For several weeks I’ve been mulling over tropisms. It’s a word to describe how plants grow in response to the environment, an example of the interconnections we all experience. There are several types of tropisms:

Photo: response to light, Geo: response to gravity, Hydro: response to water, Chemo: response to chemicals, Thigmo: response to stimulation, and Trauma: response to wound. We have these too. How have you grown? Toward or away from what?

Explore video documentation of tropism and other special movements *here* and be sure to check out another page under Circadian Responses: Pulsating Pumpkins.

The glow is real and felt. I was with a joyous American Persimmon (Diospyros virginiana) in a joyous place. Two weeks ago I began a program through Cornell Cooperative Extension – a Master Gardener program – to nourish my farmer soul.  Our class recently visited an 11 acre edible landscape and botanical wonder. Hortus Conclusus is in Stone Ridge and is an inspiring place of bounty, study, bravery, and passion (http://www.hortus.biz/).

There is so much we could grow to eat in the NorthEast! Sweet and sour cherries, mulberries, kiwi, quince, goumi, cranberry, lingonberry, currants, gooseberry, paw paw, elderberry, sea berry, akebia, ground cherry, and one that I fell in love with in particular: Medlar. This is all in addition to the apple, pear, peach, blueberry, strawberry, nectarine, blackberry that we are more familiar with. Will they all glow? We need to grow to know.