iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 17/07/2026

I have a massive announcement and update to make! On Tuesday morning, I took two exams, core plus category, to become a commercial pesticide applicator. I finally got the results today, and I've passed! That means I can now register The MagiK Garden a pesticide application business.

Apricot colored oleander aphids colonizing Asclepias syriaca. A few lacewing eggs are visible in the photo hanging off the edge of the leaf. Lacewings are a beneficial insect, predating on aphids and other tiny invertebrates.

141

The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 13/07/2026

The Garden Journal post for Week 28 (last week) is up! Features what's in bloom this week as well as a how-to guide on restoring woodland soil. Restoring soil is priority to restoring habitat, and the approach depends on site conditions. themagikgarden.com/garden-journ...

Leaf mold beneath a pile of autumn leaves from previous years.

View of Valley Creek while crossing the roadside bridge from Horseshoe trail to Mount Joy in Valley Forge

Silphium mohrii is blooming in the nursery

Lobelia cardinalis flowers opening up at The MagiK Garden's wet meadow planting

020

The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 07/07/2026

Sida hermaphrodita is a highly underrated species that is both beautiful in the garden and extremely utilitarian. For some reason it's endangered in the US, but you can use it like hemp. As usual, Europeans seem to appreciate our native plants more than we do, and we need to change that.

Sida hermaphrodita aka Virginia fanpetals in bloom. This is a very tall species, so I have it growing against the very boring back of my house with its very boring windows and siding.

040

The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 06/07/2026

Garden Journal Wk 27 (highlights from the previous week) is live, including a more comprehensive list of what's in bloom in my garden in SEPA. All the species I currently have available in the nursery for sale are linked to the nursery, like this Phemeranthus teretifolius! Check link in bio!

Phemeranthus teretifolius, aka the Appalachian fameflower, shown blooming in a painted terracotta pot hanging on a wooden trellis. Below the pot is a mix of other native species, including ostrich fern, white wood asters, Gray's sedge, wild ginger, jewelweed, and a young wooly dutchman's pipevine.

020

The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 04/07/2026

Is your garden a bit of a dud right about now? Are you looking for inspiration? Have you been following my new Garden Journal blog posts I started 2 weeks ago? Every Monday morning, I publish a post detailing the previous week's events, including what's blooming in the garden.

Campanulastrum americanum with large, purple flowers. This is a biennial species.

Coreopsis rosea is just getting started in the garden.

Sabatia kennedyana is hanging on despite the heat and lack of rain. This is a wet meadow planting, with Scutellaria lateriflora visible to the left, Impatiens capensis in bloom next to it, and Iris versicolor (which is done blooming and gone to seed) visible in the bottom right.

Spiraea tomentosa has fragrant pink blooms that are highly attractive to pollinators. Lonicera sempervirens vines are are in the background.

160

The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 04/07/2026

Philly lily - which is commonly known as prairie lily but since it's Lilium philadelphicum, I like Philly lily more - is one I've attempted to sow and grow a few times now. Well, the third time's the charm!

128-cell seed flat with Lilium philadelphicum seedlings, one which still has the seed coat still stuck to it because it germinated recently. The soil is covered in a mix of chicken grit and oyster shell to discourage animals from digging into them. Seeds and bits from the seedheads from river birch are also visible on top of the grit, which help to keep out most weeds (undesirable other plants in this case).

My hand holding a seedling of Lilium philadelphicum with bulb and roots visible, some soil still attached to them. The seed flat is visible in the background.

320

The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 03/07/2026

So many big wins from last month, it's hard to pick just one! • Thanks to a massive windfall from the closure of Russell Gardens, I was finally able to tidy up and organize my nursery. • Many new species listed on the site! • New-to-me male box turtle spotted moving in!

110

The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 30/06/2026

My pocket pollinator paradise is looking absolutely lush, possibly my most favorite spot in the garden at the moment. Nobody would know this is right next to the road. This fits on a very small footprint. The outside of the design just gives you a hint, you need to peek in to see all of it.

"Pocket pollinator paradise planting" showing Lonicera sempervirens hanging off a trellis, Pycnanthemum incanum (possibly hybrid), Asclepias incarnata, Hydrangea arborescens, Hypericum kalmianum, Sorghastrum nutans, Senna marilandica, and in the distance a hedge of Myrica pensylvanica. Through the hedge the main road is visible, until the hedge finally fills in.

