coralberry Archives : Cast Iron Garden

February 26, 2024February 25, 2024

02/23/2024 springing

Several classic spring flowers are coming up and a mystery seedling too.

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February 2, 2024February 1, 2024

02/01/2024 pink and red seed processing

I’m holding a magenta coralberry fruit peeled back so you mostly see the pale two seeds and whitish, almost fuzzy inner layer around the seeds. — Removing dried fleshy coats of coralberry fruits. Each one has two halves of a creamy colored seed.

My thumb and forefinger hold the scarlet coral-bean seed so you can see a tiny chip in its thick protective coating. The rusty razor blade I used is to the right on the ceramic gray table surface. — After an overnight soak in water, the coral-bean seed coat was still so, so hard. I finally scored one spot enough that a chip flaked off. success!! So I put it back in water for one more night and hopefully it will imbibe. That seems to be the term for the seed swelling up with water and about to root.

April 12, 2022April 12, 2022

Kale and bird poop

Lacinato kale is sprouting for Mom and Dad!

Scotch blue curled kale is up too!

Two dogs, having fun.

Look at the bird poop on the coralberry leaves! How unappetizing!

It’s actually a bird dropping moth. It’s even a bit lumpy! It’s probably Antaeotricha leucilliana but there are a few similar species that can’t be distinguished for sure without looking at the genitalia. Luckily for the moth, that sounds like a lot of work.