I have to report the fork experiment was a failure. I placed these plastic forks a couple of weeks ago after a rabbit ate my Blue Pea Vine; they got it again last night. I may move to tomato cages or a tall pot. This is far enough out in the garden I don’t want to have to water a pot..a dilemma.
On to more positive things. My back up Papaya trees have set a bud and are almost four feet tall. I am waiting, breathlessly to see if the flowers are male, female or both.
I found a Thai Dessert Mango (Nam Doc Mai) lurking in the interior of the tree. This mango flowered a couple of months ago and dropped (I thought) all of the flowers. Except this one! And I looked up and noted it is flowering again, so hopefully I will get more Thai Mangos in a couple of months.
The flower of a Barometer Bush (Luecophyllum frutescens) This shrub is noted for flowering before it rains. And it is doing its job well. It flowered profusely before we had about four inches of rain this week.
Flowers on the native Beautyberry (Calliocarpa americana). The Florida version of this shrub never fails to amaze me. It thrives in full sun during the hot summer and total shade in winter, rarely gets watered and produces a bumper crop of berries at the end of the summer – also attracts numerous types of butterflies with its nectar. I had these in my garden much further north and they were a shadow of this one.
That’s my six for this Saturday. To see more posts with six items of interest from gardens around the world, visit http://www.thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com.
Happy Gardening…
The Shrub Queen 
Sorry about the rabbits. I keep seeing them younger and younger in my garden.
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Rabbits know where the good stuff is!
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Miss Grant you always teach me something about plants, except for the fact that most of what I learn about won’t grow here it is always fun to learn.
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Mangos are much harder to love in Atlanta, even from the grocery store.
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Those darned rabbits! Very impressed by the Thai mango, maybe you will have more later in the year.
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Indeed! That particular mango is fiberless and has a tiny seed. Hoping for more.
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I recommend buying a roll of hardware cloth to make cages to keep the rabbits at bay. I’ve had to do that to several plants that the bunnies have been nibbling. Lots of rabbits this year!
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Maybe hardware cloth around tomato cages, these bunnies love the bean and pea plants. I think my foray into Snow peas is what attracted them into the garden. I have to see if the plants come back again. Or start over !
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My sister brought me mangoes from Thailand 2 years ago and I tried to grow them but unfortunately the climate didn’t allow to keep the plant long enough … I started again with a fruit from supermarket, which is growing in the greenhouse (in summer ) and in my attic in winter, but I will never have fruit… However, it’s a very pretty tree.
I didn’t know the Luecophyllum frutescens, and if I have one here it would be blooming all the time right now! 😂
I have three different different callicarpa here; a light purple, a dark purple and I’m growing a pink one from seeds recently.
Callicarpa works well here too.
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interesting. The Thai have some amazing Mangos – and the variety is incredible. Most Mangos are grafted and not true to seed. It would be interesting to see what you get from that pretty tree. The Leucophyllum is super tough and drought tolerant. Did you know there is a white berried Beautyberry? I think it comes from Japan. Mine are all deep purple. Floridians make jam from them.
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I have already seen a white variety in photo but never in real. Never tasted jam either.
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I find the white odd having grown up with the lovely purple…the jam has a reputation for being tasteless. I need to find some and report.
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The Barometer Bush is really interesting. Better than Rain Lilies that bloom after the rain.
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Not so sure..sometimes called Texas Sage, it’s another Texas/Rio Grand native. Very drought tolerant, comes in gray and green foliage – just doesn’t flower that much and not a very dense shrub. It does put up with a lot of greyhound traffic.
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That sounds familiar.
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I would take Rain Lilies instead..
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I’m not sure which are most annoying: rabbits, chipmunks, or the occasional deer. They all go after one thing or another. I’ve built chicken wire cages/fences around my artichokes and that seems to be keeping the nibblers away…
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It’s always something and then you need cages.
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What interesting plants you grow, I’ve never heard of the Barometer Bush. Your rabbits are scorrnful of plastic forks, maybe you need real ones; nice sharp pointy ones.
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I am considering tiger sticks
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Such a shame the forks didn’t work. I have been putting upturned empty metal hanging baskets over young plants this spring. The perennial pea has survived so far… Are Thai mangoes different to other ones? I treated myself to one last week from the supermarket and it was so tasty! (they are expensive here, and often not ripe/do not ripen, but this one was perfect!) 😃
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Yes, peas seem to be irresistable to the bunnies. There is a nursery south of me that grows 50 varieties of mango. Thai varieties are grown for different purposes..eating green, cooking, dessert, etc. The one I grow is a dessert mango with a coconut taste. I buy Kent Mango in supermarkets and try to avoid Tommy variety (ships well, but is not so tasty and stringy) I rarely ate mangos when living further north. Glad you got a good one.
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Eating green? There is much I don’t know about tropical fruits.
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Thai people make green mango (and green Papaya) salads and chutneys. It is a savory dish rather than sweet. I have tried the green papaya and did not like it!
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Have you tried spraying rabbit repellent on your Blue Pea Vine? I’m trying it on my Black-Eyed Susans although I don’t know if the problem is rabbits or something else.
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Interesting..there is nothing left to spray at this point. Please post if it works.
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Mangoes are supposed to survive here, but that makes no sense. This is Zone 9B, but I believe that winter weather can get a bit too cool for them. I do not know because I have never tried them before. The fruit is common enough that I should try to grow one from seed. It would not be a cultivar, but at least I would know. Papayas grow only in greenhouses. I can not attest to the quality of the fruit. I do not like them much anyway. Beautyberry is something that I intend to grow eventually. I can get non-variety seedlings from the Arbor Day Foundation.
Sadly, and I am embarrassed to say, that the Tecoma stans seed have done nothing yet. I suspect that they may have tried to germinate early on, but got too dry. They did not seem too dry to me, but that is all I can think of. I should have left them in the saran house with automated irrigation.
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Mangos are supposed to grow in Orlando here which is a similar zone, though I agree with you and think the cold would get them there, too. I would give the Tecoma more time. A lot of the more tropical plant material waits until rainy season to sprout and it just started. Timing seed planting here is a art I have not mastered.
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I sort of figured that the Tecoma is waiting for warmer weather, even if it is not the rainy season here. It has not rained since April, and will not likely rain until October. I must convince it that the rain continues as the weather warms.
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I looked around a little they are supposed to sprout in 21 days with consistenly moist soil.
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Could they have sprouted before the weather got warm enough for them, and then rotted before coming to the surface?
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yes, I see if I can find a few and try them.
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The Thai mango seems huge! Is it bigger than other types? And are the berries if the Beauty Berry edible?
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The Thai Mango is longer but flatter than the other mangos and has a very thin seed. I will post a picture when it ripens, it is a pretty fruit. The Beautyberry is edible – doesn’t taste like much but Floridians make a beautiful jam from it.
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Luckily we don’t suffer from rabbits here but we don’t get away scot-free I have to share my Jackfruit and Mangoes with the squirrels and its birds who love the young shoots here..Your mango looks very nice let’s hope you get more… once they really start producing you should get many mangoes 🙂
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The rabbits drive me crazy, I also have squirrels eating my mangoes..I have three trees now, probably will have too many soon.
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I think you might lots of jam and mango chutney…The pureee freezes well and ideal for smoothies out of season. …
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Sounds wonderful, thanks!
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