Pod

I found a pod the other day. I saw it, I picked it up and put it in my pocket.

and promptly forgot about it.

Until another day when I put that coat on again, put my hands in my pockets and found said pod.

There had been some discussion on the day of the pod finding. We were not sure what it was from. We looked up at the large bare tree in front of us and were frankly none the wiser. We thought it might be a Davidia pod, but on looking at the leaves on the ground we were pretty sure the majority of them were Liquidamber plus the odd oak leaf here and there. So I did that thing that often works in such cases. I put the photo up on twitter and asked the question.

Davidia involucrata came back the response, so mystery solved. Regular readers may recall that I am partial to a Davidia. I have a tree already which I mention fairly often. It has had mishaps of one sort or another which include a chunk of another tree falling on it. It is not the tallest tree currently in the garden, it stands at around eighteen inches high which makes it more of a glorified twig than an actual tree. Nonetheless it is loved and I say words of encouragement to it as I pass by.

I am letting the pod dry out and I shall attempt to germinate it. If this is successful it will be a long patient job to wait for the tree mature. They are slow growers and can take over ten years to flower. After doing a little research into how to sow it appears they are slow germinators as well. Apparently it can take up to two years to see any results. Anyhoo, I shall give it a go. What is to lose?

Wish me luck .....