Papaya. Thick, luscious, juicy….

Luscious fruit on a female or hermaphrodite tree.

I could go on, but that’s not the kind of “sexy” I intend to talk about. If you want to grow your own papaya though, at some point, you’ve got to talk about sex.

To grow those large juicy orbs, one has to determine the sex of the plant, and with papaya there’s three possibilities: male, female, and hermaphrodite! Females produce luscious fruit–but only if they are pollinated by a nearby male or hermaphrodite (which has flowers that contain both the male and female parts). Hermaphrodite papaya can pollinate themselves. Males will produce flowers, but no large luscious fruit.

The trick to growing papaya, at least in tropical and subtropical climates, is to prepare a well-composted patch of ground, scatter a number of papaya seeds and cover them with a little soil and more mulch, and then let them grow until the sex can be identified. Hermaphrodite and female seeds tend to be more common in Hawaiian papayas, so chances are if you select several of the sturdiest plants, you’ll end up with what you want. With five or more seeds, your chances of getting a hermaphrodite are 96 percent (according to the University of Hawaii College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources). Once you’ve identified the sex, cut out the males (sorry boys), and keep the hermaphrodite or a combination of hermaphrodites and females, if you have room for more than one.

Papaya trees grow quickly. In six months, they’ll be 6-8 feet high. In a year, they may tower up to 20 feet, and in 18 months or less they’ll be thick with fruit, ripe for eating.  The trees will produce steadily for 2-3 years, and then begin to wane, both in production and health, so it’s a good idea to plan for succession if you have room. Aside from full sun, occasional fertilizer (just add more compost) and moderate water when young, papaya trees are fairly maintenance free.

I’ve read that the seeds are edible (taste like black pepper), the leaves can be steamed and eaten or brewed into a medicinal tea, and an extract of the fruit (papayain) is an ingredient in meat tenderizer. Now what could be sexier than that!

The Shower Tree, after 25% of the canopy had been trimmed by arborist Tai Dormen of Alihilani Arborcare.

After twenty-five years of reading about, and wanting, renewable energy for my own home, the day had finally come. The photovoltaic panels were cheaper, the rebates make the system affordable, and I live in a place that is sunny 360 days out of the year.

There was just one little hitch:  shading one part of my roof was a beautiful “Rainbow” Shower Tree.

I called an arborist friend to help me figure out how to trim the tree to clear the roof and still preserve its structural integrity and beauty. My friend has a way of studying a tree, tracing its branching patterns, and figuring out how to make the fewest cuts to achieve the desired effect. We came up with a plan, and I was able to find another arborist who had time and a crew to do the work: Tai Dormen of Alihilani Arborcare. To my great delight, he improved upon our original plan, and the tree is now trimmed. Though Tai removed a significant portion of the canopy, it still looks full, casts shade on the house in the right places, and is clear of the sunpath for the PV panels. Everyone is happy, especially the tree.

As a landscape designer, I quickly learned the difference between “tree trimmers” and certified arborists. Tree trimmers are responsible for most of the chop jobs seen in every urban and suburban community. People hire them because they are cheaper than arborists.  But I tell my clients, “If you want to keep the tree, don’t let anyone other than an arborist touch it.”

This tree has been topped. It will never be the same.

Once I had a client for whom I was doing a complete renovation. There was a magnolia in her backyard that had become densely overgrown. I called in an arborist who estimated $800 to do a renovation pruning. The tree was going to be the centerpiece of the backyard, and I could tell from the branches that it had good form underneath. But my client mentioned to the landscape contractor who was installing the gravel and flagstone patio that she needed the tree trimmed, and he offered to do it for free. Of course, she quickly took him up on it. Afterwards, she called me and said, “Susan, I’m calling to let you know that I didn’t listen, and I wanted to warn you. I just want to cry every time I look at it. It’s just awful.” And it wasawful. She got what she paid for.

Topping a tree to “cut it back” ignores the natural growth patterns and structure of the tree. When topped, trees put out weak, multiple sprouts just below the cut. This makes the tree denser than it would be naturally, and those sprouts do not have the structural strength to hold their own weight as they grow out. Once topped, a tree has to be retopped regularly to keep it from becoming overly dense and dangerous. The tree becomes addicted to frequent trimming.

