Matchmaking

Day 219: Ah, the matchmaking season has begun...in the horticultural sense, you understand. I've learned over the years that the two Akebia vines are only compatible when the females are purple and the males are white, so with a soft camel-hair paintbrush, I tease pollen from the anthers and transfer it to receptive stigmata, as evidenced by tiny drops of sticky secretion at the tips. This year, I improved on the system by first gathering the pollen into a tiny container (the bottom of an insect-magnifier box) rather than trying to carry it from one plant to the other on the brush. Last year, I got a little carried away and wound up with more Akebia fruits than I really wanted to eat (over 40!), so this year, I'm being a little more judicious with my hand pollination. While Akebia fruits aren't to most peoples' tastes, I rather enjoy having a few...operative word there: "few." A dozen will do nicely, thank you, and I may have already exceeded that number if all my attempts succeed. There does come a point, however, when matchmaking can become too fruitful (ahem!), no matter how much fun it is to pair up the boys and girls.

Because I Can

Day 200: As far as edibility goes, the fruit of the Akebia vine has absolutely nothing to recommend it, or none that I've been able to find. I've tried sucking the purportedly sweet pulp off the huge, abundant black seeds, but found it to be almost tasteless and definitely not at all sweet. I've tried stir-frying slices of the pods, but again, thought the end product was bland and insipid and not even worth using as filler. That said, here I am again, paintbrush in hand, tickling pollen from one plant to the other in a repeat of the horticultural amusement I've done for the last two years. Why? Because I can.

There's something to be said for achieving cross-pollinating by hand even if the fruits themselves are unrewarding. I've learned to recognize the symptoms of receptivity in the female flowers (a sticky fluid develops at the end of each stigma) and the presence of ripe pollen on the males. So far, I have only been able to make a one-way transfer successfully: pollen from the white variety to the females of the purple one, making me wonder if the male flowers of the purple variety are sterile. Its stamens drop when I touch them with the paintbrush. The experiment continues, and if nothing else, it keeps me amused.