Viola Etain

One of the biggest challenges for me in gardening is figuring out what to put in the front row or at least finding something that’s short enough that it wont take away from the plants behind it. Sure, there are plenty of low growing plants, but the problem is that they just don’t pop.  Well, at least not until I found the Viola Etain.

This cool little plant has soft yellow flowers fringed in purple that will be the star of your front row early in the season as it grows only 6″-8″ tall.  The Viola Etain blooms profusely from spring to early summer, then sporadically for the rest of the season.  This plant is quite hardy, surviving in zones 5-8.  As an added bonus, it has a lovely fragrance that can be enjoyed while the plant is in bloom. As long as you have shade to partial shade spot, then you will be able to grow these lovely flowers. If you are in it’s northern range, then full sun will also be ok. Southern gardeners should be aware that these cannot take the full sun in the higher southern zones. So a cool shady spot is best. As with most plants, as long as you provide a rich well draining soil, the Viola Etain will bring you plenty of beautiful fragrant flowers for years to come.

If you are ready for some nice color and fragrance in your front row, then I highly suggest the Viola Etain. If you don’t know where to get it, I suggest you pick some up from DirectGardening.com. I know I already have my order in for some extras!

Plant Information

Hardiness Zones: 5-9
Sun exposure: Part Shade to Full Shade
Height: about 8″
Width: 6″-8″
Bloom time: Mid Spring Early Summer
Bloom Color: Pastel yellow with purple fringe
Watering: Average
Soil: Well draining
Availability: DirectGardening.com

Edible Passion Fruit

Do you have a bunch of passion fruit on the vine but not quite sure when it’s ready to eat?

Passion fruit will take 2-3 months to become ripe. Since the Passion Vine produces flowers/fruit all summer long starting in June/July, the early ones should be ready by late August, early September in Zone 7 (if grown in full sun). The easiest way to spot a ripe one is when they fall to the ground. Any fruit you find laying on the ground is sure to be ripe. Another way is too look for yellowing fruit still on the vine. If it feels soft and easily comes off the vine then its ready to eat. Firm fruit that does not come off the vine easily still has some ripening to do.

Once you have them off the vine, simply cut them in half with a knife. You will discover that the fruit is mostly hollow. You should also see small black seeds surrounded by light green almost white fleshy substance. The fleshy stuff is what you want to eat, sort of like a pomegranate but the seeds aren’t as densely packed in the fruit. There aren’t a whole lot of them in each fruit but you should be able to get a couple of mouthfuls. The seeds are not solid so they can be chewed easily, of course you can also swallow them or simply spit them out. For greater satisfaction, I recommend chilling the fruit for a bit before eating.

The taste can best be described as citrusy and custardy but it definitely has a very unique, delicious and distinct taste. There is one amazing thing about the fruit that many will not be aware of and that is that it tastes exactly like a tropical fruit called guanabana also known as soursop. I don’t know if the two are related but if you have eaten guanabana before, you will immediately recognize the passion fruit taste. The interesting thing about this is that guanabana only grows in true tropical climates and is grown from a tree unlike the passion fruit which grows in temperate regions (as well as tropical) and grows on a vine.

Just like with any fruit, there are several things you can do with Passion Fruit such as jams, juices, smoothies, etc. My favorite is to make Passion Fruit juice but you will need quite a few to do so. Another delicious thing to do is to add them into a smoothie mix for a hint of the tropics.

If you do not have passion fruit, then I highly recommend growing some because the flowers are quite beautiful and the fruit is delightful. You can read how to grow your very own here.

Black soot left / Aphids Right

Are your plants looking like you have a coal mine right next to you? If so, read on. This summer I came across something I hadn’t seen before. I first spotted it on some 1st year small trees, then on a crape myrtle and then on some photinias. In addition to this black soot, there were some white/light green little egg looking things that covered some of the new growth. Puzzled, I did some quick research and discovered the source of this mystery. The culprit, aphids. I had read about aphids and new they existed but had no clue they caused this black sooty stuff on plants. As it turns out, aphids suck on the new growth to extract the plant juices. In turn, they secrete this stuff called “honeydew” which then molds (black stuff that you see). In addition to the black stuff, you may also notice that a lot of the new growth is deformed.

The incredible thing is that though the aphids are pretty small, the black stuff covers the entire plant! Also, if you look at the ground, you will find that it completely covers that as well including any understory shade plantings you may have. So it would seem that aphids are quite the voracious eaters!

The good news is that aphids are pretty easy to get rid of with organic non invasive products. Below are some suggestions depending on severity and/or style of gardening:

Severe Infestation

A severe infestation will probably require spraying.  Since aphids are quite delicate, no need to break out the big guns. A good parafinic oil based product will work.  I use Bonide All season spray which works great on aphids, best of all it’s organic so you can spray without the guilt. I like this option because it provides all around protection and one application is enough to do the trick for a while. You can also apply any time of the year so if you spray early, you can get the eggs before your plant looks like the inside of a chimney.   Another alternative is organic  insecticidal soap. It’s also an organic option so just as safe as spraying the parfinic (Neem) oil.  Use this one for spot spraying.

