Curious what other plants senior ( and others ) members are into?

[ArronOB]

Originally Posted by SouthPark

I grow some plants that I find interesting, and sometimes useful too.

One interesting one I grow, but not particularly useful is --

Fuchsia 'Charm Rose Purple'

I grow - for lemon scent 'tea' - the lemon-scented tea tree ------ Leptospermum petersonii, which is amazing for its lemon scent ------ for putting into hot water to make lemon smelling tea.

I also grow lemon scented myrtle ----- Backhousia citriodora, which is also very nice smelling (lemon) when the leaves are scrunched together. But interestingly - you need to put many more leaves into the water pot ------ as it is not as powerful as Leptospermum petersonii.

Here, I also grow peanut, calamondon, kumquat of various kinds, lychee, dragonfruit, navel orange, lime, and also finger lime, lemon, blueberry, pineapple, papaya, sugar cane, and taro.

The taro leaves - as everybody probably knows ------ does the same thing as lotus leaves ----- that is, the water runs all over the leaf and doesn't wet the leaf. So you do get the 'taro effect' ....... same as the 'lotus effect'.

Hey SouthPark, do you actually get fruit from the finger limes. If you do then you are the first person I’ve heard who does so.

I have a couple in the backyard. It took them about 18 months to recover from the transplant. Now about 12 months further on they have recovered most of their leaves, but still they just sit there with no actual growth.

What do you find with yours?

[yug]

Calamansi, lemon, mango, chicle, bananas, succulents, bromeliads, adeniums, hibiscus, tumeric, plumeria pudica, macadamia nut, papaya, and whatever decides to grow on its own. I also have a Phaius, Spathoglottis, and Bird's-Nest fern that each just showed up in a pot, and I kept them to see how they would turn out.

[JScott]

I'm into carnivores, especially Sarracenia and Dionaea. I love the tall, trumpet shaped Sarracenia, although Sarracenia purpurea will always have a special place in my heart, because it was the first Sarracenia I was able to grow successfully, and I still think it is the easiest Sarracenia.

I mostly prefer the natural species when it comes to Sarracenia, or crosses between two of the same species with highly different coloration/morphology.

I love it that there are so many different varieties of Dionaea (Jeremiah's Plants at Carnivorous Plant Resource has the best selection of Dionaea, and his plants are always fantastic, so if you are interested, I recommend Jeremiah).

I probably have upwards of a dozen different varieties of Dionaea, and as far as Sarracenia go, I think flava is my favorite species. I love leucophylla, but for some reason, I have never had any success with it.

I LOVE Nepenthes, but just don't have the right conditions for them, even the lowland ones. I buy them, and they get along at first, but over the next couple years, they just languish and die. Oh well. I'm happy with my Sarracenia and Dionaea.

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by ArronOB

Hey SouthPark, do you actually get fruit from the finger limes. If you do then you are the first person I’ve heard who does so.

Hi Arron! I only just saw your post here a moment ago.

I haven't yet got fruit on my plants yet. I have one juvenile one, and also one medium size one. Apparently, they have to reach a size roughly like the one seen at this link here ------ (click here). Take a look at the figure with the caption "4-5 years old in 14-20L pots".

My two plants are growing quite comfortably here in the tropics. No fruit yet, but I think the medium size plant I got has a chance of getting fruit soon. My other one is just a juvenile ------ so that's going to take much longer - although the juvenile is developing some long branches from it.

[yug]

Finger-lime fruit are actually usable. Not much to them, but I've seen them used before. Now, the 'Buddah's Hand' citrus isn't really usable unless you want the zest from the skin.

[Fuerte Rav]

Originally Posted by yug

Finger-lime fruit are actually usable. Not much to them, but I've seen them used before. Now, the 'Buddah's Hand' citrus isn't really usable unless you want the zest from the skin.

I know! But I couldn't resist planting a 'Mano de Buda' just for the novelty value I've had a few blooms this year but no fruit has set.

[Leafmite]

The blossoms, no doubt, smell heavenly. I love when my citrus trees bloom.

[DirtyCoconuts]

I love finger limes. You don’t eat them?

[SouthPark]

I just had to check on the definition of 'lime' for citrus fruits. So I guess that finger limes fits the description of a lime hehehe.

The finger lime appears to be native to Australia. But most likely grown in heaps of places around the world now.

I have a medium sized regular lime tree - tahiti lime - as well ----- but it produces like 1 fruit every couple of years hahaha. Yes --- about 1 lime every couple of years. That's because it's growing a lot in the shade, and probably doesn't get enough fertiliser or supplements. Good leaves on it though. Good for adding into things like thai green curry. The leaves that is.

[yug]

Originally Posted by Fuerte Rav

I know! But I couldn't resist planting a 'Mano de Buda' just for the novelty value I've had a few blooms this year but no fruit has set.

Those 'Buddah Hand' citrus are some really strange fruits. Yes, there is a novelty value there, but those things are just plain weird. How / why would a fruiting plant ever get a fruit like that?

Since we are on the strange fruit topic, have you ever seen the Praying Hands banana? It is an actual edible banana, but the 'fingers' on each hand are fused together. If you cut across them, you see that each fruit is separate from the others, but the outer skin is fused to those around it. The fruit is similar to the cooking banana they use in the Philippines, Saba or Dip-pig, it is starchy and not as sweet.