November 6th, 2006
exploding cukes
For the past several days, the Blue Jays have made themselves quite conspicuous around the sun porch. They flap their wings and shriek as they cling to the screens while attempting to extricate the last of the Wild Cucumber (Echinocystis lobata) seeds that remain lodged in the fruits dangling from the dried, tangled vines. You can see a dried out cuke and one of its seeds in the above photo. The seeds are about the size of those from a watermelon, and really quite attractive. Here’s a photo providing a closer view of the seeds. The inside of the dried out fruit resembles a tiny loofa bath sponge (they are both members of the gourd family, so probably no great surpise that there’s some resemblance). The seeds form in chambers up inside the fruits, but are usually ejected when the cuke splits open in late summer. A couple of years ago, some vines grew into the porch through a small gap near the roof. While working in the kitchen with the big window to the porch wide open, I kept hearing odd sounds like popping and also of small objects hitting the floor. After a bit of searching, I discovered that the source was the exploding cukes shooting seeds far across the porch to land on the floor. Most seeds will fall that way, but some do remain lodged in the fruits, which is what makes them so irresistible to the Blue Jays at this time of the year.
In summer, the vines cloak our back sun porch, providing a nice level of shade — light and airy — helping to cut the heat and a bit of the brightness. The vines die back in autumn and are easily pulled away. In fact, that’s what I’ll be doing today now that the Blue Jays seem to have finished gleaning the last of the seeds. The photo below shows how the vines look in mid-summer. If you’re not already familiar with this vining plant, this is an excellent page with good photos showing all stages of growth.
November 6th, 2006 at 3:11 pm
What a neat neat plant! I see that it actually extends down into Georgia (in fact, it seems to be a native of much of the US):
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=ECHIN5
Now you’ve jogged my memory and I *might* have found such a plant growing on the slope across the creek several years ago but have not been able to find it again. I will have to go looking for it! Maybe I can encourage our Blue Jays to be a little less timid.
November 6th, 2006 at 3:30 pm
Wayne – I really like these vines, although I have seen them growing a little on the crazy side at some sites (used to know someone who had the vines growing like camouflage netting over part of his horse stable). However, they die right down to nothing in autumn and are very light in weight even when dense, so they make a nice cover vine. We didn’t actually have anything to do with planting them — the seed must have been brought around the buildings and gardens by Red Squirrels or the Blue Jays. I have just let it do what it wants as it makes such a nice shade vine over the porch and if I want it gone from a particular spot, it’s very easy to pull down. It makes nice shelter for the big Argiope spiders in the Spider Ranch part of the garden as well. And, of course, the seeds are so attractive to the Blue Jays. I’m sure you would find they’d be making a fuss over them in autumn just like the ones around here
November 7th, 2006 at 4:38 am
Are blue jays ever not conspicuous?
;-)
Don’t know that I’ve ever seen this plant, other than in photos.
November 7th, 2006 at 3:08 pm
It’s only November, but looking at the photo of wild cucumber in summer already feels nostalgic. That’s quite a fine looking vine.
November 7th, 2006 at 5:41 pm
Laura – How true! The blue jays around here are quite a conspicuous gang. I guess they’re just a little over the top when there are wild cucumber seeds to be had. (-:
—
robin – I love the wild cucumber vines. There’s something about them that is so alive — perhaps the profusion of airy flowers over verdant leaves.
February 26th, 2007 at 5:13 pm
I have been trying to find some Wild Cucumber seeds in Canada and no luck so far. Where did you get them?
Can you send me some? I will send you my mailing address if you can do this for me. How about a trade of wild butterfly weed? It attracts the Monarch butterfly, as it is a main source of food for it!
Laurel from Canada
February 27th, 2007 at 3:38 am
Hi Laurel – I didn’t actuallly keep any seeds from the wild cucumbers as there are so many plants all over the place at my house. They just grow all over the place in our area, so I didn’t have to plant them. I think birds carry the seeds around and drop them here and there. I’ll take a look in some of last year’s pods to see if I can find any seeds that didn’t fall out onto the ground and will let you know if I’ve lucky.
March 2nd, 2007 at 9:43 pm
That would be great! Hope some birds take pity on me and leave some on the ground.
Laurel
April 20th, 2007 at 2:33 pm
I HAVE ALSO BEEN LOOKING FOR SEED I WILL BE WILLING TO PAY FOR SOME
April 20th, 2007 at 2:41 pm
Hi Lynn — I did find a few seeds this spring, but I’ve already sent them to Laurel. All I can suggest is to try to find some growing in the wild and collect some seed in the autumn. The seeds are very large – about the size of a watermelon seed. The only problem when looking for them is that the little “cukes” explode and eject the seeds in late summer, so many will be empty when you look inside. However, some will still be inside. Here at my farm, the Blue jays hang from the screening of the sun porch and poke through the dried out cukes in early autumn, looking for any seed that weren’t ejected. I’ll probably have some seed in the autumn again, so if you remember to, you could remind me to save some for you. I can mail the seeds to you so long as you’re in Canada. From what I’ve read recently, it seems like we can’t mail seeds of any kind to the U.S. anymore. Anyhow, the vines are very conspicuous in summer, so watch for them in your area and go back to collect seed at the end of summer.
April 24th, 2007 at 4:50 am
You can buy the seed from The Real seed Company in the uk,I have aquired a couple and planted them in a pot in the greenhouse.