Joe Seals
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backtothenewbasics.bsky.social
Joe Seals
@backtothenewbasics.bsky.social
1K followers 730 following 1.9K posts
Horticulturist, ex-chef, ex-culinary arts instructor, writer.

Author of "Back to the NEW Basics [of gardening]" (https://a.co/d/a1YPIil). Human companion to a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. Liberal.

Visit my Substack: https://joeseals.substack.com
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backtothenewbasics.bsky.social
🌱🪴🌲🌾🌿🌴 #gardensky #gardeningfeed #horticulture #plantscience #botany

Plenty of indoor gardeners are now wondering why their Christmas cactus is blooming so early. It's a little complicated.

In addition to the annotated photo below, I've included detailed points in the ALT text.
First, the original (true?) Christmas cactus is a hybrid. It's a cross of Schlumbergera russelliana and Schlumbergera truncata. It has the official hybrid name of S. x buckleyi (synonym: S. bridgesii). Several newer hybrids involving S. closely related species have been created and they all now fall into what is called the "Buckleyi Group." Second, Thanksgiving Cactus is the species Schlumbergera truncata (yes, the same one that was used in creating the Christmas cactus). Third, the Easter Cactus is Rhipsalidopsis gaertneri. It's different in many ways with clearly distinct flowers and foliage and especially in the bloom time. Its flowers are filly starlike. The T and C are tubular and splayed. The flowers and foliage of the Christmas and Thanksgiving Cacti are close enough that they are often confused. Their differences are detailed in illustration. But morphological characteristics aside, it's the bloom time that often gets muddled. Thanksgiving cactus generally blooms around Thanksgiving, give or take. Care, a big factor here, can alter that timeline. Playing with light and watering schedule are the biggest influences and they can change the bloom schedule by up to three weeks one way or another (more if you have a greenhouse with substantial lighting equipment). Christmas cactus blooms around Christmas. With a big give or take. It's a hybrid to begin with and that makes any seed-grown progeny variable. Add in the many new hybrids and you have a wide range of possible bloom times. Such potential bloom times are generally controlled, however, by the greenhouse growers who produce them for sale at the appropriate holiday time. Even the Thanksgiving cactus can be tweaked to bloom at near Christmas time and sold as a Christmas cactus. Once you get it home and grow it into a second year, it'll revert to its expected time.
November 16, 2025 at 6:22 PM
backtothenewbasics.bsky.social
🌲🌱🌴🌾🌿 #summerdry #gardensky #gardeningfeed #organic-gardening #horticulture #botany

I think gardening is one of the most fascinating of languages. It's full of wonderfully lively, descriptive, and curious words. How many "technical" gardening words do you know?

open.substack.com/pub/joeseals...
SOME WORDS TO HELP YOU THROUGH FALL AND WINTER GARDENING
Making Horticultural Communication More Understandable, Graspable, and Thorough
open.substack.com
November 6, 2025 at 11:57 PM
backtothenewbasics.bsky.social
🌲🌱🌴🌾🌿 #summerdry #gardensky #gardeningfeed #californiagardeners #organic-gardening

Okay, so maybe you've shut down your garden(s) for the year. Now you're thinking: "What will I grow next year and where will I get the seed?" I got ya covered.

open.substack.com/pub/joeseals...
TOP MAILORDER SEED CATALOGS
The Better “Shops” for All Your Flower and Vegetable Needs
open.substack.com
November 1, 2025 at 9:05 PM
backtothenewbasics.bsky.social
🌲🌱🌴 🌾🌿 #gardensky #gardeningfeed #Californiagardening #PNWgardeners #horticulture

One of the biggest wastes of time in the garden is misidentifying a pest, disease, or weed and then using the inappropriate product (or homemade solution) to "resolve" it. So this:

open.substack.com/pub/joeseals...
IDENTIFYING YOUR PROBLEMS
[No, Not a Self-Help Guide] It’s a Major Step in “Integrated Pest Management”
open.substack.com
October 28, 2025 at 8:39 PM
backtothenewbasics.bsky.social
🌲🌱 #summerdry #gardensky #gardeningfeed #organicgardening

I sowed a small lawn for my small dog in March. It was sown with a mix of seven native species of grasses, clovers, and a sedge. No amendments, no fertilizing, nothing special. More info in "ALT Text."
I watered a few times to germinate the seed and then a few deep soakings thereafter. I stopped watering altogether in June. It made it through a very hot, very dry summer and into fall. Parts of it struggled but after a handful of rains, it looks like this. The red circle indicates the one tiny spot that’s still a bit bare. This is after a mowing today (yeah, needs a trimming/edging). Overall, it’s a bit “lumpy” but since I’m not playing bocce ball nor practicing putting, I’d say it’s level enough for now. Looks kinda like a shag carpet from the 70s. I use a battery-powered mower with a mulching mode. I shall not water it nor fertilize it in the future. My 14-year-old dog needs a place to go out to at night.
October 28, 2025 at 11:30 AM
backtothenewbasics.bsky.social
🌱🌲🌴 #gardensky #gardeningfeed #flowers #PNWgardening

