Archive for the ‘Garden’ Category
Scene in Hawaii: Monarch Butterfly Caterpiller in a Supermarket Garden Shop
Crown Flower in the Supermarket Nursery -- Honolulu, August 9, 2009
NOTE: DoT has been posting from Honolulu since late July when she left California to help her mother through some medical procedures. She will be doing so until she can return to Orange County.
DoT’s Thot: “Love and kindness are the very basis of society. If we lose these feelings, society will face tremendous difficulties; the survival of humanity will be endangered.” — Dalai Lama
Supermarket Nursery– My Old Reliable Source of Gifts for Mother
Seeking ways to entertain a 92 year old mother, I visited a supermarket garden shop in (Moiliili) Honolulu that I have frequented for years. On every visit home, I have looked for plants and flowers to give Mom. One year I found an orchid plant with green blossoms. On this visit, as I wandered around, picking up vegetable seeds and potting soil, I walked out into the garden open area. It was bright and sunny and the full sun plants were getting all the rays they needed.
Monarch Butterfly Caterpiller 9 Aug. 09
Crown Flower — Excellent Monarch Butterfly Caterpiller Food
Over at one end of the rows of plants, I suddenly realized that I was staring at a pot with a white crown flower plant in it. For a commercial plant, it looked strangely moth-eaten with large holes in the leaves. All the other plants looked whole and commercially, cosmetically highly presentable. I looked closer and sure enough, there it was, a Monarch Butterfly caterpiller, large and succulent, munching away. I thought it a bit odd.
Goodbye to My Supermarket Garden Shop
Upon checking out, I overheard a conversation between a customer and clerk and discovered that the supermarket garden shop would be closing in a month or so. I was stunned and joined the conversation — my reliable nursery would be no more. None of the garden shop staff knows about their futures as yet; the nursery is another victim of the economic downturn.
Compassion in Survival: Hope for the Monarch Butterfly Caterpiller
As I packed the potting materials and plants into the car, I realized that the staff has conscientiously cared for all the plants. If I had not heard the conversation, I, as a visitor, would never have known about the employment issues — the Monarch Butterfly caterpiller was being spared by the staff. I took my camera, went back and took a few pictures to share with you the aloha (love) and ohana (family) in the supermarket garden shop that will soon be dispersed and go elsewhere.
Monarch Butterfly Caterpiller -- oopsy daisy, up and over
With the timetable they have, there is time for a butterfly to emerge from the Monarch Butterfly caterpiller. I truly hope all the staff find positions — I will miss them all, people and butterfly..
Aloha, DoT
Related Articles and References:
Related Posts:
- Asclepsis and Lantana: Food for Monarch Butterflies
- Monarch Butterfly Haiku: Camera Madness
- Monarch Butterfly Sightings Haiku — the Asclepsis Gardener’s Reward
- Missed the Monarch Butterfly Chrysalis — Found It Empty
- Monarch Butterflies — Caterpillar Faith
- Monarch Butterfly Life Cycle Site Review — go visit
- Monarch Butterfly Egg Hunt — First Report
- Monarch Butterfly Egg Hunt is On
- A Note on Monarch Butterflies in Hawaii
- Vegetarian Recipes: Star Anise Flavored Boiled Peanuts
- In My Mother’s Garden: Neem Tree; Miracle Herb from India
- Scene In Hawaii: Rooster at the Shopping Center
- In My Mother’s Garden: Pakalana, One of My Favorite Fragrant Vining Flowers
- Cooking in Hawaii: Manoa Lettuce, My Favorite Salad Greens
- In My Mother’s Garden: the White Hibiscus Dad Gave Mom
- Cooking in Hawaii: Ginger Oil Chicken
- Cooking in Hawaii: Ahi Sashimi with Shiso, Chili Pepper, and Shoyu
- In My Mother’s Garden: Shell Ginger Hidden Among the Red Ginger
- In My Mother’s Garden: Red Ginger in Hawaii
- Scene in Hawaii: Hawaiian Kiawe Tree Revisited
- Scene in Hawaii: Hawaiian Bougainvillea “Dragons”
- Scene in Hawaii: Hawaiian Snowflakes, Rainbow Shower Tree Haiku
- Grow Tomatoes Review: Chinese Purple Tomato Fried Rice Recipe
Find Useful Cultivator Tools Here
Scene in Hawaii: Hawaiian Bougainvillea “Dragons”
Bougainvillea "Dragons" Honolulu, Hawaii 5 August 2009
NOTE: DoT has been posting from Honolulu since late July when she left California to help her mother through some medical procedures. She will be doing so until she can return to Orange County.
