AGAVE AMERICANA var. medio-picta alba

The white striped Agave Americana is so large and dramatic that you will not find it in my garden. You find them in public gardens of our town and I have had some experience in the past growing them. The wild native Agave Americana is bluish in color and from Mexico.  It is famous for the tequila that is made from the cooked plant hearts.  This large white striped form of the Agave is of horticulture origin and it is the Agave you see most in Hawaii landscapes.  It gives a large strong contrast against the tropical greens.  The white striped Agave grows 3-4 feet tall with large stiff leaves that grow out in a rosette formation.  Those leaves have a very sharp tip that really hurt if you get poked with them so you need to keep the plant away from pathways. The plant is tough and is able to take hot sun, dry conditions, poor soil and also our salty trade winds.

One of the names that this plant gets called is Century Plant.  It seemed like a century before this plant flowered and then died.  In actuality it does not take that long to get around to flowering but it might take 20-30 years before the flower stalk appears and at least 10 years.You are going to need some room for the flower as it shoots up as tall as a flagpole and then will be covered with thousands of flowers in clumps.

After the Agave Americana flowers the plant dies off.  It does not look so impressive now so the gardener needs to come and remove the old plant and put another in to replace it.  However, if you take your time in removing the plant you may get several baby plants growing out of the old plant base which you can detach with a knife and pot up for future use.

 Other times you might find baby plants growing up nearby from stolons....rather like the Sansaveria produces.  Another way you can get lots of baby plants going is just pick up those stiff little flowers that drop down from the "flag pole" and pot them up in 4" pots to get started.  This is an easy way to get some baby plants if you are a "stealth gleaner" of seeds or cuttings.  Nobody is going to miss a few of those flowers dropped on the ground at the public park.  Of course as they grow bigger you will need to transplant them into bigger pots but the plant does better if grown in smaller size pots so that the soil dries out between watering.

 I would not bother to fertilize an Agave Americana out in the landscape and only water it to get it established. The one job in taking care of this plant is to trim away the old dying leaves at the base of the plant to keep it looking its best.  This is easier said than done with all those sharp spikes ready to get you.  Good strong gloves and a sharp curved knife with a very long reach is needed.  Some eye protection might be a good idea too.

The photos above were taken a few weeks ago.  Lucky that I snapped them then as the grounds crew decided it was time to remove the old Agaves that had already flowered and they are now gone.

Aloha

GARDEN VIEWS FROM TURKEY

The last few months I have been traveling around the west half of Turkey.  I did it all by bus and I have to say that the bus system in Turkey is just fabulous.  So many buses going everywhere and frequently.  It was fall in Turkey so autumn leaves were just starting to drop when I arrived there and the first snow fell in the north just before I left.  On the Aegean coast it was still sunny enough to enjoy the blue Mediterranean views with olive trees covering the rocky hills.  Inland the shepherds were leading their flocks of sheep to eat the remaining crop stubble before the farmers plowed  up the fields. Fruit trees were being harvested, grape vines were being trimmed and firewood being stacked for winter fires.

Miles and miles of plastic tunnels covered a few coastal towns where they grew  the vine ripened tomatoes that showed up at every meal.  In towns, large olive oil cans were recycled to be plant containers by the door for chili peppers or herbs.  In the country, many houses had walled gardens with fruit trees, vegetable gardens and a chicken coup.  I wandered around peeping over garden walls as usual.  I loved having fresh squeezed pomegranate juice, having the super cheap mandarins in my bag to snack on and eating the sweetest fresh figs ever.

Here are a few garden related photos from the trip.

Aloha

Notice the grape vine growing up the wall to shade the rooftop patio.

These lovely ladies are filling big jars with homemade pickled vegetables.

TOPKAPI PALACE GROUNDS, Istanbul, Turkey

 Here are some photos taken around the Topkapi Palace courtyards and in the Gulhane Park which is now a public garden but was once part of the palace.  Topkapi is not a palace in the huge building of Western sense but more a series of beautifully tiled pavilions in courtyards that hark back to the nomadic beginnings of the Turks.

Planting spring bulbs.

Aloha

KUPUKUPU FERN (Nephrolepsis cordifolia)

Kupukupu Fern is a common fern throughout the tropical areas of the world.  We have a native species here in Hawaii, hence the Hawaiian name.  However, there are other commercial varieties that have been brought into the islands with a lot of interbreeding going on so not all so called Kupukupu is actually a native type.  These plants can look very attractive as a single small plant in a pot or in a group in a large pot or as groundcover.  The leaves grow up to two feet long in a mature plant. Wherever they are they will expand their territory and can get a bit wild and wooly looking when old.  In the landscape I will pull out the old rough looking plants and let the younger ones take over.  As they get crowded together the leaves will gets smaller.  You also need to keep some sort of  physical boundary for them if you do not want then to spread.  Plants grown in the shade will be a darker green in color and the fronds droop over more while those that grow in the sun are more upright in growth.  They like moist but well drained soils.  I tidy up potted Kupukupu with scissors occasionally......  cutting off those old frond stems or errant stolens.  Occasional fertilizer will give them a boost.

