What an amazing thing to read, and how exciting to think there may be many more Ice Age plants to be found.
I tried to enlarge the photo by clicking on it. The box opens but no photos shows.

I love reading stories like this. It's nice to hear of people saving something, rather than destroying it for a change!

I had heard about this before. In a world where humanity is stamping out other species right and left, the irony of bringing back something from an ancient ice age boggles the mind. Especially since the earth is getting warmer every year!

Pretty little flower.

Gee...maybe we'll get to see unicorns again

I just read about this today in The Smithsonian Magazine. Amazing! Jurassic Park wasn't too far off the mark after all:)

Careful what you ask for, Gin-gin!!!

Very cool article! Thanks Larry

Thanks, all, for your kind comments. It's truly amazing that some plant tissues--and some seeds as well--can cling to life for millennia, given the right conditions.

Sorry about the photo's clickability, Lynn. Hopefully, this one will work:



I must have had Siberia on the brain when I wrote the picture's caption. The plant name should read S. stenophylla.

Such sweet little blooms.

Larry, when you mentioned seeds, it jogged my memory about our petunias. We've lived in this house for 33 years now, and for about the first 20 I did not plant any flowers. Then when the flower bug bit me, I started digging in the grass in front of our house. Petunias have come up on every side of the house and they are everywhere now! I had no idea seeds would lie dormant that long... and now I realize that 20 years is really not that long after all!

Wow, those are all seedlings from self sowing?

What a wonderful story, Vickie! I recognize those petunias as the same old-fashioned variety my parents grew when I was growing up. They are very tenacious, even springing up in sidewalk cracks and still blooming their heads off.

Wow, Vickie! Imagine those seeds waiting all that time...for someone to show some interest in growing something. Flower power!

Thanks all. Funny thing is, I didn't think I liked petunias! They were just one of those old plants that my Mom used to plant and I wanted new and different. However, my thoughts have changed tremendously on that in the last 15 years.

Lynn, just like when I started digging in the front of the house, these came up on their own when we dug up the west side of our garage. I put in a sitting garden and the petunias started coming up, but I didn't plant petunias! At least not until a few years ago and I bought some Wave petunias.

I have to admit, now that I have them I purposely let them go to seed and have started spreading them in other places. They bloomed well into late November last year.

Larry, I was wondering if there was a name to this variety or if I should just call them the 'old fashioned petunias', lol! They certainly have a distinct aroma after a rain shower and the variety of shades of pinks, purples, and whites are beautiful.

That is a petunia treasure in my book.

Vicki, I believe the old fashioned petunia is known scientifically as Petunia × hybrida. The identity of the original parents is not certain, but a good guess is that they were P. axillaris and P. integrifolia.


axillaris


integrifolia

If you're interested, here is an article on petunias I published some time ago: http://garden.org/ideas/manage...

Oh thank you Larry! Those two petunias look exactly like mine. I always wondered why it seemed like some of the petunias were thicker and spread better than others.

That is a fascinating article and what a long history petunias have. Not nearly as long as Campion though! The black and gold Phantom petunia sounds beautiful. I am shocked that someone would pay $40/ounce for petunia seeds in 1893, but I guess that was the latest and greatest at the time and hybridizers were willing to pay premium price.

Wow, that's such a pretty little plant--thanks for that article, Larry!
Congrats on the surprise petunias, Vickie!