Puerto Rico, Lost and Found

When I went to Puerto Rico a few months ago, I visited El Yunque Rain Forest. I was on a very hastily "guided" tour which never took us away from the roads further than eyeshot. It rained harder on us at the end of the tour more than I've ever seen or felt. It was great. Even though I wasn't able to wander far, and other than the anoles scampering about, I did take a few pictures of some pretty flowers near the roadside. I didn't think much of them (unlike the stinging plant that I should have touched more gently), but fast forward to this month and a plant obsessed acquaintance of mine posted a "Red Torch Ginger" online. Initially, I thought it was very neat looking, and then today I remembered the rainforest photos. Eureka. Same plant. Etlingera elatior. Let's give this one a grow.

Tiny Flowers and Big Hopes

My Kohala longan came in the mail yesterday. It's only about 3' tall, but I opened the box to find a very sweet smelling aroma and bunches of little flowers. I'm not sure what will happen now that it's here and in a proper pot, but if it can hold on to the flowers maybe I'll get some free fruit. My Ice Cream mango has been taking off recently too. It has flowers that are about the same size and today I noticed that some of them are opened. Here's hoping for a double dose of fruity good luck.

Update: The mango dropped all the flowers without setting one fruit, and the longan almost did the same...almost. There is one fruit hanging on while some new growth pushes from the top.

Ground Cherry

It's going to be a warm weekend, so I started it off with watering my plants. Upon doing so a Ground Cherry aka Cape Gooseberry freed itself and fell to the ground. The little orange-yellow marble inside a tan paper lantern bounced with a slight crunching sound to catch my attention. I liberated the fruit from it's paper shell and popped it in my mouth. It was sweet before I bit into it. I thought, "this must be what people who enjoy tomatoes like." Except that Physalis fruits are nightshades, and they're not gross. I think anyone could grow these like they do a tomato plant, save some seeds through the winters in other zones where the plant would not survive, and enjoy the spring and summer tangy sweetness each year.

April Fools Day After

It has been some time since my last post. Partly because not much has happened since last growing season, and partly from lack of typing inclination. So, now it's time for a mega update.

I've managed to collect quite the spectrum of tropical/exotic/rare fruit plants. Some are small, but the majority are in my large plastic drilled-out pots. It was a challenge, after the flood light came down this last month, to arrange them on the patio in a non-intrusive and healthy manner. But I think I managed it sufficiently. Some skirting has to be done here and there, but in general it works. Although there are certainly a large number of plants on the patio, they're not full of leaves which gives the impression that there are not as many as a list conveys. Here that is:

Annona cherimola x squamosa Atemoya Bradley
Annona diversifolia Ilama Rosada
Annona squamosa Sugar Apple Super Atis
Annona cherimola x squamosa Atemoya Island Gem
Annona cherimola x squamosa Atemoya Phat Pakchong, PPC
Annona cherimola x squamosa Atemoya Randhir
Annona diversifolia x (cherimola x squamosa)
Annona cherimola x squamosa Atemoya Geffner
Annona cherimola x squamosa Atemoya African Pride
Annona cherimola x squamosa Atemoya Lisa
Annona reticulata Red Custard Apple Tobago Pink
Annona squamosa Sugar Apple Giant Mexican
Annona cherimola x squamosa Atemoya Dream
Bauhinia monandra Orchid Tree, Napoleon's Plume
Bunchosia argentia Peanut Butter Fruit Tree
Casimiroa edulis White Sapote Suebelle
Diospyros digyna Black Sapote
Diospyros nigra Black Sapote
Eriobotrya japonica Loquat
Eriobotrya japonica Loquat Averi, Strawberry, Vista White
Eugenia luschnathiana Pitomba
Eugenia selloi Pintangatuba
Eugenia candolleana Rainforest Plum
Eugenia uniflora x selloi
Eugenia braziliensis Grumichama
Eugenia uniflora Suriname Cherry
Eugenia victoriana Sundrops
Garcinia humilis Achacha, Achachairu, Bucorapi
Garcinia aristata
Garcinia hombroniana Seashore Mangosteen
Garcinia humilis Achacha, Achachairu, Bucorapi
Garcinia acuminata Sour Bacupari
Garcinia humilis Achacha, Achachairu, Bucorapi
Garcinia xanthochymus Yellow Mangosteen, Gamboge
Inga sp. Ice Cream Bean Pink
Inga sp. Ice Cream Bean
Mangifera indica Mango Ice Cream
Manilkara zapota Sapodilla, Chico Tikal
Musa Banana Thousand Fingers
Musa acuminata Banana Grand Nein
Musa Banana Dwarf Iholena
Musa acuminata Banana Gros Michel
Musa velutina Banana Pink Velvet
Nephelium mutabile Pulasan
Passiflora parritae
Passiflora xiikzodz x coriacea Manta
Passiflora racemosa Buzios
Passiflora malacophylla
Passiflora pittieri
Passiflora (incarnata x edulis) x (incarnata x cincinnata) Blue-Eyed Susan
Passiflora actinia
Passiflora edulis
Passiflora mucronata
Passiflora discophora
Passiflora porphyretica Angustata
Passiflora ornithura
Passiflora sublanceolata
Passiflora ovalis
Passiflora Kew Gardens
Passiflora lingularis
Passiflora actinia
Persea americana Avocado Red Russell, Bacon, Fuerte
Persea americana Avocado Brogdon
Persea americana Avocado Nabal
Persea americana Avocado Fuerte
Physalis peruviana Cape Gooseberry
Plina x Jaboticaba Red
Plinia glomerata Jaboticaba, Cabelluda Yellow
Plinia caulifora Jaboticaba Grimal
Plinia aureana Jaboticaba White
Plinia cauliflora Jaboticaba
Plinia vexator Jaboticaba Blue
Plinia edulis Cambuca
Plinia vexator Jaboticaba Blue
Pouteria hypoglauca Cinnamon Apple
Pouteria lucuma Lucuma
Pouteria viridis Green Sapote
Rollinia peruviana Biriba
Rollinia deliciosa Biriba
Rollinia mucosa Biriba
Rollinia mucosa x Biriba
Rollinia deliciosa Biriba
Rollinia deliciosa Biriba
Salacca zalacca Snake Fruit, Salak
Synsepalum dulcificum Miracle Berry
Syzygium samarangense Red Wax Jambu
Syzygium jambos Rose Apple


