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Any childless cat ladies here? Report for duty:

Any childless cat ladies here? Report for duty:
😳 Any childless cat ladies here? Report for duty: post your child cat picture!👇

🔥 "The great thing about democracy is that it gives every voter a chance to do something stupid." - Charles de Gaulle

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Five most exotic avocado varieties

Avocado Bacon

Avocado Bacon

Avocado Black Prince

Avocado Black Prince

Avocado Mexicola

Avocado Mexicola

Avocado Reed

Avocado Reed

Avocado Russel (red)

Avocado Russel (red)

🥑 Five most exotic avocado varieties

👀 We introduced 10 most popular varieties in our earlier posts. Here are 5 more - interesting and unusual cultivars.
  1. Bacon - A large Mexican variety with dark-skinned medium sized fruits, and a rich creamy flavor. It is very cold hardy, late-producing variety of Avocado tree with exceptional fruit. It is a highly productive tree with a lovely upright and spreading habit. Its dark green, glossy leaves lend an attractive, tropical appeal to the 15-20 feet of heigh. The oval fruits ripen in late fall and into spring. The fruits are easy to peel and have a light, subtle flavor. The tree has angelic sweeping branches which helps keep the tree shorter and easier to pick its fruit.
  2. Black Prince - The fruit was large, oval, 16-36 oz, green and slightly pebbly. The fruit turns black couple days after it is picked, ripens and softens. Black Prince deserves its title! The fruit pulp is thick, and has a rich, nutty flavor. The trees grow vigorously. Superior variety for a backyard grower. Harvesting mid-August to mid-September.
  3. Mexicola - black fruit, rich butter content, one of the most cold hardy varieties. Mature trees may withstand temperatures in the low-mid 20s.
  4. Reed - The fruit is large, weighing over a pound and round in shape. It has a large seed, but plenty of edible flesh. The skin remains green even when ripe. It is described by some as the best tasting avocado, buttery, bold, rich and nutty with an oil content of about 20%. It is a type A avocado, but fruits consistently year after year without other avocado trees around. It can be kept to around 15 feet with pruning. The branches do tend to droop horizontally.
  5. Russel (green and red) - easily recognized by its gourd-like shape, large, 24-36 oz and up to 13 inches long! Flesh is yellow, sweet, excellent quality, the seed is small.


  6. 📚 Learn more: Avocado Variety Guide - check this out for interactive chart of Avocado varieties and sort them by flower type A or B, tree habit, fruit shape and quality, cold hardiness, origin, season and more!

    What is your favorite Avocado variety?
    Share in comments
    👇

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Why Swiss Cheese Plant is so holy?

Monstera x adansonii - Baby Swiss Cheese Plant

🧀 Why Swiss Cheese Plant is so holy?
  • ☘️ Monstera x adansonii - Baby Swiss Cheese Plant, or Window Leaf Philodendron that we mentioned earlier, is rare collectible, beautiful hybrid from Columbia.
  • ☘️ Leathery, "holy" foliage makes it an interesting indoor specimen. Leaves have oval holes!
  • ☘️ The small nature and easy care make it a wonderful addition to any rare plant collection.


📚 Philodendrons: from the Magic Rainforest to your home

🛒 Order Swiss Cheese Plant

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😥 "The shower is my time to open my mind, to be creative, to listen to my thoughts and to think about life." - Woody Allen

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What are the most interesting edible gingers?

Boesenbergia rotunda - Chinese Keys Ginger, Fingerroot, Kra Chai

Boesenbergia rotunda - Chinese Keys Ginger, Fingerroot, Kra Chai

Curcuma longa - Turmeric, Spice Turmeric, Longevity Spice, Indian Saffron.

Curcuma longa - Turmeric, Spice Turmeric, Longevity Spice, Indian Saffron.

Zingiber officinale - Spice Ginger, Cooking Ginger

Zingiber officinale - Spice Ginger, Cooking Ginger

 Zingiber officinale - Spice Ginger, Cooking Ginger

Zingiber officinale - Spice Ginger, Cooking Ginger

🍱 What are the most interesting edible gingers?
  • 🥢 Boesenbergia rotunda - Chinese Keys Ginger, Fingerroot, Kra Chai. A medicinal and culinary herb from China and Southeast Asia. It is used in Javanese cuisine in Indonesia, as well as in Thai cooking where it is called krachai. In the west it is usually found pickled or frozen. Kra Chai is used as a male tonic, vigor, health promotion, longevity, aphrodisiac.
  • 🥢 Curcuma longa - Turmeric, Spice Turmeric, Longevity Spice, Indian Saffron. Turmeric powder might well be the healthiest spice on Earth. Made by grinding this dried root, this ancient superfood and key ingredient in curry powder has been used by Indian Ayurvedic healers for centuries.
  • 🥢 Zingiber officinale - Spice Ginger, Cooking Ginger - the one you eat with sushi! Plant this ginger in the garden to produce your own fresh ginger for pickling or healthy lemonade.


📚 More gingers in previous posts:
5 most beautiful flowering gingers
Alpinia formosana x zerumbet Variegata - Variegated Ginger
Costus spicatus x woodsonii - Red Button Ginger, French Kiss
Hedychium coronarium - Butterfly Ginger
Kaempferia angustifolia - Laos Silver Stripe

What is your favorite Ginger? Share in comments👇

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What orchids can be grown in the ground?

Terrestrial orchids (ground orchids)

⚜️ What orchids can be grown in the ground?
  • 🏵 Orchids have a mystique that seems to set them apart from most other flowers... they are elegant and almost unreal in their perfection... But not every gardener has luck growing traditional orchids.
  • 🏵 Terrestrial orchids (a.k.a. ground orchids) grow in regular garden soil instead of in the air on tree branches
  • 🏵 Ground orchids come in many colors and shapes.
  • 🏵 Ground orchids will be happy to bloom in sun or shade and are very easy to grow!


