My plant failures

My two little stevia plants succumbed to damping off disease, I guess. They were growing about an inch but then withered and died. I had one hoodia plant growing last summer, but it also died. It looked quite cactus-like, so I don't know if it died from damping off disease or what. Maybe I should not have had it out on my windy deck last summer.

That's the end of my stevia seeds. Maybe I'll buy a stevia plant next summer. And I've planted the rest of my Hoodia seeds. They haven't come up yet.

Aloe vera --not just for burns

I've always had an aloe vera plant that I've used for burns. Takes the pain away immediately. It's also antiseptic and helps scrapes and wounds heal, but I read somewhere a long time ago that it wasn't good to ingest aloe.

But now I'm finding that it is very good for you to eat or drink it. It is good for your digestive tract and also helps your blood move through your arteries and carry more oxygen to all the cells of your body as described in this article from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Here's an article at Newstarget that talks about how good it is for your cardiovascular system. I just wish it tasted better; you have to add it to something else, and my daughter refused to use it on her sunburns when she was young, because she said it smelled like sweat.

Aloe is pretty easy to grow. For me the biggest danger is over watering it. Since my last move I hadn't had any aloe, so I bought a little container at Walmart for about $5 that had 4 little plants in it. Two plants I left out in the hot windy deck last summer, and they didn't do so well. One actually sent up a little flower (the one in the picture). I guess it thought it was going to die, and it had to procreate before passing on. They say it is better for your system if it is a bigger plant, so it will take a year or two to get mine big enough.

You can get a free aloe ($3 for shipping and handling) and lots of info from Aloe Vera Plant Products. Also Neem Tree Farms (I want to get one of those neem trees one of these days.) has Aloe Barbadensis, which they claim is most often used in herbal remedies. I don't know about that but it's only $7. The aloe in the Pitt lab photo looks to me like an ordinary aloe .

Have a stevia sprout

I complained a couple of months ago about my stevia seeds not growing. But I made a last ditch effort and put the few seeds remaining in a plastic baggie with a damp paper towel, and now I did get two sprouts. One sprout is growing so far; the other sprout hasn't come up from the soil I planted it in.

This is a good method for impatient people like me who can't keep watering soil where I planted a seed and nothing comes up for weeks. This also worked for lemon seeds. They take so long to sprout, but in the bag you just check them every few days, and you can see when they sprout. Also for seeds that have to have the cold treatment like apple or cherry seeds, you put the bag in the fridge and just check every couple of weeks. Eventually they will start sprouting.

Hey, I'm just learning as I go along.

Goji berry plants growing

Last year I had bad luck with my Goji seedlings and a couple of weeks ago I checked the seeds I had left and they seemed all soft and moist. I thought they're probably not any good any more, so I planted them quickly. Now they are coming up. Apparently these are seed pods, because there are a whole bunch of seedlings coming up each place where I planted a seed. So there are lots of little seeds inside the seed pods that are in each berry. I didn't notice this last year.

Well anyway I'm going to have over fifty plants if I can keep them growing. I'll keep you posted.

Columnar Apples

Here's a great idea for growing apples in your house or patio. One Green World has three kinds of apples that you can grow in a container and they bear apples along the main trunk. The description doesn't say if they are hybrids. I wonder if you could grow more from seeds, or at least cuttings. Nowadays they say all fruits are hybrids.

One Green World has a lot of interesting plants, like Goji berry (they call it Wolfberry), Guavas, Pomogrante, lots of kinds of Sea Berries, plus many other exotic fuits and berries.

Ask them to send you a catalog. The catalog is more descriptive than the website. For instance, there are three kinds of Columnar apples, Golden Sentinel M-26, Northpole M-7 and Scarlet Sentinel M-7, but on the website they are just thrown in with the apple varieties.

No luck with stevia seeds

I'm not having as much luck with my stevia seeds. The company I bought them from (Whatcom Seeds Co.) was a little stingy with the seeds. I only go about 6 or 8 seeds in my package. I planted 3 seeds and they haven't sprouted, so I only have a few more to try with. I also got these last year, so that might be the reason they are not sprouting.

Hoodia Gordonii

I planted two of the Hoodia Gordonii seeds I bought last year, and they both came up. This is really exciting, because I was afraid I waited too long and they wouldn't sprout. And I didn't do anything special except use a cactus soil mix. Now let's see if it will continue to grow or get seedling wilt. I'm trying to keep the top of the soil on the dry side. Here are some detailed instructions about growing Hoodia (scroll down to the bottom of the page) although they don't sell seeds, and another site that talks about growing Hoodia, but I can't see where they sell seeds.

Bouncing Bear has seeds for a quite reasonable price. I bought mine on ebay

Clove tree

Found a place (Jene's Tropicals) to buy a clove tree. Very expensive, but I would love to have one. Lots of information about cloves here. They sell seeds here, but sounds like they are not very easy to start. Some info from India about growing cloves from seeds.

