Twenty years ago on the lawn at my high school, I found a patch of clover that had several four leaf clovers. I picked them and decoupaged them onto a candle I was making as an entry for some kind of 4H competition. A week later, I found a few more. One of them had five leaves. I picked them and more appeared (clovers are great that way :)

Over the course of a year I harvested several hundred multiple leaf clovers, including one which had eight leaves. I dried them between the pages of books. I decoupaged them onto candles and plaques. I ironed them between pieces of wax paper. Then I went away to college and lost interest in clover.

I rediscovered them a couple of years ago when I found one on my front lawn. I carefully dug up the plant and coaxed it into growing for me. By the end of last year I had several large patches of four-leafers growing, but then the moronic lawn service my husband hired over the winter poisoned all the stock I had growing in the back yard. I still have my original stock, and some seeds, so all is not lost :)

Multiple leaf clovers are definately a genetic mutation which can be cultivated. They are a little strange, though. If a plant gets dehydrated it goes back to producing normal three leafers for a while but with a little care it will eventually recover. The older a plant is the higher the percentage of four-leafers it produces. My newborn stock produced from seed won't usually produce its first four-leafer until after the first dozen threes.

I thought about selling them commercially but I just haven't found any reliable markets. Besides, the best market for them is on St. Patrick's Day and clover just doesn't grow over the winter. Even with a heat lamp. Oh, well. Here are a few sites which I found that had something to do with four leaf clovers.

Clovers Online

Blatently commercial but their products are pretty

Clover Specialty Company

They sell gen-u-ine preserved four leaf clovers.

Sherry McGill

For $2 she will send you a four leaf clover.

The Lucky W Four Leaf Clover page

Site dedicated to good luck

 

 

General garden sites

Lots of excellent pictures of various wildflowers

European wildflowers with pictures

This is really *lovely*! Just like a real walk through a garden. Artistically photographed.

Some pictures and links to many other botanical gardens

A truly excellent resources for gardening

Contains info about trees, shrubs, vines, ground covers, perennials, annuals, house plants, insects, diseases, cultural information and other topics.

A page of links to various gardening resources.

This is a page of resources for gardening, including forums (specialized newgroups), tips, a garden tour, a contest, calendar of events and lots of links.

Places to buy plants and seeds

Some of my favorite nursery companies:

Thompson & Morgan

You can get seeds for just about anything here. In a local nursery I found a weird vine that produced flowers that looked like exotic alien creatures. Passion flowers, they called them. I looked all over for more vines and found them, at $32 apiece. Then I found these guys, who sell the *seeds* for just a few bucks. Now I have *lots* of the little aliens, in several different colors. Their catalog is very impressive. Babylon 5 fans check out the Bat Plants; the flowers look just like Shadow ships to me. Creepy :)

High quality bulbs and lots of seeds. Free catalog. I particularly like their varieties of daffodils, tulips and fall crocuses.

I've been ordering from these folks for twenty years. On-line catalog and ordering.

They have a whole page of native wildflowers at really reasonable prices, including trilliums of various colors, lady's slippers and eight types of ferns

Other plant and seed catalogs:

Exotic Seeds from Around the World

Mail order seeds from Eileen Dugal. Has palm trees, rainforest plants, herbs, exotics and lots of unusual and hard-to-find plants. Visa/MC.

Offers over 5,700 seed selections, including bulk seeds, exotics and heirloom flowers. Slow loading page. Visa/MC/on-line orders/888 number.

Includes 750 processed herbs in 1 oz quantities, bonsai & exotics, Native American plants. Can be expensive. Visa/MC/on-line ordering

Garden book reviews, various other links including a page of links to many exotics (bonsai, bamboos, cacti, orchids, mushrooms).

Listings for Aquatic plants, bamboo, bonsai, carnivorous plants, herbs, rare and native plants and many, many more. An extremely comprehensive list of nursery/seed companies with addresses and phones. (warning: frames)

Lots of useful links, including www addresses of many nurseries

Seems to concentrate on cacti and other succulents.

List of catalogs, home page is Canadian based.

Has lots of ususual and tropical plants, several varieties of passiflora.

Has a page of Chinese and Vietnamese herbal healing plants, exotics and rose seeds, as well as links to the Time Life library and the Herb Ring. Visa/MC/on-line ordering.

These folks specialize in carnivores (venus fly traps, pitcher plants, etc).

Native & non-native woodland plants, rare & unusual shade perinnials. Prices a little high if you buy; he prefers to trade. On-line orders/no credit cards

Has Bonsai, Cacti, Chinese medicinal plants & vegetables, rainforest plants and lots more.

Vegetable and flower seeds, vegetable transplants, flowering annuals, bulbs, heirloom seeds. Toll free number, free catalog.

Seeds. Online ordering, VISA/MC.

Seeds. Online ordering, VISA/MC.

Nursery propagated wildflowers, SE natives, garden perennials, ornamental grasses and underused trees and shrubs. Easy browsing.

Catalog, apothecary, seed exchange, library, news, articles, advice.

Seeds are only available from October to March. List of seeds available, with prices. Free catalog.

Vegetables, flowers and herb seeds that grow well in zones 7, 8 and 9. Good prices.

Peyote list

For those of you into the really exotic, here's a list of places to get peyote cactuses.

Sells Marijuana seeds, not for the faint of pocketbook.

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