Grass-tastic

One of the first plants we got upon moving to Honolulu was what we call Manoa Grass. Our friend Dan gave it to us; he told us that it is a kind of native Hawaiian grass. I guess because he lives in Manoa, we assumed it was native to there, though he later told us that we completely made that up; nevertheless, the name stuck. At first, I had some trouble growing the grass. It was perhaps over watered and seems to get moldy in the pot. While we were still at our old apartment, we simply moved the grass into the magic sink, and it began to prosper. However, upon moving to the new apartment, the grass was moved back into a pot. Although we are still in the exact same neighborhood, this area seems a bit more sunny and dry, and it has done wonders for the grass! 

 

Not only has it grown taller than me despite being in a pot, it has developed many lovely seeds. 

 

They take quite some time to turn brown and mature, but once it finally happened, there are grass sprouts everywhere! The babies are well and growing just fine. 

 

Knowing all of this, we were intrigued on a recent visit to the Disney Aulani hotel and resort where we encountered what looked like a different variety of Hawaiian grass. I took a few seeds and planted them in a plastic container. 

 

Now there are dozens of sprouts of what I like to call Disney Grass. Grass-tastic!

Big Island Bonsai

Adam and I had a lovely relaxing long veterans day weekend on the Big Island of Hawaii. On our very last day, we decided to stop by what looked like an interesting tidbit, the Fuku Bonsai state bonsai repository and store. After driving down the dirt road in Kurtistown, we were amazed to arrive and see hundreds of bonsai plants, including many banyans, pine, and others.

After browsing for a while, we were greeted by Mr. Fukumoto himself. He was extremely friendly, and after chatting with him for a while, he introduced us to the dwarf schefflera plant. His philosophy is that everyone should be able to have success and to enjoy bonsai, for if this is the case, then more people will be happy, pursuing the hobby, growing plants and perhaps even promoting world peace. He had found this plant to be one of the best houseplants for growth indoors, in the tropics but even also on the mainland where they experience winter. The Fuku Bonsai staff take 2-4 years to cultivate a perfectly charactered specimen of a tree. They chop the leaves and growth down; 95% of plants will die this way. However, those that live are showing themselves to by excellent material for bonsai. We were very impressed and excited with the operation and decided to take the introductory workshop in creating bonsai. We were treated to an individualized lesson. As a teacher, I was impressed with Fuku Bonsai's teaching philosophy: beginners should teach other beginners; also, students need to try by themselves to be able to learn. We observed the steps to choosing and planting a dwarf schefflera that had developed good character. They we tried by ourselves. It seems that my strength is in choosing the plant, and Adam was strong in the planting. We are each going for a different style of Bonsai. Mine is the sumo: short and fat.

Adam's is roots--the roots are covered in tin foil and stuffed with soil; after about six months he can open it up and the roots will be showing.

This is a delicate art and I am so excited to train my bonsai plant. As Mr. Fukumoto insisted, so I follow his instructions: look at your bonsai every day and smile!
When we got home, Adam was so excited by the lesson that he tried to apply it to his ficus. We found this plant in Manoa about a year ago, and it has grown quite large despite an initial desire to bonsai the plant. Adam followed the steps that we learned in class at Fuku Bonsai. My only fear is that this is such an extreme measure to take on a plant that hasn't been trained at all. Only time will tell what happens.

Alula, Take 2

As you may recall, I have had a long struggle growing Alula. The last post I gave mentioned that the dying Alula was coming back to life. Sadly, it was just the last burst of energy before an utter and complete death. The Alula was over watered and could not come back; the entire trunk was rotten and it collapsed upon itself. 

However, I remain undeterred, and as such, decided to try again. I went to a local native plant nursery and picked up two new Alulas.

 

They are both quite lovely, and one of them has two conjoined plants in the same planter.

 

 I boldly replanted one of them into a larger pot, and after a few months, it has grown and grown! I experimented with various locations for the plants, comparing their progress in differing environments. What I learned is that they seem to prosper outside in the shade, being watered for about 20 seconds per week. Even though the variety I have now is not the critically endangered one, I still treasure these plants highly and can't help but smile every time I see them.

A baobob and a cashew walk into a garden...

