🌸 What bougainvillea doesn't need pruning and grows into a tree? Kristi's Garden Secrets - sound on! 🎤

• 🌸 Tired of pruning your thorny bougainvillea that takes over your yard? Here’s one that breaks all the rules.

No thorns, no pruning - and it grows into a bushy little tree!
• 🌸 It's called Bougainvillea arborea, or Thornless Bougainvillea Tree.
• 🌸 It stays tidy, blooms lavender flowers with a light scent, and it won’t overgrow your space. A total gem if you want beauty without the chaos!

🛒 Plant the Bougainvillea That Behaves!

📱 '>Watch in high quality on YouTube

#Trees #How_to

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🍴 10-minute recipe Bo La Lot with a leaf you’ve never cooked before!

• 🌮 Forget boring tacos - this wrap will blow your mind! In Vietnam they call it Bo La Lot - beef wrapped in peppery Lalot leaves.
• 🌮 It started as grape leaf wraps in the Middle East, but in tropical Asia grapes don’t grow, so people swapped to Lalot. Way more flavor than grape leaves!
• 🌮 Grilled beef, garlic, onion, lemongrass - all can be tucked into these shiny green leaves. Smoky, juicy, and so good you’ll wonder why you didn't try it sooner! It's better than grape leaf wraps, because it has so much flavor!
• 🌮 Most large leaf pepper plants will work for this recipe - Vietnamese pepper Lalot (Piper sarmentosum), Betel Leaf (Piper betle), or even large leaves of the traditional Black Pepper plant (Piper nigrum).

🌯 BO LA LOT RECIPE

✔️ Ingredients

• · 1 pound ground beef or turkey
• · 2 tablespoons chopped lemongrass (optional)
• · 1 tbsp spice powder
• · 1 tbsp curry powder
• · 1 tbsp finely minced garlic
• · 1 tbsp oyster sauce or fish sauce (optional)
• · 1 tsp ground black pepper
• · 1 tbsp finely minced shallots
• · 1 tbsp soy sauce
• · 2 tsp sugar or honey
• · 1/2 tbsp olive oil
• · 1/2 tbsp salt
• · 10-15 fresh Lalot leaves

• 👉 Directions

• · Preheat the grill.
• · Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix well.
• · Wrap about 2 tablespoons of the mixture into each betel leaf.
• · Spear 3 to 4 betel leaf wraps onto a skewer and grill until the meat is thoroughly cooked.
• · Be sure to eat immediately.

🛒 Grow Leaf Pappers for tasty, peppery recipes

📚 Learn more:

• ▫️Lalot beef wraps: Quick-n-Fun exotic recipes
• ▫️Vietnamese Pepper - Lalot food wraps BBQ recipe
• ▫️How to grow your own Pepper plants. Five most valuable Pipers
• ▫️How to to get Pepper leaves large and green

📱 Growing Lalot Pepper

#Food_Forest #Recipes #Container_Garden #How_to

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🍴 Feijoa coconut loaf: quick-n-fun exotic recipes

• 🔴Mix Feijoa pulp into a coconut quick-bread batter.
• 🔴Bakes into a fragrant tropical treat.

Feijoa Coconut Loaf

Ingredients

• 1 cup feijoa pulp, finely chopped
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup shredded coconut
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a loaf pan.
2. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, coconut, and salt.
3. Mix eggs, sugar, melted butter, milk, and vanilla.
4. Fold dry ingredients into wet, then stir in feijoa pulp.
5. Pour batter into loaf pan and smooth the top.
6. Bake 45 to 55 minutes or until golden and a toothpick tests clean.
7. Cool before slicing.

🛒 Plant exotic fragrant Feijoa - Pineapple Guava

📚 Learn more:

• ▫️Pineapple Guava: fragrant fruit, beautiful blooms, and real health benefits
• ▫️Why is it called Pineapple Guava? It tastes just like strawberries! Feijoa Superfood.

#Food_Forest #Recipes

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🍴 Lychee sorbet: quick-n-fun exotic recipes

• 🔴Blend Lychee pulp with lime juice, freeze until firm.
• 🔴A refreshing tropical ice treat.

Lychee Sorbet Recipe

Ingredients

• 3 cups fresh lychee flesh, peeled and seeded (or canned lychees, drained)
• 1/3 cup sugar or honey
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 1/4 cup cold water, as needed for blending
• Fresh mint leaves for garnish (optional)

Instructions

1. Prepare the lychees by peeling them, removing the seeds, and collecting the white flesh. If using canned lychees, drain them well.
2. Place the lychee flesh, sugar or honey, lime juice, and 2 tablespoons of the cold water into a blender.
3. Blend until completely smooth. If the mixture is too thick to move easily, add a little more water, 1 tablespoon at a time.
4. Pour the mixture into a shallow freezer safe container. Cover tightly.
5. Freeze for 2 to 3 hours, stirring with a fork every 30 to 45 minutes, until the sorbet is firm but scoopable.
6. Scoop into bowls and garnish with fresh mint leaves and extra lychee fruit if desired. Serve immediately.

🛒 Plant your Lychee tree - Litchi chinensis

📚 Learn more:

• ▫️How long until I get fruit from my Lychee tree?
• ▫️Why I can't grow a Lychee tree from a seed?
• ▫️How to grow a Lychee tree and have a reliable crop. Practical Guide to Growing Lychee.
• ▫️What are the best varieties of Lychee Tree?
• ▫️What is the best fruit in the world? How to grow your own Lychee tree.

