Seedy

You really wouldn't think that, especially in this lunatic year we call 2020, that people would receive an anonymously-sent pack of seeds bearing a Chinese postmark, and then plant them.

BUT that seems to be what's happening.

People all over this great country of ours are getting seeds in the mail and then heading for the shed to get the hoe and shovel and putting those bad boys in the ground, with not a whit of an idea what will grow.

And really, how do they know they aren't Covid seeds, eh?

The seeds are in all different shapes, colors and sizes, but they all seem to have been mailed from China.  BUT no one knows what they might be, or what might grow, and why people would stick them in the garden and water them is beyond me.

I mean, doesn't there even seem to be a chance that something is wrong here?

The US Department of Agriculture says people in at least 27 states have received these mystery seeds, and they urge you to contact local agricultural officials if a package lands in your mailbox.

"Please hold onto the seeds and packaging, including the mailing label, until someone from your State department of agriculture or APHIS contacts you with further instructions," the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service says. "Do not plant seeds from unknown origins."

The USDA says this might be part of what it known as a "brushing scam." That's where people receive such fakeroos and then the crooks who sent them make up glowing reviews to make it look like you raved about their Coconut Patties.

Or - you could be planting an invasive species, causing an ecological disaster.

"An invasive plant species might not sound threatening, but these small invaders could destroy Texas agriculture," Sid Miller, Texas's agriculture commissioner, says.

And scientists agree — that's why the USDA has such strict rules on importing plants and other organic materials.

Professor Carolee Bull with Penn State's Plant Pathology and Environmental Microbiology study, told The New York Times: "The reason that people are concerned is — especially if the seed is the seed of a similar crop that is grown for income and food, or food for animals — that there may be plant pathogens or insects that are harbored in the seed."

And of course, there's this.  One woman told a local tv station that the package she received was labeled "jewelry."

“It was labeled on the outside chrysanthemum-studded earrings; I didn't want to put it in the ground because I didn't know what it was going to do, so I put it in its own individual pot, right then and there and been watering it ever since, but nothing ever grew,” the woman said.

I'm no Luther Burbank, but I'm sure that earrings don't grow in the ground, so if you receive these weird seeds, call the Maryland Dept of Agriculture at 410-841-5920.