Back in July, I ordered some exotic seeds online. While I had success with the Joshua tree, I was pretty disappointed that nothing else was coming up. After waiting the full amount of time suggested for germination, I decided to give some seeds another go. Adam unfortunately dumped all the Lithops seeds into the sprouting pot, so those we will have to order again. But I read the sprouting instructions carefully for each variety, and instead of putting them all into the same planter like I did the first time, I gave them each their own special home. The seeds were sown to the appropriate depth and given just the right amount of water and sunlight for their needs. Although I still have no papyrus and no black pepper, I was able to get a couple more sprouts up. 

I was so excited when the cashew sprout emerged. It is literally like planting a cashew nut into the ground at first; it turns green, splits open, and a large sprout emerged. It loves lot of sun and just a little water, and so far it is growing strong! Apparently the cashew plant also produces a fruit that is little known but delicious. Not too long after my joy of sprouting the cashew, I discovered a baobab sprout! This one emerged in the original sprouting tray. The baobab can take up to 3 years to germinate, so I was certainly lucky to get a sprout in just a few months. The little sprout seems strong and continues to grow slowly. As for the coffee, there is still time left in the germination period, so I hold out hope!

Third generation Basil

One of the first plants I got in my garden after moving to Honolulu was a basil from my friend Dan. It was on its last legs at the time, but it had gone to seed, and I was able to plant a baby. The descendant grew tall and strong. It was delicious, the woody, then far past its peak. Finally, it went to seed itself, just as we were moving to our new apartment. Thinking that the family was gone, I was amazed when a bunch of tiny basil sprouts (recognizable at first only by their smell) came up. We had dumped some soil from the pot that housed the now deceased basil into the dirt of our new garden bed. Without realizing it, I had actually transplanted many of the old basil sprouts. Now the third generation is alive and thriving!

Maui plant-cation

This past June I was fortunate enough to go on a lovely vacation to Maui. One highlight was a stop at Haleakala park. The summit and hiking and always legendary, but this time we took a guided ranger-led birding tour of the Waikamoi preserve near the middle of the mountain. The parking lot looked like grassy sloped hills covered in native Hawaiian shrub. However, the hike into the preserve revealed forests of Ohia Lehua and Koa trees.

I have a small Ohia plant in my home garden, but it hasn't been looking too healthy recently. I'm not sure why this is, and I took some cuttings to try and start a new healthier plant to hedge my bets. There's no point in my posting a picture of the now dead cuttings, but please keep your fingers crossed that one day my little Ohia will grow to be like the ones in Haleakala.

 
Also on Maui, we stopped at the Maui Nui botanical gardens in Kahului. I would recommend them to any visitor to the island. They have tons of native plants, including many alula and ihi, which of course made me ridiculously excited. They also had striped banana trees and some lovely varieties of sugar cane.

Purslane insanity

Thanks to the delicious Otsuji farm in Hawaii Kai, I was exposed to several new Asian vegetables. In particular, they helped me discover purslane. This leafy green veggie is delicious when stir-fried or eaten raw in salads. When buying bunches of purslane from the farm, I noticed that there were occasionally tiny black seeds attached to some of the leaves. Thinking nothing would come of it, I sprinkled some of these seeds in the soil. A few months later, having forgotten about the purslane completely, I was pleased to discover what looked like ihi sprouts coming up!

  

It turns out that both the ihi and the purslane are in the genus portulaca. They look so much alike that I couldn't tell the sprouts apart. However, it soon became apparent that these plants weren't ihi. They grew extremely quickly and soon were taking up a whole pot. The first few tastes of the sprouts were sour and leaf-like, but eventually the familiar citrus flavor came through and I were convinced that I was indeed growing purslane.

 

Once I knew what I was dealing with, I became determined to sprout some new purslane, just to prove that it was repeatable. I let the plant go to seed rather than picking and eating the leaves. If you are familiar with the ihi seeds, you will recognize how similar they look to the purslane seeds below. The plant has now completely gone to seed and thousands of small black seeds have been produced. I kept some in an envelope, and let many more drop into the soil. No seedlings yet, but I guess it's just a matter of time.