251

The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 18/06/2026

There, I fixed it. This is marketing a plant that is clearly not native to place based on the instructions to overwinter indoors. When will we start holding companies accountable for greenwashing? Pot came from my mom's used pots stash. I didn't buy this. Mexican heather isnt native there.

Pot from a commercial nursery claiming a tropical perennial (not annual) is a butterfly garden plant where it is clearly not native, based on the instructions to bring it indoors to overwinter. The verbage on the pot was corrected with a photo edit ti encourage people choose native-to-region plants instead to support butterflies.

051

The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 24/05/2026

A contender for the award for the best common name may be this species: Carex hirsutella. It's commonly referred to as the fuzzy wuzzy sedge. Easy to id, too. Havent met another fuzzy wuzzy sedge yet.

030

The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 24/05/2026

So one thing I don't get is how a post highlighting sedges ends up being my best post yet on Facebook, yet I can't seem to sell a single one at the farmer's market. Granted, I don't have this one (yet), but I have others. Still waiting for sedges to become the next collector's plant.

My hand holding the seedhead of Carex grayi which has inflated perigynia that resemble the points on a morningstar (weapon).

160

The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 06/05/2026

TIL: The plant that showed up on my property formerly known simply as Arisaema triphyllum could either still be Arisaema triphyllum or another closely-related species. I had no idea they'd split this taxon up, but not shocked. From what I can tell in the photo, the spadix does look clavate.

Clump of Arisaema triphyllum complex popping up among sweetgrass, aka Hierochloe odorata or whatever it's supposed to be now.

390

The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 06/05/2026

Another big happy moment yesterday: I found four new-to-my-awareness sedges on my property. Two of them popped up where I eradicated a lesser celandine patch. Others were present, but I kept forgetting to check when they had seed. Here's Carex gracilima in the skunk cabbage patch

Carex gracilima with developing seed heads growing in front of skunk cabbage

131

The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 05/05/2026

Omg!!! I saved my black highbush blueberry! There were two problems. A holly had grown tall enough to shade it out entirely, and the deer kept decimating any new growth. So I cut down the holly early spring, and placed the branches around the base.

Young growth at the base of a black highbusg blueberry

Young growth visible at the base of the black highbush blueberry

150

The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 28/04/2026

Polygonatum biflorum in my woods is so tiny and skinny, you wouldn't even recognize it as the same species. I have lots of them, but they look nothing like the cultivated varieties.

My hand shows the scale of this tiny species, with a singular flower

Extremely narrow leaves on the varieties found in my woodland in southeastern PA

161

The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 26/04/2026

I got my free trees from the township today! This was the line an hour before pick-up time. It extends all the way back by the time it starts. You have to show up early if you want the best selection of everything. I got Tilia americana, Carpinus caroliniana, and Magnolia virginiana 'Moonglow'

Parking lot with stacks of mulch and canopy visible in the distance, and a line of people stretching all the way forward. The line was already several hundred feet long.

140

The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 24/04/2026

Blue-eyed Marys are such a cool native winter-annual. I was really hoping to offer these this year, but only four of mine germinated, so I'll need to wait to collect seed from the ones that grew and try again next year. The trick is to get them going. Once established, they should happily re-seed.

Tiny blue-eyed mary (Collinsia verna) blooming in a plug tray with blue-white bi-color flowers.

040

The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 17/04/2026

Come see me tomorrow at the Earth Day Celebration at Skippack Village! I'll be selling all sorts of awesome native plants next to the Earthware Sustainable Goods store (10am-5pm), like this native large-flowered chickweed (Cerastium strictum) which makes a lovely groundcover!

Cerastium strictum in full bloom at The MagiK Garden

160

The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 15/04/2026

I am definitely bringing these along this weekend to the Earth Day Celebration at Skippack Village! Stop by my booth if you're in the area!

Cerastium strictum in bloom (large white flowers) at The MagiK Garden nursery

Aquilegia canadensis Little Lanterns in bloom (just like the standard red flowers, only compact) at The MagiK Garden nursery

040

The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 07/04/2026

Trillium cuneatum, aka little sweet betsy

close-up of Trillium cuneatum reproductive organs and petals

040

The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 05/04/2026

Neglected toebeans. Antennaria neglecta. I'm changing the common names of all Antennaria henceforth.

