Mandarin update

We just got back from vacation in Los Angeles, where it was actually cooler and cloudier than in Oklahoma. Here at home spring has sprung and our yard is filled with color where there has just been brown for months. We spent some time in the backyard after dinner this evening and I checked on the greenhouse. Much to my surprise, there was finally some action in the mandarin seed pot!

It looks like two seeds germinated and one of them reached the clear plastic lid and the starter leaves have died. That could mean doom for that seedling. I don’t know for sure. The other seedling looks vigorous and in good spirits. Given that we planted the seeds at the very end of January, I think the germination period was probably about 6 weeks. My daughter was really excited when I showed the pot to her. She may be a bit overly optimistic about our prospects of a bushel of mandarins, but we’ll give it our best shot. 

Mandarin seeds

We have been eating a lot of small citrus fruits this winter. Mostly we have been getting those small seedless mandarin clementines branded as Cuties or Halos. They are really sweet and delicious, although we’ve found the shelf life is limited to about a week. After that they start to dry out inside the fruit.

This week my wife wasn’t able to find any of those tiny clementines at the grocery store, so she bought some larger mandarins, which regrettably aren’t as sweet. The bonus? They have seeds. As I was eating the second fruit I started spitting out the seeds in my hand and was considering whether to try germinating them. My grandfather, a very good gardener, could grow citrus trees from seed and did so regularly. As I was considering this my daughter saw the seeds in my hand and got really excited and asked if we could plant them, and grow a orange tree and pick the oranges and eat them and never have to spend money on oranges again!?! Yes, these were her words. And you can guess that made up my mind.

Remembering what my granddad had told me, I nicked each seed with a knife (not sure how deep, so I could have screwed it up right off the bat). Then I soaked the seeds in water for 24 hours. My daughter, with the great memory, asked me at dinner if we get to plant them now. Yes, thanks for remembering when I forgot!

We planted the 4 seeds 1/2” deep, moistened the soil, and covered the pot in plastic wrap. Here goes nothin!

Trip Report: Foster Botanical Garden in Honolulu, Hawaii

While on vacation in Hawaii this May, my wife and I visited the Foster Botanical Garden in Honolulu.  In Oklahoma, a tropical botanical garden would necessarily reside in an enclosed structure.  Not so in Hawaii.  The only enclosed structure on the grounds of the Foster garden is to keep a group of hybrid orchids in a pristine environment, where they will not spread into the wild or cross with naturally occurring species.

The Foster Botanical Garden has a long history, dating back to 1853.  [You can read about the history here.]  The garden includes areas dedicated to orchids, hybrid orchids, Cycads, palms, bromeliads, Aroids, gingers, and Heliconias.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to see the Hybrid Orchid greenhouse because I took too long in other parts of the garden and the garden closed before I got there.

Map of Foster Botanical Garden

I would like to just give a run down of the specific sections of the garden and then point you to my photo album, which I'm sure you will enjoy! :)

Exceptional Trees

The Foster Botanical Garden has a wonderful collection of 24 "Exceptional Trees."  Exceptional Trees are those that have been designated as trees which are to be protected and cannot be cut down.  According to the legend, one of these trees is the offspring of the tree under which Buddha sat when he gained his knowledge.  You can see pictures of many of the very large trees in my photo album.  A couple of the exceptional trees are palms, of which the Foster BG has more than 100 different species.

Palms

There are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of palm trees in this relatively small botanical garden.  Not being a connoisseur of palm trees, many of them look the same to me.  However, there were about 10 different species that really stuck out, including the Double Coconut Palm and the Grugru Palm.  The palm trees ranged in size from about 8 feet tall to well over 80 feet tall.  Their trunks varied from smooth to covered in spines (the Grugru palm).

Christie standing in front of a huge palm tree with spreading fronds

Cycads

On first glance, many cycads look like members of the palm family.  But they are a very different family of plants, and can grown into the subtropical and temperate zones, including Oklahoma.  These plants are displayed in the "Prehistoric Glen" of the Foster Botanical Garden.  Cycads are among the oldest trees in the world.  The individual trees themselves are not the oldest plants, but the species have been found in the fossil records dating back to the age of the dinosaurs!

Heliconias, Gingers and Marantas

The botanical order Zingiberales contains the families Heliconiaceae, Zingiberaceae and Marantaceae - which were all featured in the center terraces of the Foster BG.  Of course, I am a huge fan of plants from the Marantaceae family.  I was surprised to find many plants from this family were labeled with incomplete signs, such as "Calathea plant, Calathea sp."  It was as if they had tried to determine the species and had been unable.  I have had this problem quite often with this family of plants.  It is surprising to me that for such a beautiful group of plants, the names are not more widely known.

Calathea picturata inflorescence

There was a beautiful flowering specimen of Calathea picturata and many flowering Heliconia.  Unfortunately, many of the Gingers were not in bloom while I was there.  I did see them blooming in other parts of Hawaii though - and I brought back 5 different varieties to grow at home.

Orchids

There is a great collection of orchids, mounted on stumps and tree trunks and planted in the ground.  One of them is appropriately named "The Giant Orchid" (Grammatophyllum speciosum).  It has long, wandering stems that arch towards the ground and was probably a good 8-10 feet in diameter!

Giant orchid (Grammatophyllum speciosum)

It's simply amazing to see these plants growing outdoors.  I would never think of putting one of mine outdoors.

Odds and Ends

There are certainly some oddball plants at the Foster BG.  One of these was the Cannonball Tree (Couroupita guianensis), which has tendrils growing down it's trunk that are covered in blooms that look like orchids.  Later, very large nuts form on these tendrils that look like a large, round coconut (or a cannonball).  As they mature, they begin falling from the tree.  Weighing somewhere around 20 pounds, these large nuts can be dangerous to someone not paying attention!

Warning sign under the Cannonball Tree (Couroupita guianensis)

Another odd specimen at the garden was the Buddha's hand citrus tree (Citrus medica var. sarcodactylus).  I had seen pictures of these truly odd fruits before, but not seen one in person until I was here.

Fruit of the Buddha's-hand Citron (Citrus medica var. sarcodactylus)

To see all of my pictures from the garden (289 of them) click on the image below. Enjoy!

Grapefruit tree on vacation for the winter

A couple of month ago I was bragging to my in-laws that I have had a total of 500 visitors from 50 different countries visit my blog.  My father-in-law asked if I had told my faithful readers that "every time I try to take a shower I get attacked by your grapefruit tree."  I'm pretty sure there were some expletives in there, but I removed them to keep my G rating.  Also, I don't think he knew it was a grapefruit tree...

My grapefruit tree

The grapefruit tree has some pretty mean thorns all up the trunk and down all of the branches.  They are mean when they're green and meaner when they're dead and brown.  My parents-in-law have been kind enough to overwinter my grapefruit tree at their house the last 2 years, since they have lots of room and I have very little room.  My tree has been very happy there, because they also have a lot of large windows to let light in their house.

The grapefruit tree was a gift from my granddad who grew it from the seed of a grapefruit he bought at the grocery store.  He gave it to me 2 years ago and it was already about 4 1/2 feet tall.  It tends to lose some of its leaves in the fall and winter but gets bushy again each summer.  He recently gave me another grapefruit tree he had grown (this one only about 5" tall).  Neither of the plants have bloomed yet, but hopefully they will be able to pollinate one another some day.