When I was in Ft. Lauderdale, I went to a church picnic at John U. Lloyd state park and beachcombed with my kids for a while.
We found some pretty cool plants – including some edibles – right there along the shore line. Hog plums, sea grapes, Bidens alba, some shoreline beans… great stuff.
But something that really caught my imagination (yes, Chrissy – I know I’m a freak!) were the various “sea beans” or “drift seeds” we found among the seaweed on the shore.
The beach beans in the pods were found by one of my sons further up the beach (good find!), but the rest of these Florida drift seeds we found near the surf.
The two seeds on the top left are tropical almonds, then there’s a “hamburger bean,” then two “sea coconuts,” one in its husk and the other without it.
I find it amazing that these seeds were designed to be dispersed by the ocean… what a testimony to God’s creativity.
Of course, me being the plant nerd that I am, I couldn’t be satisfied by just picking up a few seeds and putting them on a shelf as curious. Nope – I’m now trying to germinate these suckers.
Awwwwww yeah.
I’ll give you an update and some pics when I get a chance. The beach beans are already coming up and the hamburger bean has sprouted a root.
Survival Gardener REPRESENTIN’!!!
UPDATE: Here’s the post on germinating the hamburger bean in this photo. Also, one of the tropical almond seeds sprouted and is now a huge fruiting tree in The Great South Florida Food Forest Project. Who would’ve thought a simple trip to the beach would bring such gardening inspiration and bounty?
9 responses to “Florida drift seeds”
well, i think plant nerd would be a better characterization… of course, if i wasn't a plant nerd too then i wouldn't be here!
i would have done the same thing if i were at a beach on the other coast!
i really want to see pics of some of this stuff. if the sea beans are from costa rica they will probably grow great here. do you think they might be edible? might be hard to id it until it flowers, someday.
actually i think very highly of you. i'm always talking about the neato things you are up to, referring to you as my online gardening buddy near ocala, since you are the only other person that i know of in florida that also believes in survival gardening (just in case).
we just put up more water into storage and i planted a lot of cannas. i love cannas, though i haven't tried eating them yet. the rabbits love them too.
I knew you would call me something. "Nerdy gardening buddy" is similar to "freak."
I just took a new picture of the hamburger bean (which is really shooting up now) and I need to post that next.
According to my research, they'll only grow at the southernmost point of the state. Tropical almonds will grow in pots, however, and can produce nuts at only 18 months of age. I stuck a handful of those in a pot of dirt and I'm waiting… waiting… waiting… Apparently, they take a few months.
Good deal with the cannas. They're not bad eating at all. And extra water storage is always a good idea.
I've seen so many of those seeds on the beach.And I've never thought of planting them.Will do,now.
that is super cool! :)
Thank you… I don't know why the idea never hit me before.
You mentioned sea grapes at the beginning of this post…ever try growing them? I just picked up one from Lowe's today, and I'm going to give it a go somewhere on my property. We'll see…
I picked up some green sprouted seeds on the beach in St. Augustine and well they have come up with big green leaves and I have no idea what they are. Would like to know and would gladly send a picture. I am always picking up seeds and trying to germinate them.
Sure – send me pics at david@floridafoodforests.com