A topped tree puts out many weak branches that will require it to be trimmed frequently.

A good structural pruning, on the other hand, often last two or three years– longer if the tree has room to grow. So, in the end, a certified arborist saves you money, and you have a more beautiful tree.

And what if your tree needs pruning because it is too big for its space, or causes problems with views or other issues? The problem originated when someone chose a tree that was inappropriate for the space.  I see this all the time when clients or landscapers plant a 4′ sapling in a narrow or short space, forgetting that someday it will become a 20′ tree. As the Plant Amnesty guru and founder, Cass Turnbull says, don’t be fooled by the diminutive size of the tree when you buy it: “They call it a ‘nursery’ because they’re just babies.”

Clients sometimes think I’m heartless to suggest removing a living tree or shrub. But it is better to remove the tree or shrub and plant something that will grow to the proper size and height than continually torture the plant into a size it was never meant to be. Here in Hawaii, Hibiscus shrubs are a case in point. Most Hibiscus hedges are trimmed back relentlessly to keep them 4-6′ in height. But most varieties grow naturally from 8′  to 12′, and they flower on the ends. Trimming them constantly not only stresses the plants and increases their likelihood of developing disfiguring diseases, but it removes most of the flowers. So people are planting Hibiscus and then turning them into nasty short green hedges with an occasional flower. This makes no sense.

Which takes us back to the issue of tree trimmers versus arborists.  Tree trimmers make a living because people consistently put the wrong-sized plants under electrical wires, next to buildings, and in places that require constant trimming. That creates an ongoing problem that costs a lot of maintenance money. Tree trimming forces plants to increase their growth rate to make up for the leaf canopy that was lost.  So you spend more to keep trimming the trees back.

Arborists can work magic on a tree, but they can’t resolve that underlying issue of wrong-sized tree, except to tell you to take the tree out and replant with an appropriate-sized specimen. Cass Turnbull adds one other reason not to plant the wrong-sized tree and then use cheap tree-topping methods to keep it to size:  ”It makes you look bad.”

So do your pocketbook, your image, and your tree a favor: Plant wisely and hire an arborist!

Luscious figs

I have a confession to make. I’m scared of my fig tree.  I keep it confined in a 20-gallon fiberglass container, and pick the occasional fig before the birds get it (and they keep just as close an eye on it as I do). I feed it, and give it all the sun that it needs (eight hours a day–figs are sunlovers), but I’m scared to plant it out into my landscape.

Why? After living in the frozen interior of the northwest, where figs did not grow, and then along the Santa Cruz coastline, where fog prevented my fig from ever getting ripe and sweet, I now live in a climate that figs love. And that’s the problem. My neighborhood has to approve any tree over 8 feet, and I have to preserve the views of my neighbors. If I planted my fig into the yard, in five years it would have a 30-foot dense canopy. Its roots would break up my stone walls or dig under my house foundation, or eat small neighborhood pets.

But I love figs so much I might just do it anyway.

If you love the taste of fresh fig, and you have a little room away from your house to plant a tree, then please do so, and call me in five years to help with the harvest. But don’t say I didn’t warn you. Figs love to grow.

A Banyan tree takes over a small ancient village.

Consider some of the edible fig’s (Ficus carica) close relatives. There’s the rubber tree (Ficus elastica). You may know it as a well-behaved and hard to kill houseplant. But set that baby outside in Hawaii, or other tropical site, and you will see it spread to 60-80 feet, and up to 100 feet on the windward side of the islands in rainforest areas.

If you plant another relative, the Banyan or Indian Laurel (Ficus microcarpa), it will grow 60 feet tall and more than 75 feet wide, supported by a stand of aerial roots that themselves become as large as tree trunks.

Finally, consider the small cousin, the creeping fig (Ficus pumila), usually available at the local box store in an innocuous 1-gallon or 5-gallon pot. Let it settle its roots into real ground, and in a couple of years it will take over a three-story building. I once planted one against the wall of characterless subdivision I lived in as revenge. I figured that the entire complex would be vastly improved as a large green living mound. My only regret was that I didn’t live there long enough to see the results of my labor.

A wall in Kihei, on Maui, covered with creeping fig. Photo courtesy of Forest and Kim Starr.