DoT’s Thots: “A dragon can be unseen or visible, minute or huge, long or short. However,
always it is great.“ — Shuo Wen (ca. 100)
Recently, while taking my mother for a drive in Honolulu, I noticed a variety of bougainvillea that I had not seen before. The branches were long and sinewy and bobbed about in the wind. They seemed magically animated — what a great visual treat.
Long green leaf-scaled “necks” ended in bright rosy pink bracts with tiny tubular embedded flowers. The effect was quite like a number of dragon heads undulating in the wind. I was so entranced with the look that I vowed to go back and get a few pictures.
I have them here for you to see. In the closeup you can see that these are indeed some variety of bougainvillea. When I have a chance, I will track this down at a plant nursery. At the moment, I am deeply engaged in helping mother with her health issues and put further search on the back burner, but could not wait to share the photos. Please enjoy the Hawaiian Bougainvillea Dragons.
Closeup of "Dragon Bougainvillea" 5 August 2009, Honolulu, HI
Aloha, DoT
Related Articles and References:
Related Posts:
- Scene in Hawaii: Hawaiian Snowflakes, Rainbow Shower Tree Haiku
- A Note on Monarch Butterflies in Hawaii
- Obama and Hawaii: Color-Rich, Not Color-Blind
My Memories Suite - the #1 rated digital scrapbooking software now!
Grow Tomatoes Review: Pineapple Tomato
NOTE: DoT has been posting from Honolulu since late July when she left California to help her mother through some medical procedures. She will be doing so until she can return to Orange County
Pineapple Heirloom Beefsteak Tomatoes, July 16, 2009
DoT’s Thot: “Pizza with pineapple, that’s a cake…Pizza with cucumber, it’s an insult. — (Alessio Vinci ).
Pineapple Tomato — that’s a winner.– (DoT)
Pineapple Heirloom Beefsteak Tomato Characteristics
The Pineapple tomato was listed as an heirloom beefsteak tomato with maturity date of 85 days. It is an indeterminate (I) heirloom tomato plant.
The pineapple tomato is bicolored, red and yellow and reputed to weigh up to 2 pounds. The flavor is rich, sweet, and fruity.
Pineapple Heirloom Beefsteak Tomato Review
Slices of Pineapple Heirloom Beefsteak Tomato 20 July 2009
Our Pineapple Tomato plant yielded it’s first tomato on July 16, 2009, having been put into the ground as a seedling in mid-March. It was definitely one of our late tomatoes which makes this beefsteak tomato appealing from the point of view of extending the heirloom tomato season as much as possible, since we enjoy these fruits so very much.
Our garden’s Pineapple heirloom beefsteak tomato plant did not yield the very large tomatoes I would have liked. The tomatoes were more in the range of 1/2 to 3/4 pounds.
They are beautiful tomatoes that show little cracking (a real plus here with our periodic heat waves). Though the tomatoes were smaller, there was an abundance of tomatoes and the harvest has been good. I think I need to learn to prune my tomato plants — this is definitely the resolution for what to do differently next season.
Distinctive Red Edging on Pineapple Heirloom Beefsteak Tomato Slices
The pineapple tomato itself is bursting with juicy flavor, very meaty, and a beautiful golden yellow orange with red mottling in the flesh. This is a very sweet tomato. If you look closely at the Pineapple Tomato slices, you can see the unusual and distinctive red edge that the skin provides against the mottled flesh. It is quite unique and beautiful.