Kupukupu Ferns propagate in  nature from spores or by sending out stolens with little tubers on them which grow into baby plants.  I have some baby plants that pop up in the lawn if the lawn is not being mowed often.  They have escaped from a small garden that has Kupukupu as a groundcover.   I just pull these up, give them a day in water to perk them up, and then plant them in 4" pots.  This is a slow way if you want lots of Kupukupu Ferns for a landscaping job.  One day a plant nursery worker shared his secret with me and so I will pass it on to you.  You just partially plant the little grape size tubers in potting mix and soon you will have lots of little baby ferns to pot up into 4" pots.  Now you can grub around in the garden for a few of these tubers but the best way is to keep a big old root bound potted Kupukupu  tucked away in the back yard to provide the offspring.  When you pull the root ball out of the pot you will find dozens of these tubers that you just pull off.  You can break open the root ball to find many more.  Unfortunately I threw out my old Kupukupu mother plant  and so I need to get a new one going so I can show you a picture of the tubers on the root ball. It will take a few years before it is really ready to do that.  However, you can see some of the tubers that look like mini potatoes in the second photo above.  Each of those will grow a plant.  Something the little kids might enjoy being part of.

Aloha

PS  Dec, 2015     I am adding a Kupukupu picture that I recently snapped on the Greek island of Rhodes.  The container plant added some green to a house courtyard.  Note how the local stones are used to cobble the floor.

March, 2022

I finally dug out some tubers from my big potted Kupukupu.    Here are a few photos from that.

AMARANTH (Amaranthus)

This year we have had a sweltering hot summer in Hawaii.  Weekly storms pass by the islands and leave us sweating without our usual cooling trade winds.  It feels more like Samoa.  The only good thing about it all is the resulting rain that saves me from watering the garden and makes the countryside lush and green.  I noticed another thing on my frequent walks down the through the empty lot to the nearby beach.  The wild Amaranth weeds are coming up all over the place.  Usually I have to wait for winter rains to gather Amaranth for cooking but this year it is in full abundance in the middle of the summer heat.

There are several wild greens that I pick to eat and I have written about New Zealand Spinach ( August, 2013 ) and Purslane ( Feb, 2013 ) if you want to look back at earlier posts.  Amaranth is definitely another one of my favorite wild greens.  Locally it is often called Chinese Spinach and I have seen Amaranth sold at produce markets in Hong Kong and Malaysia.  These days you will find new varieties of Amaranth being sold at Hawaii farmers markets.  However, I am a cheap forager who likes to find free food so I will stick with the wild plants growing out in the empty lot.  There are hundreds of varieties of Amaranth which are native to Central America and it was a prized crop of the Aztecs.  Some of these varieties can now be found growing wild throughout the world.

Spiny Amaranth

The two common varieties I find growing in our area are the Spiny Amaranth  and the Slender Amaranth.  The Spiny Amaranth (Amaranthus spinosus L.), also called Pakai Kuku in Hawaiian, is the one that I eat the most.  It grows very erect to about four feet in height and is easy to pluck the leaves off despite the sharp spike thorns that grow on it.

Slender Amaranth

The Slender Amaranth (Amaranthus vindis L.) does not have the sharp thorns but it tends to spread out close to the ground and so I pick from these only when they are really lush and fresh.  I usually throw the Amaranth leaves into a soup or stir fry although the young leaves are fine in a salad.  Some people gather the seeds by shaking the seed heads into a bag and then adding the soaked seeds to oatmeal or breads.  The seeds are high in protein while the green leaves have good vitamin content.

If you are interested in foraging for natures free food I recommend the web site eattheweeds.com

Aloha

CURRY LEAF TREE (Murraya koenigii)

 

I have had my Curry Leaf tree for several years now near my kitchen window where it gives light shade to several containers of herbs and vegetable greens.  The tree gets its name because you add the leaves to curry..  The leaves are not usually used to make curry powder which is a combination of several spices.  Some years ago I was introduced to the use of this leaf in cooking by a relative who had lived in Fiji and was now a curry expert.  The leaves have a wonderful citrus smell and are used rather like bay leaves to heighten the flavor of curries, stews and soups.  The leaf, although smallish, is a little too stiff to be eaten.  However, I see on Indian websites that it is highly praised for its medicinal qualities so you could grind it or cut it up tiny if you wanted to eat it to get the extra health benefits.  A good handful of  fresh leaves are sautéed in cooking oil at the beginning or at the end of the cooking process and the flavored oil incorporated into the dish..  I recently had a lovely lentil soup in Nadi, Fiji with several Curry Leaves in it.