You can buy a small fig tree from a nursery, start a cutting from an established plant, or even use a cutting off a root sprout. Start small, and prune it back after the second year.  Each year, cut it back at least a third, or more if you are keeping it against a wall or in a small space. If you do want it to stay small, plant the roots in a buried container with drainage holes. Otherwise, stand back!

Once you have a fig planted, mulch it heavily (but keep the mulch away from the main stem by at least a few inches).  No need to fertilize, as the mulch will take care of that. Moderate water is required when the tree is young. Once it is well-established, it is very drought tolerant, which is why one can still find fig trees at old homesteads, long after the occupants have been gone.

Figs are not only easy to grow, they are relatively pest free–and that’s saying a lot in our Hawaiian landscapes. The biggest pest are the birds that will compete with you for the ripe fruit. You can use netting, or pick the fruit before it’s fully ripe (though I prefer to take my chances). If you do see signs of whitefly, just give the leaves a washing with soapy water.

And then enjoy. There are white, brown Turkey, and black Mission figs. They are all good. Try them with a little fresh ricotta drizzled with local honey and chopped nuts. Or wrap prosciutto around them and bake in the oven until done. Mine never make it into fig jam or fig bars, though, because I never have enough.

Mangoes can hang by the dozens

Most of my posts are about food growing, not food preparation. But with the mango, the challenge is not growing it but keeping up with the production.

Not everyone has this problem, but in parts of Hawaii, at certain times of the year, it’s possible to have a LOT of mangoes. Even if you don’t grow them on your own prolific trees, you’ll know someone who does, and you’ll discover this because they tend to show up at meetings and social events with bags of mangoes in hand. Take these, please.

So if you are the proud owner of a mango tree, or know someone else who is, or just got a great bargain at the local farmer’s market, here are a couple of things to do with mangoes:

1) Use them in smoothies. My favorite is a simple banana, mango, pineapple smoothie, with either soy milk or yogurt and ice. 2) My husband’s favorite is a breakfast dish, yogurt parfait. Layer yogurt, mangoes, and granola in a glass. You can add pineapple or strawberries, too, or go really wild and add some chopped macadamia nuts. 3) For a dessert, top a bowl of vanilla ice cream with diced, slightly mashed mangoes to which you’ve added either a spoonful of lime juice or a splash of rum or Grand Marnier.

And here is my latest favorite:

3M SOUP (author unknown)

My mother sent me this recipe. I tried it and loved it. For hot, humid days, you could not choose a better thing to do with mangoes than make chilled soup. No hot stove, no hot kitchen, and the ingredients are simple:

• 2 Mangoes (or 2 small bags of frozen mangoes, thawed)
• 1 Medium-sized melon (cantaloupe is an excellent choice for the color)  or 2 cups equivalent, rind removed and cut into chunks
• 2 Tbsp. Mint, chopped
• 1 Tbsp. Lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp. honey or agave syrup
• 2 Tbsp. yogurt (plain or vanilla will work)

Puree all in a food processor. Strain through a large sieve. Chill thoroughly. Garnish with mint and a dollop of sour cream if desired.

Yum!

Harvest time at Kihei Elementary School Garden!

Nothing is more magical than a child in a garden.

Planting together

If you want to reconnect with the earth, with kids, and feel that you’ve made a difference, just help a second grader plant a tomato — or even better, watch her taste a fresh tomato that she helped to plant, maintain, and harvest. As one little girl said, after her first taste: “That’s a little piece of heaven.”

Last year, my colleagues from South Maui Sustainability and I installed a 10,000 square foot garden at Kihei Elementary School, on Maui. The principal, Mr. Shima, gave us permission to turn a square of lawn, smack in the middle of the campus, into a garden. When we asked who was interested in using the garden, 28 teachers responded. That meant over 500 students would be using the garden. We doubled, then tripled, our planting space. We called upon every hardware, irrigation, and garden vendor on the island to help us — and they did so with a generosity that I still find amazing. We worked ourselves far more hours than we intended. And every one of us agrees that the hours in the garden with the kids made it all worthwhile.