Antennaria neglecta blooming among pavers set in soil waiting for the plants to fill in, with a house in the background

081

The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 20/03/2026

Reminder that I'll be at the Abington Garden Festival tomorrow 1-3pm to kick off spring (event includes a free seed exchange, raffles, crafts, goats and wild animals)! Come on by with your family, and bring home some native plants to add to your garden (like the Little Lanterns in the photo)!

Aquilegia canadensis 'Little Lanterns' photographed in bloom April 24, 2025. Nursery plants are in their 2nd year of growth and will likely put out some blooms this year!

070

The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 15/03/2026

This is the largest bird's nest fungus I've seen yet. Usually the ones I find are a bit smaller, maybe half that size. I still enjoy finding them. They'd probably make a good dollhouse bowl or something that goes in a diorama of sorts.

Dark brown, almost black bird's nest fungus cups with some black eggs in some of them surrounded by a bed of woodchips, and a small maple leaf back-side up stuck tucked underneath the top cup

050

The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 13/03/2026

I'm starting to experiment a bit with gibberelic acid. Ibought some a year ago but was afraid to use it until now. I know the dangers of overdoing it. That being said, Deno was a huge fan of them, so I wanted to give it a go and see what happens. Enemion biternatum responds well to the treatment.

Photo showing the difference between treated and untreated Enemion biternatum seed. On the left is an undeveloped seed that hadn't been treated. On the right, treated Enemion biternatum seed is much more developed. Both were in warm moist treatment for 3 days (post treatment and control)

Treated Enemion biternatum seed is starting to germinate.

021

The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 11/03/2026

Alnus incana subspecies rugosa in bloom

Dangly catkins on speckled alder, planter visible in background

030

The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 09/03/2026

More cotyledons! Similar to Apios americana, it would appear Phaseolus polystachios is also a hypogeal germinator, meaning the cotyledons remain below-ground. Instead, here we see true leaves. Desmodium glabellum has interesting kidney-shaped cotyledons. Strophostyles helvola is really neat.

Trifolium carolinianum tiny cotyledons growing in cell tray covered in chicken grit

Phaseolus polystachios true leaves emerging from a cell tray covered in chicken grit

Strophostyles helvola bean-shaped clamshell structure with leaf emerging within growing in cell tray covered in chicken grit.

Desmodium glabellum kidney-shaped cotyledons emerge from cell tray covered in chicken grit.

020

The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 09/03/2026

nevermind, back to ragebait He doesn't even notice he doesn't get many likes/views on these compared to his more thoughtfully-written helpful posts. Otherwise he just sounds like he's virtue-signaling for asspats.

Prairie_up posted 20 hours ago on Threads: Somebody told me in response to something I posted that they wished everybody would stop easily succumbing to things that foment hatred and anger and division. And I'm like yeah you mean the war and racism and sexism I was just posting about??? Take your colonial white privilege and stuff it.

Five hearts, one comment

010

The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 07/03/2026

Host plants for humans are starting to germinate! So far, a few of the home-grown asparagus and several cucumber varieties take the lead. Last year's brush with food insecurity plus my own past early struggles with growing veg made me decide to start adding heirloom starts to my nursery. 1/2

140

The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 06/03/2026

I'm trying to document cotyledons of some of our native plants. Here we have Lupinus perennis, Lespedeza capitata and Apios americana.

Lupinus perennis cotyledons in a plug cell covered with chick grit. White text on teal reads "Lupinus perennis"

Lespedeza capitata cotyledons in a plug cell covered with chick grit. White text on teal reads Lespedeza capitata

Apios americana first leaves? In a plug cell covered with chick grit. White text on teal reads Apios americana

161

The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 05/03/2026

I've been calling my basement my "greendungeon," and I guess nature finally decided to move in properly. I'm curious if any other ferns start popping up after all the ones I'd sown this year. I just noticed this, but it must have sown in months ago. I never peek behind the shelves.

Fern growing out of a french drain at the base of a concrete wall in the basement, just barely visible behind plug trays covered with chick grit.

040

The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 03/03/2026

I'm adding some food crops to my nursery, apropos of current events. Grapes take a few years to start producing, but far less than orchard trees. I do have wild type Vitis labrusca, but those need to he requested so I can save some grapes for seeds. Otherwise, these are all seedless table grapes.

