‘Seeds for Peace’

`Seeds for Peace’ is the hopeful name of a new venture - a company may be too strong a word for it (yet); 2 friends (Oron and Mansour) or partnership may be nearer the mark (http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=12097.0).

A serious gardener-friend has passed onto me the name of this new Israeli venture with an interesting seed list. And on it a tulip I’ve dreamed of, one rather like this red species... Tulipa agenensis sharonensis; short, dapper, with pointed petals like the best lily-flowered tulips. And red like a fire engine in early spring when a blast of colour cheers you up; when you think the chilly mornings will never be over.

Bulbs can take 7 years from seed to flower-size bulb; a serious investment of time and energy and space. But, oh, the joy when these little beauties bloom!

(Brought up a christian, it seems surreal to read of plants from various parts of Galilee.)

And so I convert euros into dollars and dream spring bulb dreams.

And bless our Mediterreanean –type climate – so kind to many summer-dry bubous plants.

Jill Weatherhead is horticulturist, writer, garden designer and principal at Jill Weatherhead Garden Design who lives in the Dandenong Ranges east of Melbourne, and works throughout Victoria (www.jillweatherheadgardendesign.com.au)