January 4, 2011
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Flowers Seeds

Growing Species Nasturtiums

One of my goals for the 2011 growing season is to try expanding into other species of the nasturtium genus (Tropaeolum). My love of the well known and edible Tropaeolum majus is well documented on this site, and elsewhere, but I have never tried to grow, nor have I even seen any of the other species in person.

I’ve been wondering why the others are not popular in my part of the world, and have concluded that it must be down to climate and their difficulty to grow here. Like its cousins, the typical garden nasturtium will not survive the winter in my zone (around 5-6 depending); however, it is easy enough to start from seed each summer. Some will even self-seed and come back on their own the following year.

The two species I have decided to try, T. speciosum (aka Flame Flower) and T. peregrinum (aka Canary Creeper) are also not hardy, but what’s worse is that they are more difficult to start from seed. In fact, I am quickly discovering that T. speciosum is downright near impossible to germinate and can take up to a year or longer to budge! The stories I am hearing are not hopeful. I have a feeling this will be a test of wills, requiring every ounce of patience I have managed to cultivate as a gardener. T. peregrinum appears to be the easier nut to crack. Germination rates are listed at around 20-30 days.

Either way, I’d better get on starting them sooner rather than later. I’m not sure I am up for the Flame Flower Challenge, but Canary Creeper’s kung fu seems beatable. If neither work,I can always depend on good ole T. majus to make an appearance sometime in June. I’m thinking about trying a variegated variety with salmon/peach flowers called ‘Saucy Rascal’ and ‘Empress of India’ is a compact variety that I always grow in pots, no matter what.

UPDATE: T. peregrinum (aka Canary Creeper) took less than a week to germinate. All of the seeds I started germinated and the plants are now taking over my seed starting station. I had to cut them back! Meanwhile, T. speciosum continues to do nothing.

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December 18, 2010
5 Comments
Flowers Places

A Beautiful Nuisance

Guest post by Davin Risk

I am asked now and again if “I am a gardener too” and my answer is an invariably unsure, “Well, yes and no, I help.” As Gayla’s partner I am often by her side in gardens and a certain level of gardening knowledge has seeped into my brain via osmosis. I garden, therefore I am… a gardener? What would Descartes do?

My hesitation in claiming the title is common. Over the years many people I’ve met with Gayla, and many more who have come to the You Grow Girl site, have either shied-away from calling themselves gardeners or have simply stated that they are poor ones—the infamous black thumbs club. What I’ve realized though, and seen Gayla champion on many occasions, is that if you get a thrill from seeing any plant grow and you actively want to plant and foster more of that lovely green growth yourself—you can wear the title gardener with pride.

I thought of my own trepidation when Gayla asked me to write a short something about my experience with Dominica’s beyond lush, wild, varied, and rainbow vibrant plant growth. That feeling came up… who am I to write about plants or most especially gardening? But here goes… I love plants. My affection far outstrips my knowledge and so I chose to write about how much I loved the very bane of gardeners everywhere, those climbing, twisting, cover-everything plants that are especially pervasive in vastly sunny and moist Dominica.

In Dominica they struggle year-round to slash and burn back the beautiful twists and turns of plantlife. Flowering vines adorn every pole and telephone wire. A nuisance sure… but gorgeous and wonderful especially to us Northern plant lovers beaming at every bit of warm moving colour so contrary to the cold stillness of our winter.

Those wild dense spaces—bursting with life—do drive the most plant-fond gardener to the brink of sanity. But I think even those Dominicans who complained about the constant encroachment of nature had a passion for that same indomitable green force.

I choose to embrace the beauty in nuisance plants and I think that actually makes me more gardener than not.

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December 13, 2010
8 Comments
Daily Botanical Flowers Houseplants

Chandelier Plant

Back in the spring, when I guiltily purchased this kalanchoe tubiflora (aka Widow’s Thrill) on impulse, it was all about the tall, spotted tubular leaves and the way it looks like a bottle cleaning brush.

I didn’t look for photos online or in books to see how it would turn out down the road. I repotted it, watered it, and let it tell me what it needed. I let it be and enjoyed it as it evolved through several stages into this wonderful surprise.

I didn’t realize it would bloom through the first cold and dreary days of winter. I didn’t think about the flowers or imagine that they would be such a beautiful shade of orange, nor did I consider how much delight they would bring me as I trudge through the emotionally turbulent final days before I hand over my next book manuscript for scrutiny.

