# 14 (4) 2010

Growing indoors

Capturing the Clerodendrum: Growing Butterfly Flowers Indoors

...A fascinating story about tropical clerodendrum collection grown by indoor gardener Ludmila. How-to-grow tips, all secrets you need to know for successfull cultivation of these beautiful flowering exotics indoors, as well as many other flowering tropical plants....

Growing outdoors

The garden where happiness lives

...The Gurvits family is proud of their home and garden, and they are all happy here. When entering the oldstyle wooden gates adorned with blossoms of quisqualis and bougainvillea, it feels like entering into a fairy tale... A story about creating amazing garden with tropical fruit trees in subtropical Florida: useful tips how to make plants happy outside of tropical area, how to fit more trees into your small yard, how to reduce watering and maintenance, how to make the garden enjoying...

Legendary Plants

Aphrodisiacs: plants of love

...During the course of history, humans have discovered many plants with peculiar effects: magical, reality- altering, and stimulating. In archaic cultures, these were considered “plants of the gods.” Ingesting them, it was said, could lead to contact with the world of spirits, the realms of the gods, or other forces of nature not normally visible. Many of these sacred plants had interesting side effects, such as the awakening of sexual desire, and increased physical pleasure. These plants were called “plants of love”...

Growing a pomegranate tree

...Of all the plants of Aphrodite, the pomegranate tree attracted the greatest cultural interest. The ancient Egyptians associated it with love, eroticism, and sensuality...

Aristolochia: A Calico Pipe With Gynecological Inclination

...One of the greatest things that is realized while delving into the world of plants, is the uniqueness that one has from another. This is unmistakably true with the Aristolochia. You will be hard pressed to find another plant that is so out of the ordinary, and yet, so very easy to grow.The flower makes for quite a great conversation piece; it looks like something out of a Star Trek episode! Different species vary in flower shapes, but all of them are magnetic and bizarre. Distinctive yet unusual, some species resemble tobacco pipes, others look like wind musical instruments, weird hanging “elephant ears”, or even old night caps. "Birthwort" type of flower associates itself with childbirth in many ways. When first viewing this flower, you can easily see the resemblance between its shape and that of a birth canal. Some of the flowers have even been compared to a human fetus in the womb...

Exotic Kaleidoscope

Tambalacoque, the Dodo tree

...Until recently, it was thought that this species was dying out. There were supposedly only thirteen specimens left, all estimated to be about 300 years old. Though they were all still successfully fruiting, no young trees or seedlings were being discovered. It was hypothesized that the Dodo bird, which became extinct in the 17th century, ate tambalacoque fruit, and only by passing through the digestive tract of the dodo could the seeds germinate... The tambalacocque was also nearly extinct as a result of dodo's disappearance...

Richardia: humble groundcover from the royal family

When we moved to Florida, there was one plant that instantly grabbed my attention. It was low growing, fast growing, easy growing and yet, it had all these pretty baby-pink flowers that popped up along Florida's highways, from Central to South Florida in late summer through fall... It makes a beautiful ground cover. I soon got the opportunity to test this plant in residential landscape....

 

Purchase current issue, back issues or subscription