Zone 11

It all started about seven years ago, during a cold winter in Ontario. My friend Katie asked if Adam and I would accompany her to Joshua Tree Park in California for Spring break. I'd never heard of the place, but I'm always up for an adventure, so off we went. Although the weather was chilly and wet, it was a beautiful trip and I was completely impressed with the Joshua Tree. 

Fast forwarding to just a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned to Adam that I've really wanted a peppercorn plant for some time now. We ate fresh peppercorn in Thailand and it is supremely flavorful and much more spicy than dried black peppercorn. The seeds that I acquired in the grocery stores have proved nonviable, so I went shopping online. I found a great website based out of Eugene, Oregon that sold peppercorn seeds...and much more. I restricted my searching to sprouts that thrive in Zone 11: the tropics. As you can see in the photo below, I may have become a little excited and ordered seven kinds of exotic seeds, including both black pepper and the Joshua tree.

 

I followed all the different directions and now each kind of seed is planted. Some plants have wildly varying germination times. For example, the Joshua tree can take from three days to three years to sprout. It wasn't my bet to emerge first, but low and behold, just days after planting, a Joshua tree sprout is the first (and so far the only of the exotics) to show itself.

Now the story comes full circle. I leave this week to visit Katie in Switzerland, where she's currently living the high life. I have her to thank in great part not only for introducing me to the Joshua tree, but for sharing her infectious enthusiasm for plants. I hope that we are able to eat lots of chocolate over the next week or so, and I can't wait to see what sprout babies come up in my absence!

Pad Ki Mao Oh Wow!

Today's blog post is about how to make a delicious Thai food meal of Pad Ki Mao (drunken noodle).

Step 1: Sprout Korean Chili Peppers

Step 2: Pick Ripe Chilis

Step 3: Grow Thai Basil either in the sun

Or in the Shade

Step 5: Stir Fry the chili and basil together with boiled rice noodles, egg, garlic, soy, fish and oyster sauces then garnish with sambal olek and lime. Oh wow!

Step 6: Take the seeds from the lime and plant them in your garden immediately!

A Shining Star

Our friend Leslie often hosts yummy dinner parties. At one recent gathering, she confessed that for dessert, she had purchased an unknown purple fruit at the market. The star apple had a sweet and milky flavor and was delicious served with meringue and marzipan. As she was cutting the fruit, I observed several large black seeds. I couldn't help but grab a few to take home for planting.

Not too long later, some sprouts emerged! The sprouts themselves were large, with a thick root and leaves encased in a shell. The leaves eventually broke through and now I have three small green star apple plants!

Feeling hot hot hot

As those who know me well are aware, I love spicy hot foods. So when my friend Dan provided me with a connection to the ghost pepper, I was super excited. It is the world's hottest pepper, and I enjoy savoring the heat in a nice Asian meal. However, when he gave me this last batch, I decided that it was time to do more than just eat them all. I planted several of the seeds, and low and behold, a sprout! What is just a little mysterious is that despite squeezing the seed contents of an entire pepper into the soil, at the moment only a single sprout has emerged.

Meanwhile, another pepper plant has been actively producing offspring. The Hawaiian chili pepper plant that we love had become a bit difficult to maintain when birds began feeding on it. A solution was to cover some of the ripening peppers with paper. This turned out to work well for preserving a few peppers past the peak of ripeness to the peak of sprout-ability. However, just as one problem was solved, another one arose.

I had the Hawaiian chili pepper sprouts in my small red planter, but every evening they were being eaten by a slug. I lost more than just the chili sprouts, including an orchid sprout, and I knew it was time to take action. I moved the sprouts that may have been still in the soil, and put them into a larger ceramic planter. I then covered that with plastic wrap with holes poked in it to form a safe greenhouse of sorts. We left town for a lovely spring break trip to Florida, and when we returned, we were greeted to a ton of Hawaiian chili pepper sprouts that had burst through the plastic and survived any slugs.

They are now in individual planters, and growing every day, as is the solitary ghost. I now keep all the smallest sprouts together in a large lidless tupperware on the top step so that the slugs are less likely to eat them.

Manoa Bounty

A while back, Adam and I ventured into the jungles of upper Manoa on a hike/sprout gathering mission. One of the plants was this ficus, which he plans to bonsai. As you can see, he is growing the roots around a rock. However, the plant is so healthy that we can't stop it from growing, at least a little.

