Garden Djinn

Attention, Sir and Lady Spamsalot

All comments will forthwith be held for approval by this site's owner. 

You will not be heard, don't even bother to try and post your blitxblingbollocks nonsense here. 

Thank you and Good Day. 

Monsanto owns Seminis who sells seed to Burpee

{Update:  from the original Groovy Green post: "Thanks to some fact checkers, I need to update. Burpee is not owned by Monsanto. Burpee is privately owned. Burpee DOES carry some Seminis seeds, and Seminis is now owned by Monsanto.

Thankfully this was just a nasty rumor. Let’s hope that seed companies won’t be bought by Monsanto!

Here is more Monsanto / Seminis info: http://www.seedalliance.org/index.php?page=SeminisMonsanto }

My original post -

Wherein I get a bit political:

Monsanto, the producer of much of agribusiness's toxic herbicides and the creator of genetically altered seed (as well as the artifical bovine growth hormone rBGH or rbST), has (not) purchased Burpee.

"Seminis and Burpee were the two largest American seed companies not affiliated with Monsatan [sic] until both were recently bought out by the multi-billion-dollar corporation."

Now I need to find out what Seminis owns, and toss those catalogs, too, if they sell to us measly garden hobbyists.   

You may have read about Monsanto's policy of sueing farmers for growing seed that the wind planted on their land from their neighbor's crops...

It seems that some Monsanto seed did drift over from a neighboring farm that had planted Roundup-ready canola, and the genetically altered seeds grew in Schmeiser's fields. Schmeiser, who saves seed from each harvest to plant the next crop, apparently saved some of the Monsanto seed. He seems to have figured that any plant that grew on his land belonged to him, as did its seed. There's no evidence he sprayed with Roundup to control weeds. So he didn't benefit from the genetically engineered trait that Monsanto has patented.

Or you may have heard about them just from their lawsuits in general. 

Boycott Burpee, boycott Seminis.  Buy your seeds elsewhere, and support the little guys.

Where do I stand on Burpee?  I'm still boycotting them, a decision I made when they left Heronswood hanging with no warning. (Sorry Mr. Swartzman, but I thank you for your heads-up)

But that's a more personal reason, and I trust all my readers will use their own discretion in deciding whom to buy their seeds from.

More on Seminis follows:

Public Service Announcement:

Say NO to Cypress Mulch

The cutting of cypress forests for garden mulch is destroying vital wetlands that stabilize Louisiana's coast against hurricanes and provide vital migratory bird habitat.  We believe that gardeners must know the truth about cypress mulch, and will stop using cypress mulch when presented with the facts:

Cypress mulch is not as effective as other mulches. Only the ‘heartwood’ from mature cypress trees is rot and termite resistant. The young trees now being cut to feed the growing cypress mulch industry do not have these qualities. A University of Florida study confirmed that cypress mulch isn’t any better for your garden than pine bark harvested from commercial plantations, not critical coastal wetlands.

Much of Louisiana’s cypress mulch comes from illegal logging. Regulators turn a blind eye towards these activities, allowing loggers to continue destroying these forests without penalty. Yet 70-80% of the cypress wetland forests of Louisiana will never regenerate if cut, even if they are artificially replanted.

The cypress mulch industry destroys wetlands that protect coastal Louisiana. At a time when the nation must invest billions to restore Louisiana’s wetlands for hurricane protection, cypress forests are being ground into mulch. Cypress wetlands prevent flooding by absorbing excess water like a sponge, controlling flood height and speed. These wetlands save lives and prevent the destruction of coastal cities.

On Friday, April 14, Waterkeeper Alliance sponsored an advertisement in The New York Times encouraging consumers to say NO to cypress mulch. Please visit www.waterkeeper.org to see the ad and for more information on cypress mulch, including our fact sheet and links to additional resources.

Ecology and Gardening go hand in hand, yet many gardeners are unaware of the potential costs of the materials they use.  Fertilizers and the runoff damage they cause get a lot of press.  The depletion of peat bogs and cypress forests gets much less screen time.   

 

Posted in response to a polite request from

Bana Malik
Communications Associate
Waterkeeper Alliance
914.674.0622 x 213

Want your flowers to be more controlled?

Give them alcohol.

This allows you to control the stem growth of the flower, effectively stunting it's growth.  It's a process that emulates some of the things they do in the big production greenhouses, to make the flower more appealing to the market.

Personally, I like my flowers to be laden with their own personalities - straight and aristrocratic or loose and floosy as their nature dictates.  I'll not be out with my shotglass in the garden anytime soon.

Found via MucknMire