On Sep 16, 5:12*am, Cheryl Isaak wrote:
On 9/16/10 6:52 AM, in article
, "Pat Kiewicz"



wrote:
David Hare-Scott said:

Higgs Boson wrote:
Here's an interesting article about origin of many seeds we grow in
So. Calif:
=============

Wildflowers of Israel

by Leslie Berliant, Contributing Writer

Lupinus Mountain Blue. Below: Ammi Visnaga. Photos courtesy
SeedCount

Enter any Trader Joe’s grocery store in Southern California and you
are likely to find vibrant sunflowers with golden orange leaves and a
dark center among the bouquets and potted plants. What many
customers
might not realize is that the sunflower being sold is called Jerusalem
Gold, which is grown in Santa Barbara from a seed native to Israel.

Is it native to Israel? *I mean in the sense that its first know cultivation
was in Israel from wild stock. I don't know.

Actually, I'm fairly certain that sunflowers were North American natives,
originally. *

The early settlers in Israel sent a lot of effort hybridizing many plants
(fruits, vegetables, trees and flowers) to the semi-arid desert.

C

It's still going on; Israel is a world leader in this work. Current
research is
based in part on the work of one of the great pioneering Israeli
agronomists, Aaron Aaronson.
Lots of info on-line, about him, plus considerable material in books
about the early efforts of the chalutzim,
or pioneers.

These young pioneers, some just in their teens and twenties, escaping
from the pogroms of Europe,
suffered a terrible death rate from malaria and other ailments,
overwork and malnutrition,
but they persevered; they drained the swamps and "made the desert
bloom".