the drymifolia collective
mastodon 4.7.3Attempting to breed cold-hardy avocados that can grow around the Salish Sea, by distributing avocado trees throughout the Cascadian lowlands. Posts are by the lead organizer, based in Seattle on occupied Duwamish land.
Header image description: two take-out trays filled with avocado seeds in soil, resting on a gravel floor
Profile photo description: close-up photo of an avocado flower cluster in bloom
Here are most of the #avocado trees ready to be distributed in spring. They haven't come in the greenhouse yet, and with a mild El Niño winter, it's possible they will be outside for the entire winter...
Though it isn't an actual contender for the #ThickTrunkTuesday label, this is the trunk of our largest greenhouse multi-graft avocado tree. Check out the change in bark texture at the original graft union (red arrow).
It's not even December yet, but somehow we already have the first #avocado seedling poking its new leaves out, ready for spring. This is the first of over 150 germinating seeds to sprout leaves this year! Meet #No351, a seedling of the "Daughter" tree (which is itself a seedling of the old #Gainesville tree that used to grow on the University of Florida campus):
Been potting up the newly germinated #avocado seeds, destined to be trees for 2025 distribution. Here's one of them out of the ~150 seeds in this year's seed batch, this is a seed from the "Daughter" tree in #Gainesville FL, which is itself a seedling of the "Gainesville" cultivar.
Baby #avocados in #springtime
@bike@regenerate.social @plants@a.gup.pe more accurately, a wild cousin of the avocado. The pre-domesticated avocado was likely not Persea schiedeana, it was a small version of Mexican avocado, and there are still some "wild" populations in the Mexican highlands that appear to have had minimal mixing with the domesticated genes. Here's one example, from this paper:
https://www.intechopen.com/chapters/47902
@MelodyWainscott@zirk.us they are mostly seedlings of allegedly cold-hardy cultivars like #DelRio, #Joey, and #Mexicola. There are also a handful of #Fuerte seedlings in this batch, which probably are not hardy enough for our project, but still hardier than some avocados.