Two plastic pots set atop a chopped painted concrete floor filled with potting mix and grape cuttings.

030

The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 02/03/2026

I ended up giving him a much longer reply this morning once I had my thoughts together. I don't get the impression he's actually active on Threads other than to just post ragebait, so he's not even engaging with his followers. However, hopefully some of his followers will see this thread response

magikgardenpa replying to Prairie_UP
Ben,
It's not a debatable word, and it's not tied to any social bullshit. Something either is or isn't invasive, which is determined through the efforts of a number of organizations and task forces, including citizen science reporting.
The hort version is to point out that an aggressive species is reported to show invasive tendencies, or it is being reported as invasive. Stop making everything into a social justice battle. Can we reserve that for real human problems pls? Here's PA's report: (link to PISC report server web portal)
[continuing thread]
To determine how detrimental a certain invasive species might be, PA followed forms like these. I'm not sure if it's still being used, or if they're working on updating them, or some trad-hort landscapers got themselves into positions of power to remove this as a priority. For now the forms are still visible online if you want to copy it down before they're removed.
Trad-hort has always used various semantics games (including social justice) to discount this as a matter of opinion.
(link to nyis.info pdf example of report form)

Replying to @magikgardenpa
If you play into it, you're falling into their trap. There are people from greenwashing industries attacking from the other side, saying that invasive species designations are promoted by the herbicide companies to sell more herbicide. Which is dumb, because to properly use herbicides, the intention is to kill the plant. If anything, I'd blame greenwashing industry trying to sell us their ineffective "organic" herbicides that don't do anything but topkill.
Replying to @magikgardenpa
Please stop mixing the two. Trad hort wants to hold onto their invasive plants because they invested in the wrong thing, and now they're throwing a temper tantrum because these plants are being banned. Any other industry would have recalls and you just live with it. Get proper hort insurance, and make a claim if you have to destroy plants. Or just stop investing in plants that are "easy to propagate and establish, quick to fill in"
Corporate nurseries are also involved...
Replying to @magikgardenpa
Right now corporate nurseries are fighting against the fact that the industry is shifting away from traditional horticulture, and not only that, they aren't interested in cultivars. They want species.
They want slow, seed-grown, wild plants.
That doesn't work for corporate nurseries. They need something that can be quickly propagated en masse via tissue culture. They want cultivars.
It's all just late-stage-capitalism. People who made bad business decisions fighting against pop-opinion.

If individuals from minority groups want to use ecological issues as a metaphor to explain their own suffering, the way Camille T. Dungy did in her wonderful book "Soil: The Story of a Black Mother's Garden," that's their right. They're trying to connect with people who wouldn't otherwise get it, because people won't listen if it's not spoken in ways they'll understand.
But don't coopt it into a selling point.
P.S. of course, they can just also use that metaphor because they found a way to relate the two, and they're not necessarily writing "for us," because we aren't the center. I'm just saying coopting it is bad optics.

050

The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 02/03/2026

Put it this way. Every post is ragebait. Like literally, one ragebait after the next. There's absolutely no there, there

240

The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 02/03/2026

Um... what? (to the people who aren't on threads seeing this shit)

Threads post from prairie-up "So it's ok for conservationists to use the term "invasive species" but not anyone in the hort field. Why is that? Privillege and supremacy. And the idea gardening is a high art, a reflection of the personal, the province of the holy."

magikgardenpa (aka themagikgarden) replies "Are you serious?"

761

The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 01/03/2026

One of the things I hate about conversations about gardening on social media today is the lack of nuance. People, especially "experts," make blanket statements, sometimes twisting results of a study. Instead of blindly following public figures, experiment. Even studies are peer reviewed.

I often hear it said to not use mulch or woodchips, because it inhibits germination.

Clearly that's a lie.

Photo of parially weeded playground area showing a base of woodchips. Thatch under climbing geodome is a mix of stiltgrass and crabgrass that had taken over.

All of this was covered in woodchips, because I also use it to increase organic matter in my clay shale soil, and to reduce evaporation.

I didn't have time to weed this last year, so many planfs seeded in.

Photo of berm and swale area with some leftover snow, covered entirely in thatch from invasive grasses.

What didn't seed in at all?

This patch of bare, clay shale soil. The best study you can do is to observe what happens in your own yard. Watch out for preachy folks.

Photo of a mound of bare clay shale soil, with some crabgrass visible off to the side.