On the same trip, we encountered wild orchids. I dug down into the ground, to try and pull one up by the roots. I was unable to accomplish this, but I did see a few round seeds. I pulled a couple and planted them. Just a week or two ago, the first one sprouted. Thanks to the incredible rains we have had lately, it has been thriving. The distinct rippling in the green leaves convinces me that this sprout is indeed from the purple orchid we saw in Manoa. A second sprout was coming up, but it was sadly eaten during the night by an unknown beast.

We have a few mystery sprouts coming up as well. I have recently been keeping a sprout diary, which records which seeds were planted where. However, before this new level of organization, I had planted a variety of seeds all over the place. A few mysterious sprouts appeared; it is possible that they are friendly weeds that blew into the pots in the yard. However, I allow them to grow for a while, in order to attempt identification--or at least to get intuition as to whether I like them. One very interesting mystery sprout is the one pictured below. At first, it looked like some small mushrooms were sprouting in the soil. I moved to pluck them out, and to my surprise, found out that they were not mushrooms at all, but rather sprouts! I gently placed them back in the ground, and eventually they emerged from their mushroom-esque shell. I am quite curious to see what they become, for at the moment I do not know what to make of them.

Ginger, Uprooted

Our friends Justin and Amy were in Honolulu for my birthday, back in September 2011. They got me a lovely edible ginger plant. I tried to water it regularly, but it was difficult to keep healthy. Over the months, the green leaves began to turn brown. Four stalks of leaves became three, and then three became two. Just a couple of weeks ago, it became apparent that the plant was no longer holding on. The leaves were brown and sagging, so I pulled them out and went digging in the soil. To my surprise, I found a huge ginger root! It turns out that the plant was growing and thriving--underground. I pulled off a small chunk of the root and placed in back in the soil. The rest was turned into dinner: deep fried ginger shredded beef (a la Crystal Dynasty)!

The Girl with the Sprout Tattoo

Warning: this blog is not actually about plants. But I figure, only a few friends and family actually read it, so why not share my fun news? I got a tattoo last night! It's been 14 years since my last one, and I've been thinking about an addition the whole time. This tattoo has been in the works for at least 6 months. I know it looks like I have a sick addiction to sprouts, and I kind of do. I think they are super pretty and cute and elegant looking. But this tattoo is special for a couple of reasons, other than just the fact that I love sprouts. First of all, Adam designed it. We spent days walking around Oregon, picking all the sprouts we could find and examining them: the roots, the seed, the leaves. He has a sketchbook filled with different sprout designs. Secondly, this is the perfect time in my life to get a sprout image. I just turned 30, finished my Ph.D., and started working and my adult life here in Hawaii. It is a time for new opportunities and growth, starting fresh out of the ground, excited about whatever adventures lie ahead!

Pineapple Crazy

I have been amazed at how easy it is to grow tomatoes, peppers and avocados here in Hawaii as compared to Tennessee. I have also had a good deal of success with growing native and tropical plants. One fruit that I was particularly interested in sprouting is the pineapple. The steps to doing this are fairly interesting. You take a pineapple fruit with the stem still attached. Make a fruit salad, or soak the fruit in vodka and mix with tonic water--whatever you do to enjoy it. Meanwhile, you take the detached stem and plant it in some soil. Water it and give it lots of sun. Legend has it that after three years you will have a baby pineapple. The fruit grows up out of the stem (with another stem attached, it is kind of fractal in nature).

I had planted a pineapple stem back in August. I was beginning to tire of waiting for it to grow and mature. I began to despair that I would never be able to wait the three years required to grow my own pineapple. I even considered uprooting it and using the pot to plant something else.

That is, until I brought home a pineapple from the store. I compared the stem of the freshly purchased fruit to the stem I had planted. It is evident that the stem I planted has grown considerably! How could I have forgotten that slow and steady wins the race? My hope and optimism are completely renewed and now I can't wait until August 2014-ish when my baby pineapple emerges. I have also been spurred on by walks around my 'hood where I spy neighbors who are working on the same pineapple project, and whose fruit are more mature than my own. Seeing the future of the pineapple sure is exciting!