Grays River Grange #124

A SEEDY CHARACTER #3: Triploid Apple Cultivars

You are probably aware of the fact that some apple cultivars are triploid (see explanation below) but what does it really mean and how does it affect apple cultivation? Triploid apple cultivars do not produce acceptable fruit, and sometimes no fruit at all, when planted alone because they cannot produce fertile pollen (see explanation below under triploid). Pollination is required for fruit development in most plants and pollen load (the amount of pollen transferred) is also often important. So do not buy them if you plan on having only one apple tree unless you have a neighbor or neighbors nearby that grow apple trees or you also plant one or two diploid pollinator apples. The fruits of triploid apples tend to be large, but there are also a number of diploid apples that genetically produce large fruit such as Wolf River (2n). There are over 160 cultivars of triploid apples, here are a few:

A SEEDY CHARACTER #2: Scarlet Runner Beans

Scarlet runner beans and the various related cultivars, in addition to being great ornamentals and hummingbird flowers, are one of the tastiest green beans out there. Just pick them as the pods just begin to swell or soon thereafter for best flavor and tenderness.They are also a delicious nutty-flavored dry bean, and cook up to be quite large to make an interesting bean dish - chili with giant beans for example.

The interesting botanical fact is that scarlet runner beans and the related cultivars are all members of a perennial bean species, Phasolus coccineus ('coccineus' refers to red) (Most commonly cultivared beans are cultivars of Phasiolus vulgaris.) Since they are perennials, this means that they can be kept alive over winter and this allows you to get a a real headstart on bean growing the next year as they re-establish rather quickly (they don't have to go through seed germination and seedling growth process).

A SEEDY CHARACTER #1: “A Cycad’s Survival Story”

Cycads are tough plants. They have lived on Earth for about 300,000,000 years. They were here before the dinosaurs and the flowering plants and they are still here, but with far fewer species than in the past (currently they are represented by fewer than 100 species). Cycads are seed plants in the gymnosperm group so no fruits instead they produce cones with seeds. It is of note that cycads produce their leaves on an annual basis at the top of a woody caudex.  The somewhat palm-like leaves arise from the top of the caudex in many species and many cycads have “palm” as part of their common name (palms, though, are flowering plants). “Sago palm”, Cycas revoluta, is one common name of a species of cycad that is familiar to many people as it is the species most commonly available at nurseries. Cycads are evergreen. After a new set of leaves develops, some of the older leaves die (dead leaves remain attached to the plant and must be cut off if you want a tidy plant). A number of people fervently collect and grow these exotic-looking sub-tropical and tropical plants. They prefer warm weather and must be wintered indoors here in bright light and in well-drained soil. They are very sensitive to being overwatered but a really well-drained soil mix makes this difficult to do (for all kinds of plants, far more plants are killed by overwatering than by under watering).