100

The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 01/03/2026

my spores are here! Soon, I will be drowning in ferns. I wouldn't have it any other way!

170

The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 27/02/2026

Today I noticed that Desmodium glabellum seed coats leave a very strong, bright orange stain. I'm going to have to play with this in the future!

My fingers stained orange from the seeds after sowing.

Orange ring from soaking water left on glass.

041

The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 24/02/2026

Super excited to be sowing some more ferns really soon! Glad I prepped all that soil! This is my order from American Fern Society. If you haven't joined them, you should do so, and give it a shot! Once you're an AFS member, if you have any questions about ordering spores, let me know.

Glassine packets of spores I ordered from AFS with a part of my order form visible behind it.

020

The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 24/02/2026

Here's my second merch design for NISAW (National Invasive Species Awareness Week). Yes, that is Ross from Friends, but instead of yelling PIVOT, he's yelling PRIVET! Whenever I come across more privet in the woods, I humor myself by picturing him popping out from behind it to announce its discovery

Watercolor painted artwork depicting Ross from FRIENDS popping out from behind a privet bush yelling "PRIVEEEEEET". Many color options are available. This one is shown on a men's extra soft tshirt in heather peach color

120

The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 22/02/2026

Since on another social someone brought up the issues of nutrient toxicity in pitcher plants, I figured I should share WHY I felt confident to test that. Take a close look at the keels on the plants in these two photos. One is in a bog, the other in a wet meadow.

Sarracenia purpurea in a bog with fat pitchers and short keels (the flappy part that sticks up in the middle of the pitcher lengthwise)

Sarracenia purpurea with skinny pitchers and taller/wider keels growing in a wet meadow (again, skinny flappy bit in the middle lengthwise)

250

The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 22/02/2026

I absolutely love Danthonia spicata, one of the top choice east US #NativePlants for native lawns. It does well in full sun/dry, it also can handle seasonal ponding and full shade (at least mine can). Although clumping, will gladly reseed if you let them and give them space. Oh, and they're curly!

Danthonia spicata, semi-evergreen (mostly dormant) groundcover on a path that only took 2-3 years to fill in just by clearing the ground around it and allowing it to seed in. Some pockets of snow still visible, an American holly that seeded in, and further towards the top you can see some Carex albicans (whitetinged sedge) which grows along with it in similar full-sun and dry. This is an upland woodland path along a very sunny edge.

030

The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 21/02/2026

Mine are just beginning to emerge. Photo from today.

Two skunk cabbage flowers peeking out from the leaf litter.

160

The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 21/02/2026

Here are some more Sarracenia purpurea (purple pitcher plants) sitting at the edge of my Equisetum hyemale pot in my frog pond (the pond only exists for frogs. I do not keep nor do I want to keep any fish).

Snow and ice still cover the majority of the pond, but the purple pitcher plants and scouring rush have shaken off their snowcover. A tiny gargoyle statue just barely peeks out from behind the pitcher plant.

041

The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 21/02/2026

Turns out, pitcher plants can handle a wet meadow (so far). Other plants here include tons of lobelias, halberd-leaved mallow, virginia bunchflower, red (bog) milkweed, and rose gentian, and some other things. Too many to list. This used to be compacted lawn prone to ponding from being compact.

Purple pitcher plant - currently red - surrounded by leaf litter and snow.

062

The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 21/02/2026

I'm starting to add new product to the site! Final total will be in the hundreds of #NativePlants (which is why it takes me so damn long to do the site stuff... but anyhoo...). Here's the first of the new product uploads from today. I'm aiming to do at least one per week if not more.