🎥 YouTube: Ground Orchids

🛒 Shop Ground Orchids

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What are the best small fruit trees that will produce right away?

Bunchosia argentea - Peanut Butter Tree

Bunchosia argentea - Peanut Butter Tree

Bunchosia argentea - Peanut Butter Tree

Bunchosia argentea - Peanut Butter Tree

Randia formosa - Blackberry Jam Fruit, Jasmin de Rosa

Randia formosa - Blackberry Jam Fruit, Jasmin de Rosa

Randia formosa - Blackberry Jam Fruit, Jasmin de Rosa

Randia formosa - Blackberry Jam Fruit, Jasmin de Rosa

What are the best small fruit trees that will produce right away? Peanut Butter Tree and Blackberry Jam Tree!

⬆️ These two little trees are absolute winners and will produce fruit for your right away, whether you grow them in container or in your small garden:
  1. Bunchosia argentea - Peanut Butter Tree, earns its name from its fleshy fruits that boast a delightful peanut butter flavor.
  2. Randia formosa - Blackberry Jam Fruit, Jasmin de Rosa - a curious small evergreen tree that combines features of a fragrant flower and delicious dessert fruit which tastes like fresh Blackberry jam. Fragrant white flowers are similar to Gardenia.


  3. 📚 Learn more from previous posts:
    Craving a Nutty Surprise? Peanut Butter Tree
    Truth about Blackberry Jam: it comes from Gardenia

    🛒 Get your own Peanut Butter Tree and Blackberry Jam Fruit Tree

    #Food_Forest #Container_Garden


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How to grow Bougainvillea bonsai

Bougainvillea bonsai

Bougainvillea bonsai

Bougainvillea bonsai

Bougainvillea bonsai

🎍 How to grow Bougainvillea bonsai
  • 🌸 Choose a Variety: Select a dwarf variety or one with smaller leaves and flowers for easier training. The best dwarfs are "Pixie" and "Sunvillea" varieties.
  • 🌸 Potting: Use a small, shallow bonsai pot with good drainage. A bonsai soil mix is ideal as it provides proper aeration and drainage.
  • 🌸 Pruning and Training: Regularly prune to maintain shape and encourage new growth. Use wire to train branches, but be careful not to damage the plant. Prune after flowering to shape and maintain size.
  • 🌸 Watering and Feeding: Water thoroughly when the soil is dry but avoid waterlogging. Use a liquid fertilizer such as Sunshine Megaflor for profuse flowering.
  • 🌸 Light: Place in a sunny location, as bougainvilleas require plenty of light to thrive and bloom.


📚 Learn more: Compact Bonsai and Money Money

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🫡 "In a cat's eye, all things belong to cats."

This is Cash. He is a great helper folding laundry.
Does you cat help with laundry too?

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How to grow your own Pepper plants

Piper sarmentosum - Vietnamese Pepper, Lalot leaves wraps

Piper sarmentosum - Vietnamese Pepper, Lalot leaves wraps

Piper nigrum - Black Pepper

Piper nigrum - Black Pepper

Piper auritum - Root Beer Plant, False Kava-Kava

Piper auritum - Root Beer Plant, False Kava-Kava

Piper betle - Betel leaf

Piper betle - Betel leaf

Piper longum - Indian Long Pepper, Pippali, Bengal Peppe

Piper longum - Indian Long Pepper, Pippali, Bengal Peppe

🔥 How to grow your own Pepper plants. Five most valuable 'Pipers'.

ℹ️ Leafy Pepper plants - Pipers - are a source of black pepper and many other "peppery" flavors. These plants come from the Piperaceae family and are used as a spice for their pungent, peppery flavor. Don't confuse them with with Capsicum peppers, such as bell and chili peppers.
  • 🔻Piper sarmentosum - Vietnamese Pepper, Lalot: it is eaten raw in salads or cooked with other greens or dishes, or wrap meats and cook in oven or on stove or grill. It is used medicinally in India and SE Asia. The root is also chewed with Betel Nut as a tonic and medicine. The leaves are used as food (food wraps) in Vietnam.
  • 🔻 Piper nigrum - Black Pepper: While black and white pepper were already known in antiquity, but green pepper (and even more, red pepper) is a recent invention. Pungent and aromatic. The pungency is strongest in white pepper and weakest in green pepper, while black and green pepper are more aromatic than the white one. Moderate growing vine that can be grown on a trellis. Prefers shade to semi-shade.
  • 🔻 Piper auritum - Root Beer Plant, False Kava-Kava: close relative of Piper methysticum (Kava-Kava) and probably has some similar tonic effects. It is used for its spicy aromatic scent and flavor, liken to root beer, or to anise-clove. Huge leaves can grow over a foot long. The leaves are used for flavoring, as wrappings for meats and tamales.
  • 🔻 Piper betle - Betel leaf: very popular Indian spice with medicinal properties. Chewed with Betel Nut as a tonic and medicine. Great for wrapping food (similar to grape leaves).
  • 🔻 Piper longum - Indian Long Pepper, Pippali, Bengal Pepper: edible and medicinal plant used as spice and in traditional Chinese medicine. Fruit used as a spice and seasoning. It has sweeter and less pungent taste than Black pepper. Highly valued medicinal plant used to treat respiratory infections, stomachache, bronchitis, cough, and much more.


Learn more:
📚 Vietnamese Pepper - Lalot food wraps BBQ recipe
🎥 Growing Lalot Pepper

🛒 Shop pepper plants: Pipers

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