I'm sure some of our found roses are self seedlings which volunteered somewhere. Rose seeds have long been available commercially, and particularly Chinas and "Fairy Roses" were distributed as seeds. R. Xanthina was brought to the US by Meyer (of Meyer Lemon fame) as seeds and raised once here. He found both single and double forms from those seeds. Slater's Crimson China, among others, was sent out as seed. It is very successful as a self seeder, too. Any wonder why there are so many variations, all identified as Slater's Crimson China? If "grandma" planted some seeds, or some came up in her garden, of course only the most vigorous, healthiest would have been selected to maintain. Those would likely have been the ones relatives passed around and even planted in the family plots. Often, selfs resemble the parents quite closely. Not exactly, but close enough for someone to look at them and proclaim they are this, or that variety. Grow them side by side and you'll see differences. Micro sports also occur all the time, altering basic traits just enough to change the rose so it's no longer the original. You might find a less, or more, double mutation. Take a look at Awakening and New Dawn. They COULD be mistaken for the same rose if you didn't know one or the other well enough, but they aren't the SAME rose. Kim

I have several Hostas in my gardens and the only mature one that produces seeds is the Yellow River. One of the younger ones I grew from seed in 2006 produces a white flower and seeds. I don't know the parents but all those babies have blue foliage. I would think it would be quite difficult for Hostas to re-seed. The seed would fall on all of that dense foliage and it probably would not come into contact with soil to germinate. It would probably rot in between all those wet leaves over the winter. I sowed Hosta in my first year of winter sowing. My records show I sowed them on April 5, and that year I used those berry containers, not realizing they were not deep enough and I had to water every day. I did not keep records of germination dates in those days, but I do not remember them coming up that late. But then maybe some are easier than others to germinate. You may want to collect the mature seeds and throw them under the leaves in the fall. Maybe that would be the way to get volunteers.

We get compost-able materials from a local coffee shop - mostly grounds but lots of veggie castoffs too. We have put it directly into our beds & often get volunteers of tomatoes, peppers, & squash. I've only let some of the tomato & pepper volunteers survive long enough to taste the fruit & of those one of the peppers was good but the tomatoes didn't have any flavor. They were good growers, though! If I knew how to graft & had the time for it, maybe I'd use their rootstock. :) Wintersown.org has tomato seeds for an SASE. They have so many varieties it can make your head spin. Might be worth looking them over & trying to pick out some that might work in your zone. Also, you can do a search on this forum to find out what will grow well in your area. One of the most important things for growing great tomatoes is having great soil, though, as RyseRyse said. They are heavy feeders. Good luck!

Jude, old fashioned acorn squash like Table King will turn dark green and the color becomes dull. When the rind resists pressure from a fingernail, they are ready. It's hard to tell sometimes, but green squash will usually have a white spot where it sits on the ground, that spot will turn a creamy darker color. I've never grown the orange variety, but I'm guessing that the way to gauge ripeness would be similar, when the color darkens and dulls. Don't twist them off the vine, that usually results in the stem coming off the squash and then they don't keep very well. Cut the stem from the vine, leaving a couple of inches if you can. I'd cook them just like acorn squash from the market. For me that's just peeling and roasting, but for Amanda it's cutting them in half, removing the seeds, filling the cavity with butter and brown sugar and baking them. Dad liked them stuffed with sausage. I hope they're yummy! Annie