By Rhea Hamilton-Seeger

Despite the cool wet spring or maybe because of it, we had a spectacular June. Lilacs, redbud, wisteria, flowering crabapple, magnolias, fragrant linden and golden chain trees all in bloom above our heads; along the ground we saw sweet woodruff, tree peonies, herbaceous peonies, iris, cranesbill, primulas and drifts of forget-me-nots along the paths. I could enjoy June all summer. July is a mature time in the garden; the rush of growth and bloom is over and now it’s time for some solid growth. This is a perfect time to get at spots we have not weeded yet and finish with a bit of mulch here and there. I use my mulch sparingly along the front edge of the garden as far in as twelve inches. I use leaves in the back of the garden around the larger plants. I don’t mulch around my favourite plants that seed down as it limits the seeds’ soil contact and germination. I am missing my magnificent Canadian columbine. It would freely seed down and the vibrant orange, yellow blossoms make a wonderful visual with the spotted blue-blossomed lung wort or pulmonaria growing around its base. But thanks to birds or maybe the wind, a small one popped up 15 feet away and I will spread the seed in a few other locations. Mulch is a wonderful tool in the garden to help conserve moisture, keep the garden soil cooler, and as it breaks down it improves the quality of the soil. I should bring you up to date on the state of my curcuma. Last November I picked up this exotic plant and once it died down, I stored it with my canna and dahlia bulbs. I checked for growth in January and February and even gave it a bit of water. But when I was pulling out all the other bulbs, I discovered the tuber had completely dried up. There was nothing there but the soil and a few dried leaves that would have been around the base of the stem. Now I wonder if it was actually a seed plant and no tuber had formed yet. Like seed begonias. So that purchase did not end well but I think most, if not all, gardeners have similar stories. The next big experiment involves more trees. John Hazlitt dropped off half a dozen thick leathery seedpods from a Kentucky Coffee tree. You don’t see many of these trees in the landscape. There is one species here in North America and two others in China. They are referred to as a colony tree and have a vast root system from which new trees sprout. Male and female flowers are on separate tree colonies. If you can imagine this, an entire colony of trees may only be one genetic individual. If isolated, then fruit on these trees is rare which makes these pods a treasure. Usually found in floodplains and rich/moist woodlands, Kentucky Coffee trees will tolerate open dry sites or partial shade. They are considered small but will grow to 80 feet and two feet in diameter when happy. They do hold the record for the largest leaf of any Canadian tree. They have double compound leaves that can be anywhere from one to three feet long and up to two feet wide. It gives the trees a feathery look, which makes it useful as an ornamental. The flowers are greenish-white and not memorable although they are fragrant. While the wood is heavy and decay resistant, its true value is in the roots that bear nodules containing nitrogen-fixing bacteria, which on decaying enrich the soil. So what to do with the seeds? The pods were tough to rip open and the seeds were embedded in a green sticky pulp, or “stiff goo” as I called it. The seeds need to be encouraged to sprout. In Henry Kock’s Growing Trees from Seeds, he recommends filing a patch off the seed coat. Since our grinding wheel has not worked in years I thought a sharp rasp would do the trick. I changed tools when I ripped one of my knuckles on the rasp. This was with the first seed and I was looking at 29 more seeds to do. So I dug out the wee dremil tool and using the grinding attachment, proceeded to notch all the seeds. It was hard to know if I was making a deep enough nick, as the seed coating was quite hard. The seeds were covered with water and let sit for a couple of days. They can swell to double their size and they did! Now where to plant? We potted up 25 Korean Stone Pine trees this spring and set them into the ground in the shade of an oak tree. What better place to set out these seeds. So in a row between the pine trees we planted the coffee trees about two inches apart. Mr. Kock recommends they be grown in a nursery for a couple of years and when they are about six to twelve inches high they can be transplanted out. A tree nursery is a semi-shaded spot with a frame and netting to protect the seedling. As a popular treat for deer and rabbits, this could explain part of why we don’t see many in the landscape. Oh, on a final note you cannot make coffee from the seeds. They are called coffee trees due to its seed similarity to coffee seeds. The taste is bitter and unpleasant although when scoring the seeds they smelled pretty good. I will let you know next spring how the seeds fared. ◊