I have all the typical genera like Annona, Garcinia, Eugenia, Plinia etc. and they all do better in their pots than Passiflora. I still have some of those with the exception of P. edulis and the inclusion of the Bauhinia that are decorative, but pretty much all else is meant to be eaten. Though I must say some of these plants have stunning morphology.

Grafting is a fun new twist on this hobby as well. It's not something I tackled often with Passiflora although some notoriously difficult plants have been successfully grafted on to hardy root stocks, and it's slowly changing the game. That's an exciting development. I hope it leads to the proliferation of species such as P. parritae. But, back with the rest of the collection. I bought a great knife not meant for grafting, but that I figured would work well. And, it does. I bought a grafting tool that makes perfectly nesting little male-female saddle and wedge cuts. I got my wax tape and white colored electrical tape for sealing in moisture and putting pressure on the joints, and I was set. I grafted the Atemoya 'African Pride' and 'Lisa' scions first, and they took. Easy. Then I grafted the 'Mexican Giant' and 'Dream' and half took (the half under 24 light in the greenhouse), and half didn't (the half outside under direct light for a few hours). I'm told that they require lots of light to "take" and that seems to be proving true. So, I cut off the dead wood on both stock and scion for about 4 plants that failed to take and re-grafted them before popping them in the greenhouse as well. We'll see if that works.

Right now, in addition to the new growth pushing on the Annona and the releafing taking place on everything else, I have a bunch of flowers on my 'Brogdon' avocado. If I'm lucky, a bee or humming bird in need of some nectar will find it, but I'm not holding my breath on that one. I'm not sure what will be next to bloom. The 'Ice Cream' mango seems to be doing something, but I'm not certain if it's budding or leafing.
 

Blame it on the Rain

There hasn't been an update since September, but that doesn't mean that nothing has happened. True, very little has happened, but not "nothing". I spent all of the Summer and Fall last year collecting fruiting trees. Annona, Rollinia Eugenia, Garcinia, Persea, Mangifera, and more are all in their drilled plastic pots and waiting for Spring 2017. The temperatures this winter have ventured lower than I can remember them dipping; into the low 40's. And for the most part, things have survived. A few of the weaker plants succumbed early on, but even those that have been completely defoliated by the cold are holding on to life in their trunks. I think I lost a Rollinia and a Plinia edulis, but the peanut butter tree, wax jambu, bananas, and mangoes are all surprisingly tough. I guess when you're used to the fragility of Passiflora, all other species are robust by comparison. That said, my Passiflora parritae is trying to push growth. With a little more light it might just take off like a rocket.

This January has been the wettest one I can remember ever since moving to Redondo Beach about a decade ago. Today it has rained ever since I woke up and it's not scheduled to stop until well into Monday. But the temperature is dropping back into the low 40's while I'm away, so I had to do what I didn't want to do. I had to move a few plants into the house. My Pouteria caimito (abiu), Garcinia hombroniana (seashore mangosteen), and a crippled Rollinia deliciosa are all in my bathroom. But, they'll go right back outside as soon as I return because it's supposed to be in the 70's during the day. I can almost taste Spring.

And I have a few additions to pick up when I get back. I have a atemoya 'Geffner' and a cocktail loquat to introduce to the patio. The latter is going to be grafted together while I watch and learn, which should be a nice exhibition. So I'll wait until I get back to play with my plants, and that will buy me a couple of more weeks which will make it February. And February is a short month, so it's practically March!!

Garcinia Galore

A few seeds arrived in the mail today and went straight into 4" pots and into the greenhouse on seed mats. It's the day before my birthday, so it was a nice find in my mailbox. They looked to be in good shape. Let's see how they germinate, because I haven't tested my luck with these genera yet.

• Garcinia mangostana (Purple Mangosteen)
• Garcinia brasiliensis
• Garcinia sp. (Vleerackerii)
• Baccaurea macrocarpa (Tampoi)

Mulberry Delight

My tri-graft Mulberry is doing really well. It has lots of little green berry clusters on it, that I hope hang in there to maturity. I don't know anything about this plant, but it seems to take care of itself pretty well. The leaves are large, green and growing quickly. The only concern is that one of the grafts has a bud on it that doesn't seem to want to emerge fully. If it doesn't then it probably won't survive as a graft for through the winter months. Hopefully that pushes out in the next month or so.