What plants do you grow besides orchids?

[cbuchman]

Originally Posted by Leafmite

I would recommend the lemon over the pine. The pine is nice but it doesn't have fragrant blooms.

When in bloom the fragrance is divine! If it blooms while indoors, be sure to hand-pollinate the flowers if you want fruit. I use a small clean makeup brush to do the deed. Works like a charm.

[gardengirl13]

Where did you guys get them?

[cbuchman]

I got my Myer Lemon from White Flower Farm via mail order. It was expensive and I think a Google search might get you a better price.

[stefpix]

I am growing some Citruses from seed. Mandarin and Kumquats.

The mandarine was chopped down to the roots by a squirrel but i waited and 3 months later backbudded. the leaves smell good when crushed. it is faster than growing orchids from flasks. What I really like is growing Ficus (banyans). if you get some seeds of exotic species they sprout easily if fresh. Seeds from ebay are a hit or miss, but some imported from india were so many and so easy to sprout. If you are in FL and CA there are pollinator wasps you can find dried syconia (figs) on the ground - not even dried and they will most likely sprout.

[Leafmite]

I bought my meyers lemon from a local place that got them from Duarte in California. Logees has them, too. They are usually not too difficult to find.

[Leafmite]

Stefpix, I am growing mango trees from seed. I am not certain how well they will do long-term, though. I grew a pair of citrus from seeds (from fruit) but I think I will go with the grafted dwarf ones now. I had them about ten years and no blooms. Did you get your allspice? I made a cutting of mine last spring and am hoping it will take. It is still green but I am still waiting on new growth.

[NYCorchidman]

Originally Posted by cbuchman

My favorite non-orchidaceous plant is my gardenia. I got it in 1974 as a bare rooted 3 inch slip from Coca Cola for drinking so much soda. For the math challenged, that means I’ve been growing it for 38 years. It’s about 5 feet tall right now. It has suffered many indignities, including falling off the wall and have breaking off its top. It now blooms prolifically in the spring and sparingly in the fall. Of course, it smells divine. Unfortunately, I really have to keep after the mealy bugs; so this year I applied a systemic mealy bug treatment before bringing it inside for the winter. Pictures are attached.

I also have a dwarf Meyer lemon tree which produces lemons, which is always fun.
Attachment 73403 Attachment 73402

wow~ 5 feet tall gardenia after 38 years of care! You're the winner!
I also love gardenia and its devine scent. Unfortunately, they seem to be spider mite magnet in my apartment.
So I buy them in the season but then I don't keep them once flowers are gone as they are fully loaded with spider mites no matter how often I swipe the leaves.

By the way, what kind of systemic do you use on your plant? With such large and dense bush you got, it could be touch to check for bugs that might sneak in somewhere. Systemic sounds like the way to go!

There are two very tall gardenia trees in NY botanical garden greenhouse, and I just love the smell when they are in bloom in the spring.

[stefpix]

Leafmite -
I see different citrus blooming and bearing fruits in Chinese laundromats and one person told me she started it from seed.

I got the Allspice. the leaves smell great. I put it on the roof and probably it was too much light and it lost all the leaves but it started producing more along the trunk. I need to take some plants in now that temperatures at night are around 50 and in the day 60. What is really nice and it is really easy to start from cutting is the variegated Hibiscus tiliaceous that i think is native or endemic in FL. it needs a lot of water and you can leave water in the saucer. I started it from a tiny green cutting with only one node.

Anyway that Gardenia seems amazing, i wish the photo was larger. I killed one and they need a chill to bloom.


Systemic is not effective for spidermites. I have some but I am worried as I grow a lot of Habanero Chili peppers that I overwinter i wouldn't want to recycle the soil with the systemic on my edibles...

Hard to keep track.

[Kevinator]

Leafmite, sprouting mango seeds is easy. All you have to do is to crack open the seed (DO NOT DAMAGE IT) and plant it in moist soil. Caring for it after it sprouts is the difficult part. Mine died from lack of water (even though the air was saturated with water).

Speaking of gardenias, my grandmother in China has one that is seven feet tall and has about thirty flowers on it.

Citrus: I'm not really interested in growing them, although I do have a lemon tree that constantly produces the fruit. I also have a very tall orange tree that produces so much every year, we have to send the fruit to our friends and still have bagfulls of them!

[Miri the Wildmage]

I'm now trying to grow an avocado stone. Any suggestions?