Spring

    Although this is being written in mid-March during a moderate, for us, snowstorm, thoughts and actions are channeling toward spring. Despite well in excess of a foot of snow on the ground and recent temperatures below zero ⁰F, I still remember the joy of sunlight, warmth, and green things growing. I am preparing for the new season, having received my seed catalog orders to add to collected seed .

    The Lobelia Cardinalis has germinated in the indoor greenhouse and the miniscule seedlings will eventually give promise of better times to come. The Brugmansia has not yet deigned to appear above ground in their flats but hopefully will. Their germination can be longer than a month. Both can germinate at  60 ⁰F so are at home in the unheated basement. The annuals were started with bottom heat at almost 80 ⁰F. When moved off the heat and placed close to fluorescent lights, a fan had to be turned on to keep their temperature down. Above 60 ⁰F they can grow weak. A fluorescent light at a distance of some few inches can bring the seedling temperature to above 75 degrees without the fan.

    This is the time of year my indoor garden requires almost daily care. It sure cuts down on early spring vacations. Sometimes I weaken and burden a son who lives some 30 miles away with the care. Jim has a green thumb, unlike Kay. At our first house, oh those many years ago, I gave her some tulip bulbs to plant on one side while I worked at another. She soon came around and sheepishly asked "which side goes up". I don't know if this was a ploy like that a friend of hers used. Before her friend was married her mother gave her one piece of advice. "The first time your husband gives you a shirt to iron, burn it. You will never have to iron another."

    Brugmansia is an interesting shrub. According to "Plants of the Gods", by Richard Evans Schultes and Albert Hofmann - ISBN 0-89281-406-3, it has been reported as a hallucinogen from Chile and southern Colombia. A dangerous hallucinogen, Brugmansia brings on an intoxication often so violent that physical restraint is necessary before the onset of a deep stupor, during which visions are experienced. The Chibcha formerly gave fermented Chicha with Brugmansia seeds to wives and slaves of dead chieftains to induce a stupor before they were buried alive with their