First off, let me say that this idea has nothing to do with getting any work done - gardening or otherwise. But, for some of us, gardening without musing would be as enchanting as being stuck in grid lock on a sea of asphalt on Rte 95.

Which brings me to another sea - the kind upon which 17th/18th century ships like Captain Cook's sailed with botanic hunters and artists and then brought back seeds and plants that now populate our gardens, wherever we are. To me, seed swaps are like those bygone ships, without which our gardens would be devoid of many flowers we may now think of as common or otherwise. The world has changed since the 1600s and 1700s - not all the plants (let alone their habitats) are still there.

The last ship - err seed swap - that I traveled with brought me some seeds I never would have grown out otherwise. Ironically, this particular seed swap (on gardenweb.com) was titled, What's Left on my Wish (Wants) List. We were only supposed to send in seeds on participants' wish lists. Well, I got some surprises, and for me, surprises from seed swaps are the main reason I show up; but I digress.

Some of the seeds I hope to grow out from the wlomwl swap, especially for their musing aspect, are Martynia annua and Proboscidea parviflora. I had learned about the Martynia from @poisondartfrog for its extraordinary survivor ability, and had it on my wish list. The wlomwl swap's hostess, @ishareflowers, surprised me with the Proboscidea which looked to me like the Martynia's twin, so I looked them up and being the geek that I am, I wondered how two such visually similar plants could have been taxonomically classified in two such botanically disparate plant families???

Evidently, according to poisondartfrog, one difference between these two plants lies in the different shapes of their seed pods - known as Devil's Claw. In his comment on Martynia annua in the data base of davesgarden.com , Kenner mused about the prehistoric giant Ground Sloth's fur lugging seed pods of Martynia annua around. Now, one of the routes traveled by prehistoric Ground Sloth and Mammoth etc. later became a corridor along which early Native American hunters pursued them. And, according to musing by Loren Eisley(sp?) in one of his essays, the part of Rte95 (Hwy95?) that now links North and South America to each other was built on that corridor.

Stuck in gridlock on that part of Rte 95, in a heap of metal fueled by - ironically - fossil fuel - imagine the Ground Sloth, bearing seed pods of Martynia annua traveling at the same warp speed as 21st century metal heaps stuck in gridlock - two kindred souls for a moment as suspended in time as an ant fossilized in amber (albeit not for so long). And imagine Route 95 minus its asphalt during the paleolithic lined with Martynia annua and who knows what else once common back then but now no longer, without its paved-over habitat?.

Sailing with the wlomwl swap brought me great botanical musing indeed, and I therefore cannot wait to try to grow the Martynia annua and Proboscidea parviflora out (our resident vandal notwithstanding).

Other great musing seeds sent to me by the wlomwl seed swap included Chinese Larkspur, elevated to the Musing Hall of Fame in @poisondartfrog's Idea thread, Blue Butterflies for the Late Summer Garden," and Caryopteris.

@poisondartfrog's idea thread is here: https://garden.org/ideas/view/...

and a thread for Chinese Larkspur is located here: http://www.paghat.com/delphini...

Who can muse without poetry, as well as without seed swaps, modern equivalents of 18th century ships' voyages out hunting for seeds and plants?

Thank you Captain Cook, Robert Frost, poisondartfrog, ishareflowers, Loren Eisley(sp) and Linnaeus.


edited to credit poisondartfrog for enlightening me about the difference between Martynia annua and Proboscidea parveflora