Medium Infestations or Organic Gardening

If you are an organic gardener or your infestation is medium, then you can simply spot spray the plant with organic insecticidal soap. The soap strips the wax covering the aphid’s body so a few sprayings may be needed to do the trick. Works great and very safe. Home remedies can also do the trick. Cooking oil along with your dish soap may work but  I would try that as a last resort  or if you are dead set on not buying a commercial organic option.  It should not be used on hot sunny days or on plants that get direct sun as the oil will cause sun damage on the foliage and could kill your plant right along with the aphids.

Mild Infestations

For really mild infestations or at the first signs of aphids,  simply knock them off with a stream of water from a garden hose nozzle.  You can also use a manual approach and simply crush the little suckers with your finders (they pop very easily but watch out for PETA! =-). The downside to these methods is that you may miss some and they will quickly come back. So constant vigilance is required  if this is your preferred method. Even for mild infestations, consider using either the insecticidal soap or parafinic (Neem) oil simply because they are faster and way more effective. Remember, if you miss a few, they will be back and you’d be surprised at how fast these suckers spread and turn your beloved plant into a sootie mess.

The bad news is that regardless of what you use, the black stuff/mold will remain on the foliage. You will have to clean that off manually leaf by leaf which is impossible unless you have a small plant. Of course you can leave it since it will not really hurt the plant. Just be vigilant the following year and eliminate the aphids as soon as you see them or  use a preventive spray of the above mentioned products early in the year.  I am not sure on what causes aphids, but they seem to target the same plants/bushes every year so just because you get them early one year it does not mean they wont come back the next.

Blue Sea Holly

Dry hot spots are the hardest to garden for obvious reasons. Maybe it’s too far to get a garden hose, maybe you are a green gardener that doesn’t like to waste a lot of water or simply nothing grows there. Whatever the reason is, it can be challenging to find an attractive plant that will not only give you nice foliage but nice color as well. If this describes your situation, then you may want to give the Blue Sea Holly a shot!

This attractive plant not only gives you nice lavender blooms but some quite attractive foliage. As an added bonus, it will add some interesting texture as well. The Blue Sea Holly is a rugged and hardy perennial that can survive in most North American zones (zones 4-10). It does well in dry full sun hot spots that only seem to support weed life. The Blue Sea Holly can grow 24″-30″ tall. Blooms are a blue-lavender color and foliage starts green with white veining that gradually turns a blue gray. Flowers are excellent for making dry flower arrangements.

Growing these is quite easy because they don’t require a lot of water or rich soil. In fact, they will do just fine in even sandy soils. So just pick your dry spot, plant, water the first week or two and leave it alone. There is no need to fertilize, as they will do just fine without it and will keep them compact with strong flower stems. If you want a larger plant, with more foliage, you can add some fertilizer but it may produce weak flower stems. In either case, care is minimal.

So if you are having a hard time finding something for that full sun dry spot, the Blue Sea Holly may be for you!

Hardiness Zones: 4-10 Salt tolerant
Sun exposure: Full Sun to Mostly Sunny great for hot dry spots
Height: 24″-30″
Width: Varies up to 2′
Bloom time: Summer
Bloom Color: Lavender
Watering: Drought Tolerant
Soil: Well draining, dry
Availability: DirectGardening.com

Japanese Toad Lily orchid like

Propagating Japanese Toad Lilies is pretty easy, in fact they seem to do this themselves just like Oriental Lilies.  The bulbs produce scales that you can remove, place in soil and watch them grow.  They also produce little bulblets that you can plant in peat pots.  All you have to do to find these is look.

There are a couple of ways to look for these. The first, is look around the base of an existing Toad Lily, this is my preferred method because I don’t have to dig them up. You will these little bulblets around the base of the plant. Simply pick these off and replant in a peat pot or similar. The second, is by removing scale offsets from the existing bulb. This is best done in early spring when you can dig up your existing Toad Lily bulb.  Some times if you are lucky, you can even find these scales right at the base of the plant close to the surface without even digging it up. Just root around the base a little with your fingers and you can find them. They look like a grape that has been cut in half.  In fact, I was inspecting some newly planted Toad Lilies the other day that I got this spring from Direct Gardening. Much to my surpise, I found a little plantlet already growning from bulbs that have been in the ground for less than a month.

Of course if you don’t have time to go inspecting for bulblets, you can let them do their own thing and before you know it, you will have additional plants coming up from the base of the original plants as early as their first season in the ground. After a few seasons, you will have lots of new plants which you can dig up and separate.