SMS volunteer Kirk Surry with some enthusiastic gardeners

We’re getting ready to do it again this year. We need amendments, more tools, books and other resources, and most of all, volunteers.  If you don’t live in South Maui, find a garden near you, and offer help. You’ll find school gardens provide not only nourishment for the body, but also the soul.

SMS School Garden Report

My Variegated Banana, surrounded by Apple Bananas.

I first heard about variegated bananas from arborist Arlene Salomon. She raved about how lovely one would look in my garden, told me that it originated in Hawai’i and was considered sacred by Hawaiian royalty, and how even the bananas themselves were variegated. Finally I saw one at the Maui Nui Botanical Gardens in Kahului, and was smitten. I heard that they were occasionally for sale at the garden’s bi-annual plant sales, so when the next one came around, I showed up early to claim my prize.

The garden had several bananas for sale that day, most of them for $15 or $20. I was shocked to see that the price tag on the lonely variegated banana had an extra zero on the end. That’s right, $200! I would have walked away had I not told my husband and several friends that I dragged to the sale that I was going to get that banana. Peer pressure was applied and I found myself lugging a hefty green-and-white banana across the garden to my car. Luckily, when my mother heard of my buyer’s remorse the following day, she took the sting out of my indulgence by making it my Christmas gift.

And what a gift. The variegated banana, Musa ‘A‘ea‘e’ (Hawaiian for “hair prematurely graying”)  or ‘Manini’ has extraordinary green-and-white mottled leaves and a variegated stalk. I watched from my bedroom window as it often grew new leaves at the rate of a foot or more a day. Within three months it went from six feet to twenty feet. I felt like I had planted Jack’s Beanstalk in my backyard.

New leaves grow at fantastic rates.

Given how fast it grew (a vitality unusual in variegated plants, which tend to be weakened by the virus that makes them variegated), I expected to see the flower and fruit in quick order.  But while other bananas we had planted quickly produced flowers, the variegated banana took its sweet time. Richard Stevens writes in his lovely book, Tropical Organic Gardening: Hawaiian Style that bananas are “good at teaching us patience and the reward that comes at the end.”

A bunch of variegated bananas, ripening in my garage

That was certainly true in our case. My husband, Doug, who doesn’t normally get interested in plants, followed the development of the bananas closely, but lost interest as the weeks stretched into months. Then one day he came running in, excited, and dragged me out to see that the bananas were ready for harvesting.  One single banana had started to turn from white-and-green variegated into yellow-and-green variegated. But we had learned from our other bananas that the first yellow banana is like a neon signal to the local birds and beasts, saying “Eat here now.” So we hacked down the bananas and carted our treasure safely into the garage, where they could finish ripening in peace.

The variegated banana lacks the crisp taste of the Apple Banana and has a slicker texture than the Williams banana (which you generally find in the store). But it can be eaten fresh, cooked in a little butter, or — my favorite — frozen and used in smoothies.

As a final gift, I have four keiki (babies) popping up around the old base, and I’m hoping to recoup my mother’s investment by selling a couple on Craigslist.

[If you're interested in growing unusual bananas, see this article from the folks at Pacific Islands Agroforestry.]

]]> http://greenperspectives.com/2010/08/25/variegated-bananas-really/feed/ 0 http://greenperspectives.com/2010/08/16/versatile-dianella/ http://greenperspectives.com/2010/08/16/versatile-dianella/#comments Mon, 16 Aug 2010 20:57:25 +0000 Susan Wyche http://www.commongroundguides.com/?p=137

Buddha Garden with Dianella, Ferns, and Ornamental Grasses

I first learned about Dianella from my friend and fellow designer Annie Kelley, when she worked with me on a planting in Santa Cruz. We had the daunting challenge of creating a meditative Asian-style garden, featuring a Buddha, for a Mediterranean-style house with a Mediterranean-style front yard. The small backyard had other issues as well — a large hedge to compete with the border in front of it — and strong patches of sun and shade created by the hedge and house. We solved the various challenges by using grass-like plants, mixing in Phormiums and sun-loving grasses in the hot spots, and Dianella and shade-tolerant Carex in the dark spots. The effect transitioned nicely from the sunny Mediterranean front yard, providing the unity and serenity of muted green and burgundy leaves for the backyard. It also provided a suitable setting for the Buddha without imitating Zen or Japanese-style gardens, which would have clashed with the home’s architecture.

