Today the Tunisian Baklouti germinated - looks like well over 95%, which is very good (I think) for pepper seed over a year old.

I don't think I've seen this pepper listed commercially this year, but I haven't checked the big pepper sites for it, either. I still haven't looked up the description since I planted it.

It looks like Aji Dulce will be next, which is surprising considering that the C. chinense are supposed to be later in germinating. I've never ever had a problem with the chinense or baccatums, perhaps because I like them so well - and they know it! We all do better, strive harder for someone who has a genuine fondness for us, yes?

Perhaps plants respond to us as we do to each other - it's so much easier always when you know someone understands you perfectly. I often say in workshops that the plant chooses the grower - and this is true! Very often the plant we desire the most will not do well for us, but another species will respond so beautifully that it's impossible not to fall in love with it. As for me - I love green beans and asparagus above all, but the nightshades are what grow best for me always.

This magic element of being simply understood - understood without a negative or positive cast - just that someone knows who you are when the fences are down - and sometimes when the fences are up! There must be a single word for this special category of relationship in some language somewhere.

Perhaps they know that I understand them without trying hard, that I can feel the way they grow and recognize so many of the varieties' special scents - Mortgage Lifter with that orange bergamot odor! And Stupice with its own strange smell of mineralized earth and fresh-cut grass.