Pineapple Heirloom Beefsteak Tomato Harvest on 17 July 2009
Grow Tomatoes Review Bottom Line for the Pineapple Tomato:
This heirloom tomato goes on the list for next year. A late season beefsteak tomato, it is plentiful and beautiful, tasty and yields tomatoes not prone to cracking which is a real plus in our Southern California garden.
Aloha, DoT
Related Articles and References
Related Posts
- Grow Tomatoes Review: Earl of Edgecombe Heirloom Tomato
- Grow Tomatoes Review: Chinese Purple Tomato Fried Rice Recipe
- Grow Tomatoes Review: Chinese Purple Tomato Is a Beautiful Slicer Tomato
- Grow Tomatoes Review: Measuring Up Paste Tomatoes
- Grow Tomatoes Review: My Mortgage Lifter Beefsteak Heirloom Experience in 2009
- Grow Tomatoes Review: I Don’t Know What to Make of Mamie Eisenhower’s Tomato Pudding
- Grow Tomatoes Review: Follow-Up Photo of Golden Pineapple Beefsteak Tomato
- Grow Tomatoes Review: Vintage Wine and Black Brandywine Heirlooms
- Review Basic Canning Tips for Beginners: An Inexpensive Reference
- Grow Tomatoes Review: Journal Entry – Early Tomatoes Were Hybrids in Pots
- Tip: Stake Up and Tie Those Stray Tomato Branches with Velcro
- Grow Tomatoes Review: Journal Update on Omar’s Lebanese Heirloom Beefsteak
- Grow Tomatoes Journal News: 2009 Late Blight hits East Coast
- Grow Tomatoes Journal: Review of Ingredients for 20 Cups of Salsa
- Grow Tomatoes Review: 18 Oz. Omar’s Lebanese Beefsteak Tomato
- Grow Tomatoes Review: Sugar Lump Cherry Heirloom
- Tomato Gardening Journal — Review of May 2009
- Grow Tomatoes Review: Orange Santa Grape
- Grow Tomatoes Review: Journal Entry – Pink Thai Egg Tomato
- First Tomato of 2009 — Pink Thai Egg
Tomato Growers' Store (Even for Growing Tomatoes Upside Down)
Update to Curry Leaf Plant Review: Tiny White Flowers
NOTE: DoT has been posting from Honolulu since late July when she left California to help her mother through some medical procedures. She will be doing so until she can return to Orange County
Curry Leaf Plant Flowers August 2009, SoCal
DoT’s Thot: ” The flower’s are gone when the Fruits appear to ripen.” — Alexander Pope
Curry Leaf Plant Produces Flowers
Back on July 17, I wrote up a description of the curry leaf plant and mentioned that it produces tiny white flowers. At that time, I only had a picture of the plant with leaves. Here in August, I can share with you a picture of the tiny white flowers that the plant produces. Later, we will try to capture pictures of the seeds. Although the flowers are modest, they do add a nice touch to the plant whose leaves alone do make this a potentially decorative patio plant.
As a reminder, these are the fresh leaves are an ingredient in many Indian dishes and is quite different from the western bay leaves.
Aloha, DoT
Related Articles or References
- For more pictures and information see Gernot Katzer’s Spice Pages.
- TIps on growing curry plant…
Related Posts
- Curry Leaf Plant Review: True Indian Curry Leaf Herb
- Review Spice Funnel: A Handy Tool for Cooking with Spices
Buy Spices In Larger Quantities to Fill Your own Spice Jars
Wedding Registry
Grow Tomatoes Review: Old German Heirloom Beefsteak Tomato
Old German Tomato Plant with Heirloom Beefsteak Tomatoes That Look Like Pumpkins On The Vine
DoT’s Thot: However silly it may seem, sometimes I grow a tomato plant because of how it looks, even if the flavor is not top-ranked…just part of curiosity, I suppose.
Old German Tomato Heirloom Beefsteak Green Vines
Old German Tomato Characteristics: Heirloom Beefsteak Tomato
This is one of those tomato plants that I first got and put in the ground out of sheer curiosity. It was listed as an indeterminate (I) heirloom beefsteak toomato.
