tropical plant
Root Beer Plant (Piper auritum)
A lush Central/South American native Piper auritum has root beer scented leaves and a peppery-licorice flavor. Also known as Mexican pepperleaf or hoja santa
Guava Season
I bought a couple of guava (Psidium cattleyanum) seedlings, one red/strawberry and one yellow/lemon, about 15 years ago and planted them at opposites ends of what is now the tropical garden. Both grew to be big shrubs that flowered once in a while and produced a bunch of pellet-sized bitter fruit that tasted nothing like strawberry or lemon. In the winter they froze easily, loose all their leaves and spend the better part of four months looking like dead brush on the hillside. I was not impressed with guava and if I were more ambitious, would have chopped them down [keep reading...]
Sunday Daydreaming – Tropical Garden Before and After
It's too hot to do any real work on the Acre, so here's some then and now photos of the tropical garden before spring began and now in the height of summer. I'm going to find some shade and take a siesta.
Kahili Ginger in the Tropical Garden
This spring I overhauled my tropical garden adding tall, kahili ginger to make a spicy flowering forest as a transition to the fruit orchards and dry creek below.
Brazilian Edelweiss in Bloom
Not knowing much about how Brazilian Edelweiss (Sinningia leucotricha) grows, I kind of thought I had killed the poor thing because it dropped all its leaves a few weeks ago. Turns out that wasn't the case at all. Several days ago it started growing new leaves and to my surprise this morning I was greeted with two little salmon colored flowers! (They're supposed to be fragrant, but I don't smell anything.) Can't wait to see it all leafed out again. I hope it blooms a bunch.