Growing your own luck
Finding a four-leaf clover is a rare occurrence. As such, the mutant plant is traditionally thought to bring good luck to its discoverer. If a mere four-leaf clover brings you good luck, then Yoshiharu Watanabe is about to become the most fortunate man in the world. Yoshi recently broke the Guinness World Record for finding a clover with the most leaves. The record-setting monstrosity has 63 leaves—seven more than the previous record holder. Well, Watanabe didn’t really find the clover. Instead, he created it, like an incredibly lucky Dr. Plantenstein. The Japanese man has been experimenting with clovers in his backyard for over a decade. His efforts finally bore fruit (or leaf), but Watanabe says he doesn’t want to keep all the luck for himself. “People say that a four-leaved clover brings you happiness, so it would be great if this 63-leaved clover would bring surprise and pleasure to people,” Yoshiharu said.
Yoshi’s clover wasn’t a random find. It took him a lot of work over many years to produce his ultimate creation. His quest for the luckiest clover began in 2012. “Clover is a common plant found everywhere, so whenever I saw a four-leaved, five-leaved, or seven-leaved clover near a paddy or fields or parks, I took it back home,” he explained. Transplanting the hardy clover apparently wasn’t very difficult. “The plant is pretty strong and you don’t have to do anything to it, so I just left them, then they just prospered,” said Watanabe. As time went on, the clovers in his backyard proliferated until they formed multiple separate patches. At that point, the plants began to cross-pollinate spontaneously, sharing their lucky genes with each other. After a few years, he discovered a 20-leaf clover in his garden, and that’s when he got the idea of going for the record. “Since the number of leaves has increased year by year, I have been aiming for the Guinness World Records title ever since,” he said.
He determined that to get the maximum number of leaves on his clovers, it wasn’t enough to let nature take its course. In addition to letting bees do their thing, Watanabe started hand-pollinating the clovers. At times, Yochi also experienced setbacks. “Sometimes the number of leaves can go down, or sometimes you end up with the normal three-leaf clover. We know that genetics are involved in a higher number of leaves, yet we don’t exactly know how it works,” he explained. Finally, he noticed a promising bunch of mutated clover in his yard. He began to painstakingly count each leaf. “Because the leaves are smaller than the standard clover that you know and love, it’s hard to count the number of leaves. When I counted this record-breaking clover, it took me over an hour,” recalled Yoshi. Maybe this freak of a clover was created by all the luck he accumulated from his previous creations. We’ll have to wait and see if Yoshi nurtures an even bigger one.
Good Luck Laughs
Luck of the Jewish means walking around the middle east desert for 40 years and settling in the only place with no oil.
I think the Biden crime wave is moving to the country.
Yesterday, I was mugged by a Quaker.
I’m not having much luck with jobs lately:
I wasn’t suited to be a tailor.
The muffler factory was just exhausting.
I couldn’t cut it as a barber.
I wasn’t a good fit in the shoe factory even though I put my soul into it.
The paper shop folded.
And I just couldn’t see any future as a historian.
June 26th Birthdays
1994 – Ariana Grande, 1985 – Aubrey Plaza, 1986 – Nicole Arbour, 1992-Jenette McCurdy
1974 – Derek Jeter, 1989 – King Back, 1998 – Jacob Elordi, 1980 – Michael Vick