I'm wrapping up the active gardening season. Not "shutting down" or "putting things to bed," mind you. Just not planting anymore. Here's the finishing big touches for 2025:

open.substack.com/pub/joeseals...
DONE FOR THIS YEAR
A Wrap-Up to Eight Months of Building a Garden Almost Entirely from Scratch.
open.substack.com
October 25, 2025 at 8:52 PM
backtothenewbasics.bsky.social
🌱🌿🌲 #summerdry #pnwgardening #gardensky #gardeningfeed #horticulture

For those who might be interested in the progress of my 15-month-old garden and landscape...

open.substack.com/pub/joeseals...
THE IMPORTANT THINGS IN ONE’S GARDEN LIFE
A Quick Read on the Progress of Fifteen Months in My New Garden
open.substack.com
October 16, 2025 at 3:21 AM
backtothenewbasics.bsky.social
🌱 #gardensky #gardeningfeed #organic-gardening #summerdry #horticulture

Garden tools need love, too.

open.substack.com/pub/joeseals...
RESPECT AND APPRECIATE YOUR GARDEN TOOLS
With Gardening Winding Down for Many Gardeners, It’s Time to Hit the Garden Shed
open.substack.com
October 10, 2025 at 10:15 PM
backtothenewbasics.bsky.social
#gardensky #gardeningfeed #PNWgardening #dahlias #Californiagardening #organic-gardening #horticulture #summerdry 🌿🌱

I'd like to try a poll/survey. Now that the season is coming to a close, I'm interested in what varieties (by name) of DAHLIAS you think were the best as cut flowers (in the vase).
October 7, 2025 at 9:43 PM
backtothenewbasics.bsky.social
🌱🌲🌾🌿 #gardensky #gardeningfeed #pollinators #organic-gardening #horticulture #plantscience #plantbiology #botany

For the fans of pollinators (and we all should be), here's some fun info about who they are and how they do things:

open.substack.com/pub/joeseals...
One More Time with RANDOM BITS OF “DID YOU KNOW”
Volume 6 -- The One About Pollinators
open.substack.com
October 6, 2025 at 3:37 PM
backtothenewbasics.bsky.social
🌲🌿🌱🌴 #gardensky #gardeningfeed #summerdry #flowers #organic-gardening

An arrangement of dahlias with XAmarine.
An arrangement of dahlias with XAmarine.
October 4, 2025 at 9:02 PM
backtothenewbasics.bsky.social
🌾🌲🌿🌱🌴 #gardensky #gardeningfeed #soil #horticulture #organic-gardening #plantscience #plantbiology

There is life in our soil -- it's called the "edaphon" -- and it has all the abilities you need for the healthiest soil. But...

open.substack.com/pub/joeseals...
WHEN EDAPHON GOES WRONG
How and Why the Soil’s Living Community Declines and What You Can Do About It
open.substack.com
September 30, 2025 at 5:43 PM
backtothenewbasics.bsky.social
🌾🌲🌿🌱🌴 #gardensky #summerdry #gardeningfeed #horticulture #californiagardening

For those of you who don't already know, I have a page on Substack. It's all about gardening -- with a science base. This is my latest article, a long one, but a very special one.

open.substack.com/pub/joeseals...
WHERE THERE IS NO END OF THE GARDENING SEASON
Southern California Gardens Will Have a Lot Going for Them in the Next Many Months Before Spring
open.substack.com
September 25, 2025 at 4:55 PM
backtothenewbasics.bsky.social
🌾🌲🌿🌱 #gardensky #gardeningfeed #horticulture #plantscience

Here is Part 4, the final part, of my series on food plants of North America. It's all about where some of our foods first came from. This one's about funny berries, grapes, wild rice, and maize/corn.

open.substack.com/pub/joeseals...
THE FRUITS AND VEGETABLES GIVEN TO US BY THE INDIGENOUS AMERICANS – Part 4
Grapes, More Berries, Wild Rices, and THE Big One: Corn/Maize
open.substack.com
September 22, 2025 at 3:37 PM
backtothenewbasics.bsky.social
🌾🌲🌿🌱 #summerdry #gardensky #gardeningfeed #organic-gardening #horticulture #plantscience

A quick(-ish) read on how to keep your garden and landscape free from marauding deer...

open.substack.com/pub/joeseals...
DEER MANAGEMENT
Allowing Nature to Do Its Thing While You do Yours
open.substack.com
September 18, 2025 at 3:54 PM
backtothenewbasics.bsky.social
A better phot oof my X Amarine tubergenii "Belladiva Series" 'Aphrodite'. Makes a difference when you take photos during the day versus night.
September 17, 2025 at 4:32 PM
backtothenewbasics.bsky.social
🌱🌾🌿🌲 #summerdry #gardensky #gardeningfeed #horticulture #plantscience

