apple trees

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" fruit trees...purchase dispersal with a pay-as-you-go system. for fruit trees it would be counterproductive to satiate their dispersal agents, so they tend to produce regular crops and they do not mast. instead they protect their seeds by making them toxic. apple seeds and peach seeds, for example, contain cyanide."
from "an orchard invisible: a natural history of seeds." jonathan silvertown

have to wonder how fruit eating animals/dispersal agents survive the treat...perhaps a low dosage? i don't eat apple seeds...i only try to grow them...of the sixteen i started with four are planted...three in my back yard ( top and bottom photos ) and one in my oldest daughter's...the ones out back are doing just fine and i am researching procedures to get them through their first winter...i see mulch and burlap in their future...there may be a few years before i eat some of my own apples...but only if i can succeed in preserving them until spring...more on the process as it develops.

the flowering teosinte has grown to over eight feet tall as it searches for fruition...i will be collecting pollen form the plant on campus and from this one and doing my best to get some ears of teosinte seeds...it would be gratifying to succeed this year...however i do have a supply of seeds and a bit of experience...a bigger plot and more plants ( i had a total of four...two flowered) should improve our chances next year if this doesn't work out.