Close-up of berries from Dianella sandwicensis. Image by Kim and Forest Starr.

One of the key plants we used was Dianella tasmanica. Its long strappy leaves provide it with a grass-like appearance, but it has two features that set it apart from ornamental grasses.

The first is its preference for shade, even deep shade–such as that cast by a house or dense shrubs–which few plants tolerate well, and the second is the striking metallic blue berries which appear in heavy clusters after the delicate, almost indistinct blue flowers fade. The berries last for several months.

Then last year, when working on an entryway planting against a black background, I was looking for a grass that could tolerate shade and blend well with daylilies. No grasses came to mind, but I remembered Dianella and it worked beautifully.

When I moved to Hawaii, I was surprised to see a planting of Dianella at the entryway to the Maui Nui Botanical Gardens.

Entry Planting with Dianella

The label gave the Hawaiian name as “Uki uki,” and it was thick, lush, and fully shaded. I was even more surprised to find an equally healthy planting in full sun on the grounds at Ho’olawa Farms Native Plant Nursery in Haiku. I learned from the staff there that the Hawaiian native, Dianella sandwicensis, unlike its Tasmanian relative, thrives in sun or shade. It has the same blue berries and deep green strappy leaves, but is more versatile in its tolerance for light.

Finding low border plants that can exist happily in both shade and sun is rare. To create long, unified borders that move through both kinds of light conditions, or borders that wrap around a garden–and therefore have different light exposures–is a real gift to garden designers. So the next time you’re looking for a plant that plays well with others (ferns, grasses, daylilies and other low-growing perennial flowers), consider the versatile–and native–Dianella. It’s a subtle, but elegant addition to any yard.

A lovely clump of Kupukupu fern (Nephrolepis cordifolia)

The native flora of Hawai’i have a deserved reputation for being difficult to grow, at least in the context of our artificial suburban landscapes. Most natives evolved in response to the islands many microclimates, and their cultural requirements are specific. They can’t survive the abuse that we dole out to most landscapes:  imported soils, imported ornamental plants, chemical fertilizers, badly-programmed automatic irrigation systems and poorly-trained landscape crews with power tools.

In a more ideal world, we would let go of our artificial suburban landscapes and restore native landscapes and landscape systems. But even for folks who want to grow natives and have more sustainable landscapes, the cost of renovating a landscape is prohibitive. Until then, we need to look for those natives that are better adapted to what exists in most backyards. Here’s a plant that’s almost foolproof.

Known in Hawaii as Kupukupu, and elsewhere as Sword Fern or Narrow Sword Fern (botanical name Nephrolepis cordifolia), this short, bright green fern is as tough as they come. It thrives on lava fields and can be found on both the wet and dry sides of the island. Obviously it can take heat, but it is surprisingly cold resistant.  Though Sunset’s Western Garden Book says it will not withstand hard freezes, I used it in a tropical-style garden in the Central Valley of California, where it thrived despite temperature ranging from freezing to 105 degrees F. It will survive over-watering, and is surprisingly drought-tolerant. What’s not to like?

The only complaint one can have with this beautiful, tropical plant is that it is a little too hearty and can be invasive (tough, adaptive plants that survive landscape crews and unlucky gardeners usually are invasive–the flip side of their tenacity). Plant it alongside water features or in low border areas (it typically grows from 12″ to 24″). Give it room to spread, at least 24″, if you are planting it en masse. It will be less maintenance if it has a hard border to keep it from spreading. It looks lovely mixed with Hawaiian Ti plants and other common tropical plants.

Aside from digging out clumps that may roam beyond the desired borders, this fern takes little care. It tolerates a broad range of soils, but likes a slightly acidic soil best. You can address that issue by using mulch around it, which tends to acidify the soil slightly after it breaks down. It welcomes organic fertilizer in the form of organic compost and chicken manure or worm castings, fish fertilizer, or compost tea, and if you are using bark mulch, it’s good practice to fertilize before you install fresh mulch, so that the plants won’t be deprived of nitrogen as the mulch first begins to break down. Regular watering, either overhead or drip works well, but don’t let the roots stay waterlogged. It will survive the occasional drenching just fine, provided it has good drainage.

