HONESTLY

Honesty
(Lunaria annua)
Inside for processing the seeds,
grown on Shaw Island,
San Juan Archipelago, WA.
A good Lunaria crop this year,
so the packets are generous.

The Puritans called it "Honesty" and took it to Massachusetts and planted it in their first gardens. Why? It was not grown for food nor was it an herb for healing ills or seasoning food. It added nothing whatever to the welfare of the colony. There seems to be but one excuse for such worldly indulgence -- that honesty sustained homesick hearts through the first bitter winters. Bouquets of its silvery pods decorated mantels and corner cupboards –– nostalgic symbols of former gaiety. Vanity? Perhaps. But generations have smiled and noted ironically that the only seed the Pilgrims brought to New England was honesty. The sentiment with which it was regarded is conveyed by the folk names that still cling to it. Some sound mercenary: silver penny, moneywort, money-in-the-pocket, pennyflower, and moneyseed. Others are more descriptive: white satin, satin seed, satinpod. But honesty acquired an older name -- prick-song flower, which suggests songfests in early English homes -- from the needle-sharp point on each seed pod., which was once used to prick out notes of songs on thin paper, a common practice before music was printed.

Claire Shaver Haughton, Green Immigrants

Honesty seeds after they have released 
their mature seeds for generous packets 
for the Gatehouse seed shed,
Reefnet Bay Road, Shaw Island,
San Juan Archipelago, WA.
Usually deer resistant and easy for 
woodland gardeners to cultivate for 
the pollinators we need on board. 

"Honesty" harvest,

Gatehouse Seeds.

Grown on Shaw Island, WA.