#Food_Forest #Recipes

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Iguana attacking! your plants...

Q: I am having a hard time keeping iguanas eating everything! Any solution to keep them out?

Iguanas may become quite a problem in the garden. Our first suggestion would be - get a Duck as we have (Duck Dobi), she is so dominant and keeps any wild animals away from the property, including gators... and cats! They are scared of her! Dobi thinks she owns the place.

Here are a few other ways to control iguana problem in your backyard:

• 
  ✅ Rid your lawn of dropped fruits. Iguanas love fruit. And they love low-hanging fruit or fruit that's easy to get to. If you have fruit trees, take the time to pick up your yard and dispose of any dropped fruit.
• 
  ✅ Keep a lid on a garbage can. Put your garbage cans in a place they can't get to, or put a cinder block on your can lid.
• 
  ✅ Do not leave pet food out. If you're putting a bowl of dog food or a plate of cat food out for your pets, you're inviting iguanas into your yard.
• 
  ✅ Fill iguana holes. Iguanas like to dig. Wherever you see a hole, fill it. Stuff rocks into the hole first, then fill it with dirt and top it with sod. The iguana may return to dig again, but he won't dig through large rocks.
• 
  ✅ Do NOT feed the iguanas. Don't be friendly with them, so they won't come back.
• 
  ✅ Wire netting around plants. You can use wire netting or screens to prevent iguanas from entering plants and shrubs.
• 
  ✅ Spray them with a hose. When you see an iguana in the yard, spray them with the hose. They also hate loud noises. Constant "harassment" can keep them from returning.
• 
  ✅ Keep your yard clean. Excessive overgrowth or yard storage are great places for iguanas to hide.
• 
  ✅ Do not leave food out, unattended. Iguanas are mainly herbivores but that doesn't mean they won't smell something good and want to eat it. They will TRY anything.

Hopefully these tips help keep your iguana problems to a minimum!

#How_to

🏵 TopTropicals

🔍 How to add flowering vines to the landscape

• 🍀 Vines, by their nature, are almost always climbers. There are also some that make good hanging flower vines for your baskets hanging under trees or on the front porch.
• 🍀 Some vines are also in the fruit category. The Passiflora is a beautiful perennial climbing vine that has very showy flowers and then a fruit that can be eaten off the vine or made into a wonderful juice. It would make a nice fast growing vine for a fence or trellis. The Barbados Gooseberry also falls into this category.
• 🍀 One of the most popular fast growing flowering vines is the trumpet vine - Allamanda. It is an evergreen vine and will take some cold without damage, although it is still considered a tropical flowering vine. It can be grown as a large shrub or small tree and makes a beautiful focal point in the landscape.
• 🍀 If you have some large trees in your yard, a great climbing vine for shade that also produces a usable product is the Pepper family. Yes, they flower and yes some of them produce pepper that you can use in your kitchen. If you like to know what is in your food, grow your own!
• 🍀 Another perennial, fast growing and evergreen climbing vine is the Monstera. Monsteras will climb the side of a large tree and can produce an edible fruit after a few years. It is very tropical looking, but will take some cool nights as it is protected under the canopy of the tree.

🎥 Urechites lutea (Pentalinon luteum) - Yellow Mandevilla

🛒 Shop flowering vines

#Hedges_with_benefits #How_to

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🍾 How to Make Fresh Noni Juice. Step-by-Step Guide.

• Prepare the Noni: Wash the noni fruits thoroughly.
• Cut the Noni: Slice the fruits into small pieces for easier blending.
• Blend: Place the pieces in a blender or food processor. Blend until a smooth pulp forms.
• Strain (Optional): For smoother juice, strain the pulp through a cheesecloth or fine mesh to separate solids.
• Add flavor: you can add some Blueberry or Apple juice for improved flavor.
• Store: Pour the juice into clean, airtight glass jars or containers. Refrigerate for freshness.

💊 Benefits of Fresh Noni Juice:

• Supports joint health.
• Boosts physical endurance.
• Enhances immune activity and metabolism.
• Helps with weight management.
• Maintains bone health, especially in women.
• May support normal blood pressure.
• Promotes gum health and reduces protein glycation.

📚 Learn more from previous posts:

• · How to grow Noni tree for fruit
• · Why Noni is a superfood?
• · Morinda citrifolia - Noni: Life Sustaining Plant

🛒 Plant your own Noni Tree

#Food_Forest #Remedies #How_to

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🏡 How to turn an ugly fence into a Perfume Fence

🍖 Your fence could smell better than your neighbor’s grill!

• 📌Got a plain or ugly fence? Just cover it up! We did just that and created a Perfume Fence.
• 📌First, we planted Hawaiian Plumeria trees along the fence line. Then we added vining jasmines to climb the wire fence and smother it in flowers. Each jasmine has its own fragrance - some sweet, some rich, some spicy - and together they make the whole fence smell incredible!
• 📌Soon the wire won’t even show - just a living wall of blossoms and perfume drifting through the garden.

Here are some of the best plants you can use to make your own fragrant fence:

🛒 Explore fragrant plants

#Perfume_Plants #Hedges_with_benefits #How_to

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