Some People Buy Souvenir T-shirts

and we buy souvenir dome-shaped, wart-like growths found on the trunks of trees. Yep, we bought a redwood burl (scientifically a lignotuber) at Muir Woods during a recent weekend trip to the Bay Area. It's been sitting in a little bit of water for about a week, and in another two we should have full-sized, fern-like shoots growing from it.

One week old shoots.

As the gift shop instructions didn't mention anything about the lifespan of the shoots, I figured they were fine as long as they had water. However, I just read that the shoots don't live very long due to lack of nutrients, and one normally then just throws out the burl. The upside is that the burl can be planted under "appropriate conditions" with the shoots growing into redwood trees. Since we only have a concrete balcony, we're up for sending it off to anyone willing to give it a go.