Here's Part 3 (now of 4) on the food plants native to the Americas. For gardeners, foragers, ethnobotanists, paleoanthropologists, and people who want to know where their foods REALLY come from.

open.substack.com/pub/joeseals...
THE FRUITS AND VEGETABLES GIVEN TO US BY THE INDIGENOUS AMERICANS – Part 3
Where We Look at Wapato, Chia, “Olives,” Bay Nuts, the Not-Well-Known Ogeechee Lime, Linden “Lime,” Sassafras, and a Whole Bunch of Well-Known Berries
open.substack.com
September 17, 2025 at 12:31 AM
backtothenewbasics.bsky.social
I will be renting this when it premiers on Prime tonight. I think it's something we all need -- right now and forever...

youtu.be/X1tICIGWiwo?...
BIFF 2023: A Case for Kindness Trailer
YouTube video by Boulder International Film Festival
youtu.be
September 14, 2025 at 7:45 PM
backtothenewbasics.bsky.social
🌾🌱🌿🌲 #gardensky #gardeningfeed #horticulture

My × Amarine tubergenii "Belladiva" 'Aphrodite'.

Taken last evening, just after dark,with a flash.
September 14, 2025 at 3:18 AM
backtothenewbasics.bsky.social
🌿🌾🌱 #gardensky #gardeningfeed #flowers #horticulture

It's fall (almost) and it's time to sow seeds. Soooooo many seeds that a gardener can so right now. A dozen or so very common flowers but here's a look at the uncommon flowers -- that also happen to be EASY.

open.substack.com/pub/joeseals...
SPECIAL ANNUAL FLOWERS FOR FALL SOWING AND LATE WINTER AND/OR SPRING BLOOM
Here are the Distinctive, Undemanding Species that Will Lend that Certain “Je ne sais Quoi” to the Garden or Landscape.
open.substack.com
September 12, 2025 at 2:33 PM
backtothenewbasics.bsky.social
🌱🌿🌾🌿 #gardensky #gardeningfeed #horticulture #plantbiology #plantscience #botany

Here's a whole lot of fun stuff about plants, gardening, and horticulture. In short snippets...

open.substack.com/pub/joeseals...
ANOTHER ROUND OF RANDOM BITS OF "DID YOU KNOW"
Volume 5 of Oddments, Scrapings, Snippets, Fragments, and Crumbs I’ve Found about Gardening and Horticulture and Such
open.substack.com
September 10, 2025 at 2:53 PM
backtothenewbasics.bsky.social
🌱🌾🌿 #gardensky #gardeningfeed #fruits #vegetables #plantscience #botany

There are so many more fruits, nuts, herbs, and vegetables that originated in North America and were cultivated, to some extent, by the Indigenous peoples. Here's part 2 (of 3) ...

open.substack.com/pub/joeseals...
THE FRUITS AND VEGETABLES GIVEN TO US BY THE INDIGENOUS AMERICANS – Part 2
This One All about Beans, Ground Cherries, Spruce Gum, Cherries, Plums, Acorns, Currants, Gooseberries, and Rosehips
open.substack.com
September 9, 2025 at 3:53 PM
backtothenewbasics.bsky.social
🌱🌾🌿🌲 #gardensky #gardeningfeed #horticulture #horticulture #plantbiology #botany

I like making more plants from cuttings. I think it's worth doing -- and because of that, I try to do it well.

open.substack.com/pub/joeseals...
SOME SCIENCE BEHIND THE PLANT PROPAGATION TECHNIQUE CALLED “TAKING CUTTINGS”
How and Why Cuttings Work -- Or Not
open.substack.com
September 5, 2025 at 9:24 PM
backtothenewbasics.bsky.social
🌱🌾🌿🌲🍽️ #whatscooking #foodsky #gardensky #gardeningfeed #fruits #vegetables #horticulture #plantscience

Ever wonder what foods we eat were originally native to the U.S.? Or anywhere in the Americas? I'm working on the answer, starting with this first in a series:

open.substack.com/pub/joeseals...
THE FRUITS AND VEGETABLES GIVEN TO US BY THE INDIGENOUS AMERICANS – Part 1
A Look at the Surprisingly Large Number of Edible Plants That Originally Came from the Northern Half of the Western Hemisphere
open.substack.com
September 4, 2025 at 1:57 AM
backtothenewbasics.bsky.social
🌱🌾🌿🌲 #pnwgardening #summerdry #gardensky #gardeningfeed #landscaping #horticulture #plantbiology #botany

I've been asked a gazillion times the proverbial question "What's your favorite plant?" The answer: The one(s) that do well in my garden -- with minimal care.

open.substack.com/pub/joeseals...
MY FAVORITE GARDEN AND LANDSCAPE PLANTS
Just a Few of the Thousands of Plants that I’ve Found to Fit my Gardens Best
open.substack.com
August 30, 2025 at 10:05 PM