It’s probably something that shouldn’t work as well as it does and I may get burned on it some year. See, we plant some decorative corn in the garden each year, but the seed we use is a bit of a mystery at this point. A number of years ago one of the kids brought home an ear of decorative corn from a school trip. We saved a handful of kernels from that ear and planted them next spring. Just to make sure there wasn’t any disappointment if those kernels didn’t sprout, I planted them with a packet of decorative corn seed I picked up with the rest of the garden seed. Both of the seed varieties grew. Both of the seeds were likely hybrids – which generally perform great in the first generation, but not as well in future generations. Still, every year since that first year we’ve saved a few kernels from some of our favorite, most colorful ears of corn and planted them the following spring. This year was our best year yet, with some of our widest variation in color.

Guess what we’ll be using for Thanksgiving decorations this year…