Sprouts!

The first Madder sprout of 2008! Hurray! It is so nice to see that my seeds are viable and are growing. So far I can say that these seed which I harvested myself last fall are germinating faster and more completely than any I'd purchased in the past. Last year I put 3 seeds in every pot, hoping for 1 seeding in each pot. I had a couple of pots with two, but probably 1/3 the pots with nothing at all and the rest only 1. This year I put 2 seeds in each pot and have signs of growth in all but 2 pots, and many have both seeds growing. The 2 pots with no signs yet maybe just a little slow.

This is a container with Dyer's Knotweed. Also known as Japanese Indigo or Polygonum Tinctorium, it is another of the few plants which yield indigotin. The seeds are exceedingly tiny and very difficult to find. I searched high and low earlier this year for them but couldn't find a source which sold them. However, I was given some by a lovely gal at the Guelph Guild of Handweavers and Spinners as she had some extra and I'd given her Madder and Woad seeds. Pretty cool and very nice of her. So most of them are planted to see what will happen. They just got in the soil yesterday so it's a tad early yet.. I was just excited.