Q: Do all persimmons take roughly 6 years to fruit if grown from
seed?
A: Persimmons, like most of the cultivated fruit trees, are
recommended to be grafted to ensure a certain variety, although they may also come
true to seed. And unfortunately, you are right - it will take a few years
(depending on growing conditions) until the seedling will start fruiting. So
your best bet to get a quality fruit right away is to obtain a grafted plant.
You may check out persimmons (tropical and subtropical) that we carry in stock. If you
are interested in any of the varieties that are currently sold out, just add
your email to wishlist by clicking on link Notify me when available and you
will be notified as soon as we have it back in stock.
Date: 5 May 2019
The most desired iconic Chanel flower...
By Onika Amell, tropical flower specialist
Q: I live in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles. I'm looking for something
fragrant to grow on my porch. I don't have a lot of space and am interested to find something unusual that won't grow too large.
Any suggestions? I've heard about Chanel #5 tree and I wonder I can keep it in a pot?
A: The Ylang-Ylang tree, Cananga odorata, emits a fragrance so soft and
beautiful it became an essential ingredient of Coco Chanel's iconic and much-loved perfume Chanel No 5. Trouble is, it will grow into
a giant. How do you get this kind of magic onto your lanai or porch? Opt for its smaller relative: Dwarf Ylang Ylang, Cananga fruticosa (pronounced ee-lang ee-lang, meaning:
flowers of flowers).
The fragrance is a little less intense than its larger cousin, but still wonderful to have around.
Let the fragrance drift slowly through the air into your home at night. The scent is strongest from dusk to dawn and it will
need warm and humid conditions for a fuller aroma.
Dwarf Ylang-Ylang is ideal for folks with limited space as it can be
grown in a container or as a house plant. It's a very unusual and interesting plant to add to your porch, lanai or garden. It's
pretty easy to grow and disease resistant too. It will stay compact and in nice tree-like shape. Dwarf Ylang Ylang starts
blooming quite young and will continue to bloom year-round with profuse blooming during the spring and summer months.
The tree prefers a high-humidity environment, evenly moist soil, warm temperatures and will grow best in plant hardiness zones 10-11
but can take short periods of cold.
Read
more about Chanel No5 Flower...
Dwarf Ylang Ylang is certainly one of the most desired and sought after rare,
fragrant plants. Get yours today!
Date: 27 Apr 2019
Impossibly exotic Chalice Vine
By Onika Amell, our flower specialist
Q: I live on Sanibel Island, Florida and I'm looking for an
exotic vine to cover the side of my house. A friend suggested Chalice vine. What
can you tell me about it and will it tolerate the salty soil and salt spray of
the island?
A: Chalice vine, or Cup of Gold - Solandra maxima - is a large,
woody, scrambling tropical vine with huge, cup-shaped flowers. Variety
Variegata has also amazing cream and green variegated foliage. The flowers are
fragrant, especially in the evenings, with a lovely coconut-like aroma. This
unusual vine will give you intermittent waves of large, wide flaring golden
trumpets.
Even when not in flower, it is beautiful as new growth is bright and
purple-bronze in color. It has a large and loose spreading habit. As this vine
ages, flowers will appear along the entire length of branches off the main
vine. So, just think about it - up to 100 feet vine and you will have about 500
flowers at the same time! They are very fast growing and usually bloom from
February until May. Plant them... Sit back and wait... Four months of heaven!
They are great for seaside gardens as they are very tolerant of salt
spray and salty soils. Will, in fact, thrive in most any well-drained soil.
Give it a large, sturdy pergola or trellis, or train it to grow up the
side of a house where it will spill down over windows and doorways to take
your breath away... Chalice vine is impossibly exotic!
Date: 18 Mar 2019
Featured plant. Sauromatum (Typhonium) venosum - Voodoo Lily
Rare Amorphophallus ralative, Typhonium venosum (Sauromatum venosum), is
a common shade-loving house or garden plant from temperate and tropical
Africa and Asia. This plant is also known as the Voodoo Bulb because of its
ability to flower from a corm without soil and water. Tuberous perennial with
solitary, segmented round leaf and strange, arum-like flower. Rare collectable,
it is a showy exotic container plant.
Typhonium grows to around 20 inches tall from an underground corm. A
large corm can spawn multiple new corms. Inflorescences emerge before the
leaves. An inflorescence has a purplish-brown-spotted, yellowish spathe and a
purplish-brown spadix which emit a strong odor perceived as similar to cow
manure, rotting flesh, or a dirty wet dog, depending on who smells the
inflorescence ;) The odor lasts only a day and attracts carrion-feeding insects which can
pollinate this plant.
Plants we have in stock, have tubers 1-2"in diameter. The plant goes
dormant in winter and starts sprouting in March-April. Keep soil slightly
moist but not wet, and wait for the magic leaf to pop up... The plant should
flower within a year or two.
- SUNSHINE Superfood microelements as foliar spray for healthy growth,
profuse flowering, and disease/bug resistance
-
SUNSHINE-E to help plants come out of dormancy faster and increase metabolism. 100 ml bottles and 50 ml
bottles available for large plant collections.
-
SUNSHINE-Honey to fruit trees so you can enjoy sweeter and bigger fruit later this year
4. If nights are still chilly, take potted plants outside to enjoy the
afternoon sun and bring them back indoors for the night.
