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Saturday, September 13, 2008

A non-stamping post

Franklinia

Just sharing a picture of a flower from my Franklinia Tree. 

Why you ask? 

Well, I'm rather fond of my (still) little tree.  The Franklinia's have a history.  The trees were discovered by John Bartram in the south.  He named it the Franklinia after his friend Benjamin Franklin.  He brought seeds back to Philadelphia and propagated them. 

So what? 

Well, meanwhile all the Franklinias in the wild disappeared - extinct except for the ones in Bartram's gardens.  Today - every single Franklinia in the world was propagated from the ones in Bartram's gardens.  So I have my own little piece of living history growing in my front yard.

They are notoriously hard to grow - but so far so good.  My guy started out about 10 inches and he's about 4 feet now (he would be taller but the deer ate part of him last year - grrr....).  They bloom in late summer and get great red fall color.

Keep your fingers crossed for my little guy.

By the way - I'm also testing Live Writer, to see if I can format the blog better....

But it is a picture of my tree!

4 comments:

L.A. said...

I used to teach about a 10 minute walk from Bartram's Garden in Southwest Philadelphia. It is a beautiful garden! I vaguely remember the docent on one of the field trips I took with my kids telling us about the plant. I think it is really neat you have a piece of history in your garden!

Kathi said...

I hope your little guy grows big and strong.

Does it drop flowers or seeds that you can use to grow a second one?

Danni said...

What a neat plant to have! I hope he survives and flourishes,without any more nips from the deer!

mel m. m. mccarthy said...

What a gorgeous tree and a great history! :O)