As Karen guessed correctly, our mystery seeds from last week were from a hosta, Hosta sp.

Hostas are shade-loving members of the lily family. There are numerous species and varieties, which vary in leaf size and color. Usually the leaves are roughly heart shaped. As you can see here, they grow in similar conditions as ferns.

Hostas are perennials, but they do go dormant in the winter. If your plant collapses with the approach of winter, be patient and it will likely regrow in the spring.

Hostas are generally grown for their foliage, although they do produce flower stalks with numerous bell-shaped flowers (towards the back, left of center.)

This video shows a bee pollinating hosta flowers. (There is an ad)

The stalks you saw last week dry out and release dark-colored seeds.

Most people start their hostas by separating existing plants, but this pointed black seed will grow also into a new hosta plant.

If you are interested in growing hostas from seed, here is more information on how to collect and store the seeds.

Do hostas grow where you live?

Have you ever started a hosta from seed?

Our seeds this week come from a plant that does not grow in the Sonoran Desert, but it is a shade-loving perennial favorite elsewhere.

Probably not many people grow them from seeds, which are found in seed pods on the flowering stalks.

These large, black seeds will produce a new plant, however. Do you know what that plant might be?

It is our 100th Mystery Seed of the Week!

To celebrate, let’s take a look at a few of our readers’ favorite seeds and seed pods over the past two years.

Starting out, Katherine says these bottle tree (Brachychiton) seed pods have wonderful boat shapes.

She makes intriguing felt crafts with them, including a darling felt sprout at One Inch World blog.

Not surprisingly, many of the fan favorites had to do with food.

Both Rebecca (of Rebecca in the Woods) and Mike (of Slugyard) shared Indian-inspired recipes for the chickpeas (also called garbanzo beans). Rebecca suggested cholay (curried chickpeas) and Mike chimed in with “…Indian chili. It has chickpeas, onions, garlic, tomatoes, ginger, and a tad bit of cashew nut butter (peanut works fine too). Oh, and ground lamb, and a bay leaf, turmeric, coriander, cumin, and garam masala. Delicious!”

Just writing this makes me hungry.

Note:  the chickpeas in the photograph are actually dried seeds, ready for planting. That might be why they were difficult to recognize.

Cranberries also sparked a lot of interest.

Eamon believes cranberries are great in smoothies. I hadn’t thought of that, but people do drink a lot of cranberry juice, so I went looking for a recipe. I found a great one that took soymilk, cranberries, honey and half a banana. Very refreshing served over ice. Great suggestion, Eamon.

Lynne sent me a recipe for cranberry salsa. She says,

“You can use plain cranberry sauce from the store or make your own.
Add chopped jalepeno, 1 medium or more if you like it hot.
Chopped cilantro
Chopped green onion 1 or 2, mix.
…This is yummy over cream cheese, it makes a nice appetizer.”

Wow, thanks for sharing, Lynne!

I would also like to thank my cousin Karen for all her contributions to this blog, including this lovely mimosa flower. Karen blogs at Musings, Mischief and Mayhem and Leaping From The Box.

Looking back, we have covered some common seeds and some unusual ones. One of the most unusual seeds we have covered is from the tipu tree.

It is a legume with a seed that looks like a maple key. Very cool!

Does anyone remember our very first mystery seeds, from way back in November of 2009?

Thanks to everyone who has left comments and sent notes. You are a great community!

And, if you have any suggestions for upcoming mystery seeds I would love to hear them.