Even where we live, in the Okanagan, the Real Estate market is getting ridiculous. We would be able to afford a refrigerator box but we would have to cut out our own windows. Always wanted to see Salt Spring though, as we go to Campbell River every year and it is kind of en route.

Macmex, so this variety is C. moschata? Could I have a try at recovering it from your old seed? I've had good results getting old seed to germinate, I built a lighted, thermostatically-controlled germination chamber for that purpose. The Tromboncino I'm growing this year is from 11 year old seed (and should be a successful seed crop). Any plants which result would be hand pollinated, and seed returned to you. It wouldn't be grown until next year though, I'd keep the seeds in the fridge until then. My SSE listed email is still valid. Worst case scenario, you could probably recover Warsaw Buff from the crossed SSE seed, via hand pollination... although it would probably take 2-3 generations to be certain of its purity.

Hi Ilene, For a minute there, when I read the subject line, I thought you were channeling Winston Churchill and one of his many famous quotes: "Never, never, never give up." LOL Sometimes it is amazing to see seeds sprout months after you originally planted them....or to have plants sprout that you KNOW you never planted (thank the birds for those) or just to see how volunteers move around the property. For example, I've had poppies come up a 400 or 500' away from where I planted them.....and with the woods, house, barn, shrubs, etc. between the place they were planted and the place they "magically" appeared. You have to wonder how tiny poppy seeds travel so far on the wind, but clearly they do. I also love getting accidental crosses. My favorite "cross" was a pink (instead of red) Texas Red Star Hibiscus. I also had white swamp mallow in the area and the pink probably was a cross of the two. The pink-flowered one survived for several years and I never saved seed from it and now I wish I had. Actually, I did know that sweet potatoes bloom. (smile) And, after all, why shouldn't they? Sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas) are, after all, members of the morning glory family and you can see the resemblance in their flowers, can't you? It is the flowers that allowed plant breeders to cross different heirloom varieties back in the "old days" (before gene-splicing and other genetic manipulation) to create new hybrid varieties. I've grown quite a few different varieties of sweet potatoes and some of them have had pink or purple or white (or bicolor) flowers, and I think at least one had reddish colored flowers. In last year's cool and rainy weather, even my ornamental sweet potatoes bloomed. Their flowers, though, weren't quite as large or as showy as the flowers on most agricultural sweet potatoes. Here in my part of Oklahoma, the sweet potatoes don't usually bloom until September or October, and they bloom best as the daylight hours shorten and the periods of nighttime darkness increase. Four o'clocks are one of my favorites because they are so tough and can survive incredible drought. I have tons of the common, everyday hot pink ones and also some very pale pink ones that I didn't plant, so they must be from a cross or a mutations. I have quite a lot of the really deep fuschia-flowered ones, and a few with white and yellow flowers. Clearly the white-flowered and yellow-flowered ones are much less vigorous because I only have a handful of them every year whereas I have dozens of the pink and fuschia-flowered ones. And, as much as I love the speckled and splotched "Broken Colors" four o'clocks, they do not come back reliably at all here at our house. Wherever I have a compost pile, I end up with 4 o'clocks sprouting and growing in the pile even though I do not put 4 o'clock plant debris in the pile (because seeds will sprout and take over the pile!). So, I guess plants will do what they're going to do! I like to plant sweet potatoes in the sandy soil underneath the pecan tree where they grow into a lovely seasonal ground cover...and they can spead to their heart's content and NOT take over the whole veggie garden. Under that pecan tree, the 4 o'clocks and sweet potatoes can slug it out and fight for control and it seems to be a draw. At first it seems like the four o'clocks are winning, but then the sweet potatoes come on strong from mid-summer on. I haven't been doing much gardening at all, but lots of yard work (pruning, mowing, weedeating, cleaning up fallen debris from trees from earlier storm damage). Still dry here, so I have been out watering today....there are still some pumpkins, okra, peppers and tomatoes producing and since the wind (with no accompanying rain) from the remnants of Gustav blew hard here for a couple of days, everything wilted and was in desperate need of a good soaking. The dog yard is the most successful "garden" at the current time. They've grown several gourd plants, and dozens of gourds, from last year's gourds that they got to tear up and bury in early winter. The dogs have harvested several kinds of gourds all summer and use the gourds to play ball or to chew. I get to keep the surviving gourds for fall decorations. Their sunflower forest (about 100 large plants with multiple flowers) is about dead and all the flowers have gone to seed. Small birds harvest the seeds constantly, so the dogs are doing their part to "feed the birds". By far the toughest flower we grow that volunteers and survives on its' own with no water other than natural rainfall is gomphrena (globe amaranth) "Strawberry Fields". I had it in the garden border one year, and I guess seed either blew downhill to the spot where the driveway meets the road, or maybe it washed downhill. Now we have a couple of patches of "Strawberry Fields" alongside the driveway near the mailbox, and it looks really good despite DH repeatedly mowing it down. (Turn him loose on the riding mower and nothing is safe.) Even in this year's drought the plants never died, although they wilted and dropped leaves. Since it rained a couple of weeks ago, they've really perked up. I'm seeing a lot of color change in the foliage here.....and it is too early for autumn, so I can only assume that the leaves are yellowing and browning because of the drought, even though the rain we had in August put a stop to that for a while. Dawn

People can message me here... https://www.houzz.com/user/indyseedbank or click on my icon or name, to go to my profile to send a message Also, SASE will be 3 stamps, one for you to send stamps to me, one for the return envelope, (for me to send seeds to you), and a 3rd stamp, for me to keep, to recoup the cost of baggies, and markers, which I need to put time & effort into getting, as well as packing up your seeds. All 3 seed types, can be sent for one return stamp, which makes it extremely economical for you. I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO SAY, WHEN PEOPLE SAY "MESSAGE ME", YOU NEED TO TELL ME WHAT YOU WOULD LIKE FROM WHAT IS PRESENTED HERE, THEN I'LL GIVE U THE ADDRESS TO SEND THE SASE TO. People must include a note with their SASE, with the names of the seeds they want, so I don't have to cross reference who wanted what. Any SASE, that comes with no note, will have the mix sent, as it has the most variety possible. I'll then wait for the SASE to arrive, and when it does, I'll pack up the requested seeds, and send them out, and let you know when they went out.