Ficus pumila:
you won't believe these leaves and fruit!..

by Alex Butova, the Witch of Herbs and Cats

...If you visited tropical and subtropical countries, you probably have seen this curious plant covering fences and walls and even whole buildings, looking like an ivy... But if you looked closer, you might have noticed something unbelievable about this plant... Do these small tiny leaves, and these large glossy leaves, and these fig-like fruit too... do they all belong to the same plant?!.. No way!..

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Strobilanthes, Chinese Rain Bell
- a source of Blue, Green, and Purple...

by Alex Butova, the Witch of Herbs and Cats

...Spectacular, elegant, fountain-like small shrub, featuring thin arching branches covered with pink bell flowers from Fall throughout Winter and Spring. And yet is has a rich history of use: extensive medicinal properties as well as a source of the famous dye Assam Indigo. The leaves and stems contain indican, used in production of the classic Blue Indigo Dye. A dark Blue dye is obtained from the twigs. It is combined with Turmeric (Curcuma longa) to make Green, and with Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius) to make Purple...
...Cold hardy, compact, yet fast growing and easy, it makes a wonderful container specimen even for beginners...

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Wake up to the smell of Coffee...
New Video:
Grow your own Coffee plant - Free Coffee Everyday!

In this video we talk about growing Coffee easily in your own yard. Coffee is the best gift plant and perfect house plant or container fruit tree. The white, fragrant, star-shaped flowers are clustered and resemble gardenias to which they are related. The whole fruit is edible, it is a small fleshy berry changing in color from green to yellow to red. The seeds are the actual "coffee beans" as they called, they can easily be dried, roasted and ground at home. The most common coffee is Coffea arabica; other varieties include Coffea catura - Dwarf Coffee Nanico and Coffea Kona - Hawaiian Coffee Tree Mauna Loa.

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Zebrina Rojo - Blood Leaf Banana

by Alex Butova, the Witch of Herbs and Cats

...The showy Blood Banana plants grow 6-8 ft tall in the wild, but are well-adapted to container growing and can be maintained at only 3-5 ft. They produce huge paddle-shaped leaves that grow to 6 ft long! The undersides of these large leaves are purple to red...

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Cat of the Week:
Snitch, the Garden Boy

...According to the National survey, 80% of cats suffer misunderstanding from humans: "Every time I try to have a serious talk with him, he simply gives me food" - this was the most common opinion among cats who took the survey...

See more: TopTropicals PeopleCats