I'm finally starting to upload my *hopeful* list of plants to the site - everything I'm currently growing. Some of these are definitely going to be available. Others are sown, so it depends on how well the seeds do. That includes the one in the photo - Ampelaster carolinianus. As easy as it would be to get root cuttings, I opted to plant a second one this year in the hopes of obtaining viable seed, and it managed to bloom in time to be cross pollinated some before winter. Hopefully the seed's good! Stay tuned for future plant lists 😉
Added to the site today:
Aconitum uncinatum - Southern Blue Monkshood (grown 2025, definite)
Acorus americanus - Sweetflag (a few extra left-over plants from my own sowing last year, very limited)
Adlumia fungosa - Allegheny vine (I've grown these from seed a few times now, highly likely)
Ampelaster carolinianus - climbing aster (fingers crossed seed is good!)
Anaphalis margaritacea - Pearly Everlasting (poor germinator, hopefully will have some)
Antennaria neglecta - Prairie Everlasting (a few from 2025, sown a few more)
Arisaema dracontium - Green Dragon (quite a few good looking baby corms from 2025)
Asclepias amplexicaulis - Clasping Sand Milkweed (sown, fingers crossed)
Asclepias purpurascens - purple milkweed (sown tons, fingers crossed)
Asclepias variegata - Redring Milkweed (sown, didn't get tons of seed because greedy profit-mongers charge too damn much for these fancy weeds... fingers crossed, eventually will have my own seed supply and nipping that bs in the bud)
Asclepias viridiflora-Green Comet Milkweed (sown, fingers crossed)
Astilbe biternata - Appalachian False Goat's Beard (sown, fingers crossed, only native Astilbe in the US but very near native)
Brickellia cordifolia - Flyr's Brickelbush (got seed from my own plants I bought in Georgia, brought back and planted 2025, waiting to see if hardy here too, species of concern like Georgia Asters!)
Eupatorium hyssopifolium - Hyssopleaf Thoroughwort (sown, should be reliable)

Ampelaster carolinianum, a monotypic genus and our only climbing aster, blooms very late in the season up past frost into December, and is very, very fragrant. It's a southern native, but hardy to our cold winters and 100% worth adding to the garden.

080

The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 20/02/2026

I use ZeroTol HC to disinfect, which is pretty much industry standard. I don't know how effective the other kinds are. It's a strong hydrogen peroxide plus something else. Use appropriate secondary containers for chemicals which are clearly labeled. MagiK Mix and sowing ferns are in zines 2 & 5

Bottle of disinfectant from Chemical Guys. I only use appropriate secondary containers for any chemical mixes, be it herbicides or disinfectant. Never store in a food container or something else. Label is law.

Text reads "ZeroTol HC Greenhouse disinfectant"
Arrow points to bottle "proper chem bottle"
Instructions for zerotol: "prep ahead and use within 24 hours"

Only mix up as much as you need to use in that time. Here it was 1ml for 1/3 16oz bottle.

A perfect shot of me actively spraying disinfectant on the clamshell container and soil, couldnt have timed it better. "Disinfect everything, including spore! (It will be OK)."

Closed clamshell
"Close immediately, then label (I'm printing them on my Brother label printer)
Needs light, but not too much.

Note, stick the label where it wont block the light.

010

The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 20/02/2026

Two-parter to fit all the photos, here is my photographic chicken-scratch-labeled process for sowing spore for ferns (and also trying clubmosses - this one is Lycopodium clavatum) Part 1/2

Text reads:
This is my steam table like the ones caterers use, but I only use for "crafts"
Filled with my MagiK Mix medium, sans perlite
Arrow points to cloth "Lined with frost cover cloth"
Arrow points to tray "Holey steamer tray"

You need the cloth to keep the soil from falling through the steamer holes. I set it on the highest setting and leave it going for a few hours. It's in my basement. It smells earthy. Idk why people think it's stinky. The coco coir in the mix actually smells kinda sweet.

Text reads "A fancy assortment of plastic containers, picked from the most upscale recycling bins. Washed with hot soapy water. Fill with steaming hot mix and close. Cool overnight."

Ps, cooling is important. You dont want to cook your spore.

Image of soil with a circled area where you can barely make out some spore (just barely) with the text "Sow spore sparsely!"

Arrow points to a capsule in my hand with the spore: "this is not a pill capsule, but a plastic look-alike that once contained watch jewels"

The post from yesterday showed the little box with capsules. I love repurposing old watchmakers boxes for seed and spore.

120

The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 19/02/2026

Here's a little experiment I'm trying: can I grow clubmosses from spore the way I grow ferns? We shall see! Worst case, nothing happens. Unfortunately, I am working with spore that's a few years old, but they've been refrigerated most of that time. So that's also a factor.

The Princeton Field Guides to Ferns, Clubmosses and Quillworts of Eastern North America on top of a mossy-print desk pad, with an old watchmaker's jewel box converted into a spore storage container for clubmosses. The box is open showing some numbered pill cases containing spore and old, faded cutouts of three species of clubmosses: princess pine, ground pine and stag's horn clubmoss

291