A little over a month ago when I was Enthusiastic about planting things, I ordered Dragon Tree and Stone Pine** seeds and just as I’d pretty much forgotten about them, this week they arrived!
Like the maple, the stone pine requires cold stratification – though for not quite as long. Both the dragon and the pine germinate in the 22oC range and as we’re about to hit winter, I briefly considered holding off starting the process, but nah – carpe the whatevs and get on with it! I’ll keep them warm somehow. I’ve mentioned before that Sydney houses are normally quite freezing – architects / house builders / developers appear to collectively believe winter is not a thing that happens here.
xxx
^^ you’d not think it, but oftentimes settling on a title takes approximately 15 times longer than the actual post
** I adore stone pine trees almost as much as I adore maples. On my very first morning in Rome on my very first overseas trip at the comparatively advanced age of 40, I was on the Palatine Hill looking over the Circo Massimo – there was mist, there were stone pines, there were ancient ruins – and I wept at how beautiful and amazing and magical and wondrous it all was. I totally hid this from Don, because at that time I totally had a vision myself as way too cool and worldly for such displays of emotion. Honestly, what an idiot. Now I freely weep at every possible opportunity.
I love stone pine trees too and I also associate them with Italy, though we’ve seen quite a few in Malta and Greece. But the combination of stone pine trees, ruins and beautiful ancient buildings is truly magnificent and probably brings quite a lot of us to tears. I hope you have success with growing your trees!
Thank you Carmela!
I’ve decided I’ll try half now and half in six weeks – just in case it is too cold.
Will report back on progress!