Thursday November 2, 2017; Dawn Redwood, Trash Cans and Stained Glass

During my walk yesterday through the Missouri Botanical Garden, I came across one of my favorite trees, the Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides). It is a native of central and western China. It is very similar in appearance to the Bald Cypress, which is a native of Missouri. In fact, the MoBot fact sheet states the Dawn Redwood  "...is related to and closely resembles bald cypress (Taxodium) and redwood (Sequoia)". The trees at the MoBot were started from seeds brought over from China and planted in 1952. They are now over 70 feet tall. They purportedly can reach a height of 100+ feet and are hardy in Zones 4 to 8. I do not intend to allow any trees that may come from my efforts to grow to full height.

Of course I could not help but collect a seed cone from the ground. I looked up the method to start a tree from seed.

http://homeguides.sfgate.com/germinate-dawn-redwood-seeds-20985.html

I've got the seeds mixed in with moistened peat moss (actually Miracle Grow Organic Moisture Control Potting Mix with Compost) and in the basement refrigerator. The instructions say to let it sit for 90 days. I've put a note on my calendar for February 1 to move on to the next step.

Supposedly, these can be made into bonsai trees.

http://homeguides.sfgate.com/grow-coast-redwood-bonsai-seeds-50634.html

Dawn Redwood Cones and Seeds. Cone on left was taken off ground. Cone on right came off tree

Bald Cypress cone on left and Redwood cones on right

Seeds in potting soil, heading for refrigerator

I noticed during my walk through the garden that they had not yet pruned the red twig dogwoods or any of the rose bushes. Last year, I noticed they had pruned the dogwoods almost to the ground, but I wasn't sure when they did it. I will note this fall when they prune.

The week before I left for CO (the week of October 9) we had a rather severe thunderstorm with high winds. We have noticed in the past that there are some very strange wind currents that develop between our house and our east neighbor. The day after the storm, the only thing I noticed was that most of the chess pieces had been knocked down.

Then my neighbor pointed out that the storm window protecting our stained glass window on the east was broken out.

This window is 20' off the ground. The storm window is Plexiglas, not glass. For something to break it, it would have had to take a pretty good hit. The green trash container was out front awaiting pick up the next day. I found the blue recycle container was on its side by the gate. I believe the wind picked up the blue trash container (it was empty) and flung it against the window. Luckily, there appears to be no damage to the stained glass. While I will need to get the Plexiglas replaced, I also wanted to ensure this does not happen again. Today, I installed a cable tether to prevent either trash container from moving far from their designated spots.