Seeds, Bulbs, and Things

Black Wattle. Tradicional Mimosa plant for Women's day in Europe. Acacia decurrens is a tall shrub or small tree with bipinnate foliage. The dark green foliage contrasts with the bright yellow spring flowers. Plant after soaking in warm water until swollen.

This is one of South Africa's most beautiful and useful trees. It is integrally part of Africa's history having been used for everything from raft-making to sewing needles and fencing for the houses of the royal Zulu women. The thorns were even used by early naturalists to pin the insects they collected!
Bark used in tanning, rope making and production of edible gum. The root is used in traditional medicine.

Pink Cedar, Balangi, Kurungatti. Large deciduous emergent tree native to Banglades with showy red flowers.

Red Sandalwood, Saga. Popular Indian tree with many uses. The tiny flowers are said to smell vaguely like orange blossoms. The seeds are used in necklaces and ornaments, as beads in jewellery, leis and rosaries. In Malaysia and Indonesia, the trees provide shade and planted as "nurse trees" in coffee, clove and rubber plantations. Seeds are roasted and then eaten with rice in Java, Indonesia. In Melanesia and Polynesia people call it the "food tree". The seeds are said to taste like soy bean. A red powder made from the wood is used as an antiseptic paste.
Plant seeds 1" deep in otting mix, keep warm, damp and in bright light. Scarify to expedite germination.

Very attractive ever-blooming vine or shrub with bright yellow trumpet-like flowers. Night-scented flowers year-round.

Tassel berry. The acidic fruits, greatly enjoyed by birds, may be used to make jams, jellies, and vine. Shrub/tree, grey bark, leathery glossy leaves, purple-blackish fruit.

The dark green, serrated leaves are glossy and very attractive. The flowers are white or pinkish and rather inconspicuous. The berries, which hang down in clusters, are quite showy as they ripen and turn to shades of coral and finally bright scarlet.

Fringed Dutchman's Pipe. Aristolochia fimbriata like to grow in a light and airy place, but not in direct sunlight. Water regularly during the growth period, once or twice a week. Water no more than once a week during winter. In winter, the stems retreat back to the base. It grows best in rich, well-drained soil.

Balloon Plant, Baloonplant, Cotton Bush, Swan Plant. The name Balloonplant is an allusion to the swelling bladder-like pods which are full of seeds. The flowers are small, with white hoods and about 1/2 inch across. The capsule is a pale green, and in shape an inflated sphere. It is covered with rough hairs. It reaches three inches in diameter. The plant is a food source for the caterpillars of Danaus butterflies, and is a specific Monarch butterfly food and habitat plant. It is also popular in traditional medicine to cure various ailments.

This plant is very attractive to butterflies. Long bloom period from late spring throughout the summer. Flowers are a nectar source for many butterflies and leaves are a food source for monarch butterfly larvae (caterpillars). Drought-tolerant.

Neem tree - used cosmetically and medicinally by many cultures for centuries, also offers an environmentally safe alternative to synthetic pesticides.
Cover seeds with 1/2" well-drained soil mix, keep warm, damp and in bright light.

Bush Violet. This evergreen flowering shrub is covered in a mass of dainty violet flowers.

Red Ivory. Evergreen to semi-decidous drought resistant tree. The fruits are delicious and can be eaten fresh.

Lipstick tree, Annato. This erect shrub with large, glossy green, prominently veined leaves that can become a small tree several feet tall. It is grown as a garden ornamental less for its pale pink flowers, which last only one day, than for its highly decorative two-valved seed pods, covered with soft, deep red hairs.

Tree wisteria, Vanwykshout , Mogaba. This decorative, small to medium-sized tree is deciduous, dropping its leaves only for a short period in early spring. The tree is normally multi-stemmed, but it can be pruned to form a single stem. The drooping, blue-mauve, fragrant, pea-like flowers hang from the branches in bunches, often covering the whole tree.

Flame tree - very showy! This spectacular Australian tree is often conical in shape with dark green glossy leaves, deeply lobed when young. The upper trunk is green. Bright red bell flowers occur when the tree is wholly or partly deciduous, and are followed by thick black pods. Very conspicuous in flower in gardens and in the rainforest.
Cover seeds with 3/8" well-drained soil mix, keep warm, damp and in bright light. Keep only lingtly moist, not wet.

Angels Trumpet. Pink cultivar of brugmansia, with large velvet flowers.
Cover seeds with 3/8" well-drained soil mix, keep warm, damp and in bright light.

Pink Angel's trumpet. It's a showy landscape evergreen plant with fragrant showy flowers. Can be pruned into a nice small accent tree. Blooms on and off all year. Easy to grow.

Wild Pomegranate, Wildegranaat, Buffalo Wood, Buffalo Horn. Burchellia is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the Rubiaceae family. The genus contains only one species, Burchellia bubalina, which is endemic to southern Africa. It is a native of the Cape of Good Hope. The Wild pomegranate in flower makes an attractive contrast of dark green leaves and bright red flowers. This species is not related to the true pomegranate. The common name refers to its initial resemblance, when in flower. The plant used medicinally, roots are used as an emetic to cleanse the body. Roots are also used in conjunction with other plant parts to concoct a love charm.

Peacock flower, Dwarf Poinciana. Peacock flower lives up to its name with incredibly showy blossoms of orange and red. The striking flowers are an attention grabber! Soak seeds in warm water for 24 hours. Plant 1" deep. Bright light.

Pigeon Pea, Dhal, Gandul, Gungo Pea, No Eye Pea. Pigeon peas are popular food in tropical countries. Nutritious and wholesome, the green seeds (and pods) serve as vegetable. Pigeon Pea is hardy, widely adaptable, and more tolerant of drought and high temperatures than most other crops.

Fairyduster, Mesquitilla, Mock mesquite. Native to deserts and arid grasslands in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas and Mexico. A hardy calliandra with flowers and leaves looking very similar to tropical Calliandra selloi. Densely branched, deciduous shrub to 3 ft., though usually much shorter, with grayish-pubescent leaflets, flowers and pods. The petals of fairy duster are inconspicuous; it is the long, pink filaments of the stamens that make the showy display. This little shrub blooms in spring. The exquisite clusters of flowers with their many long stamens form delicate, pink balls, giving the plant a fluffy pink appearance in full bloom. It belongs to a group of mostly tropical woody plants that includes acacias and mimosas.
Soak overnight, cover seeds with 1/2" well-drained soil mix, keep warm, damp and in bright light.