Graviola or Guanabana

I remember when I lived in Colombia we used to drink this guanabana juice a lot. I never realized that this plant has so many medicinal uses including anti-cancer, anti-parasitic (very important in tropical countries) and reducing blood pressure. There's a lot of information about this plant at Raintree Nutrition. You can buy plants and seeds at Exotic Fruits and plants at Top Tropicals. You can probably find the fruits at some Latin markets. They are filled with seeds. To make the juice you have to whirl the fruit in a blender with water or milk.

Chia - Not just for petting

I added this to my list. I'm really getting away from houseplants, as this is something that you would sow in your garden annually. But it sounds like it is a very useful plant. Chia seeds are full of protein, vitamins, essential fats, etc. and can help you not eat so much. Read more here. You can buy them at Bountiful Gardens and also Horizon Herbs.

Chia means strength in the Mayan language. There is a town near Bogota, Colombia called Chia. When I lived there, that was a common Sunday outing to go to Chia. I thought maybe there was a connection to Chia seeds, but no, apparently Chia means moon in the native Chibcha language.

Growing Goji Berries

Several people have commented on their successful growing of Goji Berry plants, but the comments are all over, so let me relist them here.

Seeds from dried Goji berries

Also from dried Goji berries

From seeds

And here is Timpanogos' article on growing them. Apparently you can grow Goji berries outdoors most places as they can withstand temperatures of -15 degrees Fahrenheit up to 100 degrees Fahrenheit. And apparently it is easy to grow the seeds from the dried Goji berries you get at a healthfood store. So everyone can have a Goji plant growing in their back yard. Dry or freeze them and enjoy their healthful benefits all year.

Yacon - Low calorie sweet like a potato

Another addition to my list, although this normally wouldn't be a houseplant. Yacon can be easily grown outdoors. A great natural low calorie snack food that is actually good for you.

How Sweet It Is…and Healthy too!
Fresh Yacon tubers are crisp and juicy with a delicate flavor reminiscent of apple or melon and a surprising sweetness that increases in storage. They can be eaten raw, (fresh or dried) steamed, baked, roasted, or juiced. The somewhat bitter skin can be scrubbed off with a stiff brush, peeled with a vegetable peeler, or removed after baking. One of our favorite recipes is to simply chop the peeled tubers into bite-size pieces and sauté them in a little butter until the sugar begins to caramelize. Serve with mashed potatoes topped with fresh parsley.

While satisfyingly sweet and flavorful, Yacon remains low in calories. This is due to the fact that the sugar contains high levels of oligofructose (inulin), a form of sugar that is not metabolized readily by the human body. For this reason, Yacon shows much promise as a food for diabetics and as a base for a low calorie sweetener. Even a tea made from dried Yacon leaves is purported to have the ability to level out blood sugar levels. Research on the benefits of Yacon for diabetics is being carried out in Argentina and Japan. Oligofructose is known to aid digestion and promote beneficial bacteria in the colon, so it may also help prevent colon cancer. High in fiber, low in fat, and rich in oligofructose, Yacon is considered by many to be a superfood of the future.

Some other suppliers are Green Harvest (Australian), Organic Centre, and also in Australia- Daleys Fruit.

Another interesting article about Yacon is at Newstarget.

Goji Berries

Many people are asking about where to get Goji Berry seeds or plants. I bought mine on eBay. Here are some other places that sell seeds and/or plants.

Timpanogos Nursery

Sand Mountain Herbs

Local Harvest

Richters

Gojiberries.usLycium Eleagnus Barbarum

Healing Herbs

B & T World Seeds a company in France

Herbalistics a company in Australia

For the record, I don't have any relationship to any of these stores. Some places call this the Chinese Wolfberry. There is some discussion about what is the best or authentic plant, as there are about 40 varieties. Most use the scientific name of Lycium Barbarum, but one place says this is the real Goji berry, Lycium Eleagnus Barbarum. I imagine they are all healthful.

Update: Rich has informed us about his site Gojitrees
He also says his is the authentic Lycium Eleagnus Barbarum.

Found another plant very high in Vitamin C - Amla

I have been reading lately about the many facets of Vitamin C. Ascorbic acid is only part of the Vitamin C complex. Although it seems that Ascorbic acid works for me, most likely the whole complex would work better. In any case it would probably be best to get your Vitamin C from one of the plants that have a high amount of the Vitamin C complex. Acerola Cherry is one and this plant Amla is also very high. It is from the Himalayan mountains so it might grow outside up here in the Northwest. I've found two places that have seeds, Horizon Herbs and this site that just incidentally sells some seeds.

Probably in the north rose hips is the most easily obtained Vitamin C plant. Rosa Rugosa has excellent rose hips. Strange that the nursery catalogs make no mention of the rose hips when selling Rosa rugosa.

Exotic plants now commonplace in catalogs

Looking through the seed catalogs like Burpee, Guerney's, Thompson & Morgan, Park Seed, I'm finding that they all are stocking some uncommon plants, like stevia, ginkgo biloba, dwarf banana. I especially like Territorial Seeds. In addition to Stevia they have the Green Tea plant and Sea Berry (Asian berry extra high in nutritive value) and Purslane--they don't do trees.