BIRDFOOT HAS BEEN SEEN ON eBay!

Everyday is treasure day around here! Yesterday after work, my child and I decided to head over to a local area to walk the trails and gravel road. It was nice to spend some time together getting a little exercise and enjoying the nice weather. While we were walking I was looking for interesting things...you know the "T" word.

We cut across a field and I noticed that the wild bird foot violets were in glorious bloom. If you're not familiar, take the time to do an online search and see how beautiful they are. It's also a great time to look for them in your area and I do hope that you find some! I would love to hear about your search so please let me know how it goes.

Bird foot violets are native to our area and they are pretty unique as violets go. You don't see them that often and they are realitively small so you have to look. What will catch your eye is the colonization that is most evident when they are in full bloom. When left undisturbed, they group and spread and paint a big swath of blue/purple color in the landscape. Most people who see them think they are violas or johnny jump ups which are very common domesticated plants. If you look closely, the bird foot violet is true to it's name because the leaves are split and look like little bird feet.

Pat Arledge, who was my neighbor and who knows a great deal about native plants, showed me one that she had transplanted from somewhere in the mountains to her yard and it had a beautiful creamy white outer color with a bright yellow center. She said the yellow ones were rare. (Insert Angel singing noise here.) So, I've been on the lookout for yellow bird foot violets ever sense.

As I walked over to admire the patch, guess what caught my eye??? Yellow bloomin' bird foot violets! (Try saying that one five times fast.) They were right in the middle of the blue/purple patch. Of course I hooked an immediate right, headed straight for them, bent over and was thrilled!

In addition to being beautiful, there are so many things that you can do with violets. People dry them and use them in potpourri, soak them fragrant oil, put them in containers in the bathroom, press them and make beautiful framed pressed flower pictures, incorporate them into home made paper, sugar them for confectionary decoration and on and on and on.

I was wondering how long it would be until the yellow ones developed seed pods. I would love to make a return trip and harvest some seed and plant it in my garden. If I timed it right, next year I could sell some yellow blooming bird foot violet plants on eBay. I made a mental note and we moved on.

It was getting late and the sun was creeping down behind the mountain so we headed for the Denali with a handful of bird foot violet blooms.

When I arrived home, I searched for the birds foot violets and found the blue/purple ones all over the net. BUT I haven't found a posting for a yellow one yet. If you find one, please let me know!

I checked out eBay and there were no bird foots listed. Because I have access to bazillions of the blue/purple ones that grow wild on a friend's farm I decided it would be worth a try to see if I could sell some. So now it's true, a bird foot has been seen on eBay.