The bulging bookshelves in my home library provide proof that, indeed, I seldom turn away the opportunity to acquire an old gardening book.
Occasionally, those old books have some interesting bits of paper stuck between two pages, sometimes appearing to be randomly placed, sometimes seeming to be more deliberately inserted.
I’ve found postcards, letters, grocery lists, newspaper clippings, receipts, dried leaves, and even seed packets.
In one particular book, I recently found an old seed packet with a picture and description of a flower I didn’t recognize, plus seeds inside!
I studied the packet and couldn’t quite figure out what the year was but it started with 18, so those seeds had to have been at least 125 years old.
What are the odds they would germinate?
There were just five seeds, so I carefully filled a small pot with some potting soil, placed the seeds on top and gently covered them. Then I placed the pot outside under a shrub and forgot about it until, one morning, about a year ago, as I recall, I noticed the seeds had all germinated, and the plants had grown quite large and begun to flower.
Such flowers I had never seen! As much as I tried, I could not identify the plant. I can barely describe its beauty. And the colors! How could one or two plants produce such an array of colors? Honestly, I had never seen anything like them.
When I first saw those flowers, last April 1st as I recall, I thought maybe someone was playing an April Fool’s Day prank on me.
As if!
How would anyone know about those seeds, that pot, etc.?
Of course, I’ve been in contact with leading experts in botany and experts in 19th century garden plants trying to solve the mystery of this most unusual flower. They’ve all asked me not to share a picture of the flower, the seed packet, or even the book for now.
It’s all really Top Secret hush-hush and must remain so for now because we have much to discover about this plant, which is still safe in… not my garden… an undisclosed secret location.
The experts have assured me, however, that just as I was able to name the mysterious new plant that grew out of my compost pile way back on ’06, I’ll be able to name this one. That one was named Aprilphools didifoolu. I think this new plant will be named “19 April Fools Day Posts and Counting.”
Have a great day!
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