As you would expect with anything to do with curry, the Curry Leaf tree is native to India and is mostly used in the cooking of Southern and West India as well as in Sri Lanka.  From my own travels I know that it is also popular amongst the Indian populations of Malaysia and Fiji.

The Curry Leaf tree can grow to 15 feet or so in height.  It has a light canopy and the leaves tend to fall off in the autumn months.  It helps to pinch back the branch growth to get a fuller canopy of leaves plus it makes for easier picking if you keep the leaves reachable.  I saw one tree in Samoa that had been severely cut back to 3 feet high and lots of little trees were growing up from the roots around the main tree but this is the only time I have seen this happen.  It is quite common to find little seedlings growing under the tree from dropped fruit.  These little seedlings can be pulled up and planted or the seed from the fruit can be propagated  in pots.  Either way the seedlings are quite strong but will take their time in growing into a little tree. The tree gets clumps of small white flowers and then purple/black berries in the summer.   The berries are considered poisonous by some but the fruit eating birds love them.

Aloha

May 2018

My Curry Leaf Tree is now looking stronger and thicker than the spindly tree in the photo as it gets a few years on it.  I do keep it trimmed at the top so that I can see out over the top of it when I look out my kitchen window.  This year we have had lots of rain so that the tree is a mass of white flowers across its top right now and I am thrilled to see honey bees hovering around it.  It is the most bees I have seen in the garden for a long time.  I also notice, for the first time really, that there is a light fragrance coming from the flowers.  I think that is because it is Kona winds right now so that there are not the trade winds to take the scent a way from my nose as I work in the kitchen.  I expect the birds will be having a party in the tree soon with all the fruit that will soon be showing up.

Here is an updated photo of the tree now.

GREEN ONIONS (Allium)

One edible plant that is easy to grow in containers is Green Onions.  Even if you just have a patio garden, this is a plant for you.  For many years I just grew Garlic Chives.  ( See my post about growing them in July 2011.)  One day I was visiting a local gentleman who had a big container of Green Onions in his garden and I asked myself why I was not growing them too.  Duh!  I have no idea why I was so slow to get around to this as they are such useful plants and some foods just seem right with Green Onions rather than using Garlic Chives as a substitute.  I mean, Garlic Chives work well with eggs and salads etc. but a bowl of  Saimin noodle soup really needs that bit of Green Onion on top and stir fried rice only seems right  with Green Onions too.  Usually when I go pick the Green Onions I just use a pair of scissors to cut the plant off about one inch from the soil and leave the roots to grow leaves again.  On a recent trip to New Zealand I noticed Green Onion being added a lot to coleslaw and that added a nice dash of bright green to the slaw.  Being part of the Allium family, the Green Onions also provide  an extra nutritional punch to the meal.

To start off your Green Onions you could buy seeds but the easiest thing is just to buy a fresh bunch of Green Onions at the supermarket produce section.  Use the upper green part, keeping about one inch of the bottom root end.  Place the bottom roots  in water for a day or so to perk them up and then plant them in your garden or a container.   In a container you could use potting mix, but really, you need some real soil in there too for the plants to grow well and also give them the occasional hand full of fertilizer. 

Aloha

PS  August, 2017

Since writing that article I transferred the green onions to a bigger container....an old galvanized wash tub.  They have been growing there about a year or so now and the onion bulbs have been reproducing into quite a bunch with less green leaf growth.  It is time to pull up the  bunch and start off with new singles again but I will only do half of the tub at a time so that I have my green onion supply for the kitchen still going.

I seem to be having a problem with tiny round snails in the green onions.  I do not notice them when I am out hunting slugs and African snails at night time.  I found the best way to catch them is right after a shower of rain in the day time.  The tiny snails climb up the stalks of onion to get away from the moisture and are easy to see then to pick off the stalks and squash.  Otherwise they are hiding down in the soil in the day time where they do not show.

Ready to be divided

The onion bulbs having a few days in water before planting.

Feb, 2018
Another problem that occurred in the winter time was the onion stalks getting thin and floppy because they were not getting enough sun.  Partly this is because they get partial shade from the Curry Leaf Tree (August, 2015).  The leaves tended to flop over, especially when I shot them with the hose, and lie on the soil and that made them get even less sun.    I fixed it by laying three sticks of bamboo over the tub to give a frame to hold the Green Onion stalks so they were up and off the soil.  Only a few days later there was a remarkable difference in the  plants.  They looked so much healthier now they were getting lots of sun again

Bamboo sticks to keep leaves from flopping over on to soil.

Dec, 2019

Green onions with flower heads for sale in market in Bangkok, Thailand