My starter plant was first some bean seeds that I 'stole" from a horticultural society bean display when I was about 8 ( they were on the floor and had amazing names and colors!. I know, I'm going to Hell!). I grew them on my windowsill in agar disks from my brothers science kit ( don't ask why!). That summer I made a 'fort' under some old spruce trees where I planted most anything I could find in the yard in various 'found' container. I particularly remember a coconut shell from the compost pile that the squirrels had hollowed out - I planted Vinca minor in it, and believed it to be 'all the rage' as a hanging plant. Remember, it late 60's, a time of macrame hangers and hippies - my parents were older than my friends parents, so a hanging plant was considered too hippy-like for them. SO this made me feel like I was mod. (I know, they are still old), but it's all relative, right? That same summer I planted a packet of ornamental gourds in our vegetable garden, and one vine grew, to be very prolific, but only providing me with about a bushel of all white egg-shaped gourds. I was devastated. My parents painted them all for me with bright colors, to look like 'natural' gourds, or at least like the ones on the package!. For years, I believed that all gourds were painted and that's why they varnished them. My first bulbs, I mean ones that I grew myslef, were probably were gladiolus. My parents made me enter them at the Worcester County Horticultural Society gladiolus Show that year ( 1968 -ish?). I remember winning a big, red ribbon, and I was hooked. It was all down hill from there. On 10/1/12 8:37 PM, "Lee Poulsen" <wpoulsen@pacbell.net> wrote: > On Oct 1, 2012, at 12:18 PM, James Waddick wrote: >> >> ( I already sent the grandkids some iris rhizomes a month or >> so ago and radish seeds in spring) >> > > Radish seeds were my starter drug. I was about 6 or 7 years old and my mom > gave me a pack of radish seeds to plant one spring. They sprouted almost > immediately which entranced me to no end. Then only a few weeks later there > were actual real edible radishes that looked just like the ones in the grocery > store and I could actually eat. And all I did was plant them then water them. > I've been addicted ever sinceŠ > > --Lee Poulsen > Pasadena, California, USA - USDA Zone 10a > Latitude 34°N, Altitude 1150 ft/350 m > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/