive in this fertile soil of Provence. Of course you are my little seed....which makes me so happy.

XOXO

MOM

We have a tall flower called policeman's helmet, which has seed pods that explode at a touch when they are dry in the fall. Children (and some big children) get a kick out of touching them to watch the explosion. In fact they a member of the impatiens family -- called that because of their "impatient" nature of exploding seed pods, as Bill mentioned.

After my mother passed away (1997), I harvested the seeds from her favorite flowers in her garden and, after dividing them among a few small plastic bags, I mailed a packet of seeds with a note about them to each of her cherished girlhood friends to plant in their gardens.

Loved the photo of the window. Paint chipped windows and doors(I call it character) make me want to peek in, especially when they use the lace curtains behind them. But I do have a question.....do they not sell paint in France ;) I fear that here in the states people have an obsession with everything needing to be new and pristine.....too bad as the real beauty comes only with age, sort of like people themselves. My little cottage is 103 years old which for California is ancient! But it works just fine for me.
Oh the seeds! Unfortunately this last year the only ones that seemed to self propogate in my garden were the weeds!

Your post today opened my eyes----I am an avid gardener, but one of my main occupations in the summer and fall is" dead-heading" the flowers ( there must be a french equivalent for this strange term), this is to encourage more and continuous blooms, but it prevents seeds from developing. I havent been very successful with seed starting, so maybe I dont miss them.

Kristi,
Yes, I have always harvested them when they were completely dried. But if that's not possible, the paper bag option sounds just right.

I just had to comment..."tiny as spider teeth" sure brought a smile!

Also, a story came to mind while reading your line “bumping into a dry branch-gone-to-seed to set the tiny "tambourines" drumming". Late last summer, I was out in one of the flowerbeds cutting flowers for a bouquet for the table when I heard a sound which made me freeze…rattlesnake! It was curled up in the large penstemon plant only a few feet away. No one was harmed and I managed to catch and release the snake. Here’s where this is heading…this spring when I was trimming back the dry branches of the penstemon the seeds rattling around in the dead flower heads mimicked the rattle of the snake. Eek! I’m sure I did a little dance to their tune!

Like your mom, I have been thinking about how you, and thus your writing, are truly blossoming and am grateful to have your beauty in my life!