😘 Stop and smell the sweetness

"A flower does not think of competing with the flower next to it. It just blooms - and invites you to stop and smell its sweetness." - Zen Shin

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🔴 What is the best Red Dragon fruit and what does it taste like?

• 🍉 Red dragon fruit might look similar on the outside, but the flavors are all over the place once you start trying different varieties. Halley's Comet is one of the reds that actually tastes rich - sweet, juicy, and full of that deep berry-like flavor people hope for in dragon fruit. It ripens fast, so you have to catch it at the right moment or it turns soft overnight.
• 🍉 Red-fleshed types are also loaded with antioxidants, which is why the juice stains everything it touches. If you like bold flavor, check out other good reds below. These are some of the top varieties growers recommend for sweeter, stronger taste:

• 🔴🔴 Red skin, red flesh(Hylocereus costaricensis) - Sweeter, juicier, and more intense in flavor. The deep red juice can stain, but it’s loaded with antioxidants.

Varieties: American Beauty, Bloody Mary, Eureka Red, Costa Rican Sunset, Mac Edwin, Halley's Comet, Makisupa, Mega Red, Physical Graffiti, Sweet Red
• 🔴🟣 Red flesh, purple/magenta flesh(Hylocereus x costaricensis) - Hybrids, usually between red and white varieties.

Varieties: Cosmic Charlie, Edgar's Baby, Natural Mystic, Physical Graffiti, Purple Haze, Tricia, Voodoo Child, Zamorano

🛒 Bring a red dragon to your garden

📚 Learn more:

• · More about Dragon fruit plant from Plant Encyclopedia
• · When do I get the fruit from my Dragon Fruit?
• · Pitaya vs Dragon fruit - what is the difference and how to grow it. Varieties.
• · Do red, white and yellow Dragon fruit taste differently?

📱 How to grow Dragon Fruit
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#Food_Forest #How_to #Dragon_Fruit

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🍴 Betel leaf bites: quick-n-fun exotic recipes

• 🟢Spread coconut, peanuts, lime bits, and palm sugar on a Piper betle leaf.
• 🟢Fold and chew for a refreshing, spicy-sweet treat.

Betel Leaf Bites (Quick and Fun Exotic Snack)

Ingredients

• 6 fresh betel leaves (Piper betle)
• 2 tbsp shredded coconut
• 2 tbsp roasted peanuts
• 2 tbsp palm sugar sauce or thick palm syrup
• 1 tbsp finely diced lime (with rind)
• 1 tbsp finely minced ginger (optional)
• 1 small chili, sliced (optional)

Instructions

1. Rinse the betel leaves and pat dry. Keep whole leaves for folding.
2. Place each leaf shiny side down. Add a pinch of shredded coconut, roasted peanuts, diced lime, and a small dollop of palm sugar sauce.
3. Add ginger or chili if you want extra heat.
4. Fold the leaf into a small triangular packet.
5. Serve freshly folded and enjoy the refreshing sweet-spicy-lime flavor.

🛒 Plant your own Betel Leaf

📚 Learn more:

• ▫️Piper betle in Plant Encyclopedia
• ▫️How to grow your own Pepper plants. Five most valuable Pipers
• ▫️Plant Smarter: Grow Your Own Brain Boosters
• ▫️10-minute recipe Bo La Lot with a leaf you’ve never cooked before

#Food_Forest #Recipes

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🍴 Give thanks for a little

"Give thanks for a little, and you will find a lot." - African (Hausa) proverb

🍗 Happy Thanksgiving!

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🔥 It opens overnight, wakes up just for Thanksgiving!

• 🔥 Gloxinia sylvatica - Bolivian Sunset, is one of those plants that waits for the perfect cool morning and then explodes in red.
• 🔥 The blooms really do show up overnight - bright fire-red, glowing even in deep shade. and blooms all through fall and winter. In Summer it sleeps, then flowers come back in Fall.
• 🔥 It's an easy, water-loving, shade-loving plant that makes a showy holiday ground cover. It stays low, spreads from rhizomes. And if you like sharing plants, this one gives you plenty of starts to pass around during the holidays. Perfect timing, perfect color, perfect seasonal surprise!

🛒 Plant Bolivian Sunset - the Winter Wonder that turns on like a light switch!

📚 Learn more:
Low growing show stopper blooms like a winter fire

#Butterfly_Plants #Container_Garden #Shade_Garden

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🌸 An heirloom holiday cactus lost for decades: Thanksgiving-to-Easter bloomer

• 🌸 Schlumbergera x New Deal is not your regular Christmas cactus. This is a true heirloom, a variety that vanished from the trade for decades and originally appeared at a rare plant sale at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden back on November 8, 1932 - the same day F.D.R. won the presidency and launched the famous New Deal. The name stuck, and so did the plant’s reputation!
• 🌸 What makes New Deal special? First, the flowers. They are big - about an inch larger than standard holiday cactus blooms – and show up in brilliant violet-pink and white. Second, this variety blooms twice a year, which is why people call it a Thanksgiving-to-Easter cactus. It usually opens a full flush around Thanksgiving and Christmas, then surprises you with a second wave toward spring.
• 🌸 Despite its pedigree, New Deal is easy to grow. It handles normal houseplant conditions, stays compact, and rewards even casual care with heavy blooming.
• 🌸 The plants available today come from 3rd-generation cuttings of an original specimen that's still alive, making this one of the rarest and most authentic holiday cactus cultivars you can add to your collection. A living piece of history - and one of the most generous bloomers for the holiday season!

🛒 Get your own vintage Christmas cactus with a history

#Container_Garden #Shade_Garden #Nature_Wonders

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Eat dessert first

"Life is short. Eat dessert first." - Ernestine Ulmer

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✨ Do this if you want to smell a dizzy perfume!

• ⭐️ Night blooming jasmine, Cestrum nocturnum, is one of those plants people get obsessed with once they smell it. The fragrance doesn’t play around - the tiny flowers open after dark and fill the whole yard with a sweet, powerful, almost dizzy perfume. You want some serious fragrance? Do this: get yourself a night blooming jasmine!
• ⭐️ The crazy part? It’s in the Nightshade family, related to tomatoes, potatoes, and peppers. But it acts nothing like a veggie. This shrub grows fast, stays dense, and turns into a nighttime perfume machine during warm months.
• ⭐️ Flowers are pale yellow to white and stay insanely fragrant until sunrise. In India and across South Asia they use them for weddings, ceremonies, and perfumery because the scent is that intense.
• ⭐️ If you want the full effect, plant it near a window, a porch, or a walkway. Anywhere you pass by at night. One or two plants are enough to make your whole garden smell like romance after dark!

🛒 Make your yard smell like romance!

📚 Learn more:

• ✦ How many flowers on Night Blooming Jasmine?
• ✦ This magical fragrance follows you all over the garden at night
• ✦ Why everybody wants this plant

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#Perfume_Plants #Hedges_with_benefits

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