After all of these years, I think I’ve finally come to understand what a necessity it is to keep a few plants that will make pretty, colorful flowers when we need them most. They’re not decadent or self-indulgent; they’re essential.

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December 8, 2010
5 Comments
Flowers Places

Sorrel, Ginger Beer and Midnight Mass

About two months before our Caribbean trip, I posted here on You Grow Girl reaching out to anyone who could help connect me with other gardeners living on the islands I would be visiting. This is how I met Celia. We exchanged emails before the trip and then met up in Dominica. It was all very serendipitous since Davin and I just happened to be reading an incredible guide to Dominica by Celia’s husband Paul at the time!

Celia and her husband Paul were incredibly generous — we would not have had a 10th of the trip we did without them! They introduced us to people I could talk to about my family history, took us on road trips, safely lead us to and from the Boiling Lake (Paul has done the hike countless times), and acted as a sounding board for our many confused questions and frustrations. Celia has also helped me to liaison with House of Hope for the fundraising drive. I am incredibly grateful, fortunate, and very glad that I met her.

- Gayla

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Guest Post by Celia Sorhaindo

Photo by Celia Sorhaindo

My earliest memories of Christmas in the Caribbean island of Dominica, have always been dominated by three things; sorrel, ginger beer and Midnight Mass and this is still true today. For many Dominicans there is also a long list of mandatory traditional dishes, required to make Christmas the special celebration that it is here; but for me, my Mum’s home-made sorrel and strong ginger beer are top priority.

Photo by Celia Sorhaindo

Ginger is widely known and used all over the world but the fragrant sorrel is often a new taste for visitors. The name can sometimes cause confusion as there is a perennial spinach type herb called sorrel in various other countries.

Photo by Celia Sorhaindo

The sorrel we grow here, also known as red sorrel, florida cranberry or roselle, is actually a type of hibiscus (Hibiscus sabdariffa) and the calyces, the sepals of a flower, are used to make the beverage. Sorrel is seasonal and can usually be found growing in the drier west coast areas. Ginger, however, is available all year round in Dominica and can grow pretty much anywhere. Both drinks are commonly made by following handed down family recipes.

Not only are sorrel and ginger beer delicious Christmas beverages but they are good for you too. Sorrel is said to ease colds, reduce fever, lower cholesterol and high blood pressure and contains a variety of vitamins and minerals including vitamin C, calcium, niacin, riboflavin and antioxidant flavonoids. Ginger is used to treat nausea, motion sickness, heart burn, cold, flu and migraine and is known to have more than twelve types of antioxidants. It also contains iron, vitamin C and folic acid.

So if you can get hold of fresh or dried sorrel and fresh ginger, I recommend adding these drinks to your holiday season menu. For the past few weeks, the beautiful rich red and spiky roselle sepals have made a welcome reappearance on the huckster stalls and vegetable markets here in Dominica, colourfully heralding the start of festivities.

I would love to share my family recipe but I’m afraid I have no idea how my Mum makes her sorrel beverage or ginger beer. She never seems to follow a recipe or measure anything she prepares, which is my convenient and worn out excuse for never learning to cook properly.

Here’s a link to Gayla’s recipe which I am sure will be just as delicious.

Joyeux Nwèl!!

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Born on the Nature Island of Dominica, Celia Sorhaindo lived many years in the UK and returned home in 2005. She is co-compiler of Home Again – Stories of Migration and Return, published by Papillote Press and former editor of the annual Dominica Food and Drink Guide magazine. In her spare time she likes nothing better than to rediscover the island of her birth by hiking and to share her view of Dominica through photography and writing.

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December 6, 2010
8 Comments
Houseplants

Anthurium

Like caladium, anthurium are a tropical I never could get into. I have a penchant for freakish, alien plants, but there is something about their waxy, fake phalus-like appearance that bugs me. They just seem so Hollywood — the plastic surgery disasters of the plant world.

Last year’s trip to Dominica changed that. There, for the first time, I saw anthurium growing in their natural habitat. It turns out they live in the jungle, alongside streams where it is very humid and the soil is moist. In that environment they don’t look fake at all.

There, surrounded by a lush green backdrop, where everything is waxy and shiny, they blend right in and it seems perfectly normal to come upon a flower that looks like one of Madonna’s performance outfits, or that neon t-shirt I wore back in 1985.

Read more…

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