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[Bill Jones <billj AT harborside.com>]

Thanks for all the material on mustard seed.  I fear that sources for 
culinary purposes may have been dried at a high temperature, and may not 
grow.  For instance, coriander seed sprouts, but cardamom doesn't.  I 
may just try to find a plant in the wild.

There is just no doubt that environmentalists are going around and 
frightening nurseries into dropping plants they've deemed invasive.  
I've found every one of these species on the dreaded invasive lists, and 
I've been told by local shop owners that I should not plant Acacia 
dealbata, and one had the honesty to admit that this was the trend, 
mainly to avoid flak.  It's about the gayest plant you can think of, yet 
you can't buy one in San Francisco.  But you know that someone is 
growing them for the cut flower market.  They're probably thrilled that 
work parties have been organized to remove this deadly weed in Northern 
California.

The main tool of this intimidation process is no doubt Clinton's 
executive order on non-native invasive species.  Weed killer companies 
must be planning on making a bundle off this one, since it's one of the 
EOs that Bush did not rescind.  I don't remember the exact text, but it 
has something to do with holding entities liable for removal costs.

Red clover and Lotus uliginosus are two other common perennial cover 
crops that are now extremely hard to find.  Virtually all the red clover 
seed in shops has been replaced by 'Kenland' Red, which is very 
short-lived; real red clover lives for years.  L. uliginosus grows in 
wet roadside areas for hundreds of miles around here, but when I first 
tried to acquire it several years ago, I could only order #50 bags from 
the Netherlands for $800 plus shipping  Yet I noticed that when those 
who can and do needed an aggressive ground cover at a local lake, the 
place was planted from end to end with L. uliginosus.

I'm really impressed by the infantile logic of it all.  "Butterfly bush 
becomes invasive closer to the coast, therefore it should be banned 
everywhere."  Maybe we should ban matches, since someone *might* do harm 
with them.

Bill
S. Oregon coast