Old German tomato apparently is Mennonite in heritage and hails from the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. Just the thought of its history made me want to help this heirloom beefsteak tomato to “go West”.
Days to maturity was listed as 75 days. It was reputed to produce 1 to 2 pound tomatoes.and was rated as outstanding. I bought a plant and put it in the ground.
Old German Tomato Has Distinctive Curlicues and Large Blossoms
One of the very first things we noticed about our Old German tomato plant was that as the plant grew, the vinces were unusually thick and curly. The look evoked a feeling of old Germany, the black forest, and fairy tale pumpkin patches with curling vines.
Old German Heirloom Beefsteak Tomato Flowers
The blossoms on this heirloom beefsteak tomato plant are large with very curly sepals. If you look closely at the picture you can see the curlicues that charmed me so much.
The Old German tomato itself is a very pretty yellow-gold with a pink-rose center which gives lateral slices of this tomato a very distinctive appearance.
Grow Tomatoes Review Summary
My particular experience this year was that while the plant was productive, it did not yield tomatoes as large as reputed. Perhaps our Southern California growing season has some differences not quite suited to this Virginia heirloom beefsteak tomato.
Slices of Old German Tomato Golden Yellow with Distinctive Pink-Rose Centers
Perhaps I needed to pay more attention to pruning the vines, although other plants equally left to grow without pruning did produce fruit as reputed. My Old German tomatoes were about half a pound, not 1-2 pounds.
The tomatoes were pretty to behold. and the charm of seeing the flowers and vining habit made growing this tomato satisfying. Generally reviewed as a very tasty and sweet tomato, I was surprised to find mine were somewhat bland. I hesitate to eliminate this heirloom beefsteak tomato from my to buy list, because I think it deserves another season. I will continue to harvest and eat these and see if some of the later tomatoes are tastier.
Bottom Line: I’ll give this another chance before deciding that my micro-climate is unsuitable for me to grow this highly regarded heirloom beefsteak tomato. I really like looking at this particular plant and the tomatoes are good, just not as tasty as I was expecting.
Aloha, DoT
Related Articles and References
Related Posts
- Grow Tomatoes Review: Earl of Edgecombe Heirloom Tomato
- Grow Tomatoes Review: Chinese Purple Tomato Fried Rice Recipe
- Grow Tomatoes Review: Chinese Purple Tomato Is a Beautiful Slicer Tomato
- Grow Tomatoes Review: Measuring Up Paste Tomatoes
- Grow Tomatoes Review: My Mortgage Lifter Beefsteak Heirloom Experience in 2009
- Grow Tomatoes Review: I Don’t Know What to Make of Mamie Eisenhower’s Tomato Pudding
- Grow Tomatoes Review: Follow-Up Photo of Golden Pineapple Beefsteak Tomato
- Grow Tomatoes Review: Vintage Wine and Black Brandywine Heirlooms
- Review Basic Canning Tips for Beginners: An Inexpensive Reference
- Grow Tomatoes Review: Journal Entry – Early Tomatoes Were Hybrids in Pots
- Tip: Stake Up and Tie Those Stray Tomato Branches with Velcro
- Grow Tomatoes Review: Journal Update on Omar’s Lebanese Heirloom Beefsteak
- Grow Tomatoes Journal News: 2009 Late Blight hits East Coast
- Grow Tomatoes Journal: Review of Ingredients for 20 Cups of Salsa
- Grow Tomatoes Review: 18 Oz. Omar’s Lebanese Beefsteak Tomato
- Grow Tomatoes Review: Sugar Lump Cherry Heirloom
- Tomato Gardening Journal — Review of May 2009
- Grow Tomatoes Review: Orange Santa Grape
- Grow Tomatoes Review: Journal Entry – Pink Thai Egg Tomato
- First Tomato of 2009 — Pink Thai Egg
Cultivate and Fertilize the Heirloom Tomatoes