You can find it at native Hawaiian plant nurseries as well as many tropical plant nurseries.

A mountain of sweet potatoes from my garden

One thing a gardener learns quickly, here in Hawaii, is that the natural shape of the islands create microclimates. It’s hard to generalize about growing things in Hawaii, because what is true for Kihei (leeward side, low elevation) is not true for Makawao (mid-island, mid-range elevations). So the following comments apply to those of us in hot, dry, leeward, low-elevation areas:

So what can one grow here in the summer?

For greens, choose Rocket (Arugula) and Asian Greens (Bok Choy, for example). My Rocket seems spicy enough that the bugs leave it alone, and as long as I keep cutting it back before it can bolt, I have an ongoing supply. My Baby Bok Choy grows quickly and gets harvested within just a couple of months of planting. The main challenge with it is to remember to keep starting new seeds.

I have eggplant (both Italian and Japanese varieties), and both do well. The Japanese varieties grow so quickly that I have to keep finding new recipes to try. So far, they’ve survived a few fungal attacks, and one period where I accidentally turned off the irrigation system.

One would think that tomatoes would be a cinch here. And they do grow quickly. But unless you are growing cherry tomatoes or small Romas, they tend to crack or get funky with fungus before the larger tomatoes can ripen. I like large tomatoes, but have decided it’s a blessing that I don’t have to bother cutting up my cherry tomatoes for salads. I’ll keep trying some of the larger heirlooms and sooner or later I’ll find one that will work.

Herbs do well, and the bugs leave them alone. The Basil needs constant cutting back, and the Chives seem to like that, too. I usually lose Cilantro to bolting (it’s really a winter herb here). Parsley does well, and remember to choose the Italian Parsley for flavor (the curly variety is all show, and not much good for eating).

I’m also experimenting with some small Asian melons. I’ll report back on that later.

And, of course, what Hawaiian garden should be without sweet potatoes? The purple Molokai variety is fun and easy to grow, but if you like Garnet Yams, don’t hesitate to stick a few starts in the garden (best in areas where they can be contained, or flow over a rock retaining wall). Last year I planted about a dozen tips that I found growing out of potatoes left in the back of my pantry, which sprouted while I was on vacation, and six months later we harvested nearly 100 pounds. I figure if the economy crashes and I must live off the land, the sweet potatoes will feed me AND my neighbors.

This isn’t what you think. Though I could talk long and hard about how we need to use fewer and smaller lawns, this is about an adventure with my own precious strip of lawn.

My home has a 10′ strip of green stuff that surrounds the perimeter of our wraparound lanai. We moved here three years ago, and my aging border collie, Shadow, has never been happier. It was the first time he had grass to roll on, and he makes use of it every day. In fact, my husband and I came up with a name for his ecstatic rolling around on the grass; we call it a “grassgasm.” So any thought I might have had to change that strip to gravel or some drought-tolerant groundcover has been put aside, at least for Shadow’s remaining years.

The previous owners of our house had a gardener come twice a month to mow and trim the lawn. They also watered the lawn daily, like most homeowners here in South Maui. I calculated that if we weaned the lawn off the daily waterings, its growth would slow, and we could reduce the carbon-producing mowings down to once a month. I slowly reduced the frequency of waterings; the grass stayed healthy and grew more slowly. My water bill dropped, to my great satisfaction, and I was able to cut the gardener’s visit to once a month. So far, so good.

Then, about a year later, I noticed that the weed to grass ratio had changed. The sprinkling of weeds had become large colonies, and in places had replaced the grass all together. I had noticed that the weeds grew faster than the grass, but I was tough and figured I could tolerate a little raggedness in between mowings, given the savings. But what I hadn’t known is that the weeds were pollinating and going to seed in less than a month, and therefore with each cycle between mowings, the weeds were out-propagating the grass.

So now the dilemma. Do I have the gardener come twice a month? Do I go out and buy a lawnmower and weedtrimmer (preferably electric) to do it myself, in between? (This is not a bad plan, except that I’m allergic to fresh cut grass, so my husband would have to take over the job–and he’s not a weekend-gardener kinda guy.) Do I let the weeds continue propagating and eventually just replace the whole thing with a non-mowed groundcover, such as thyme or a clumping grass?

For now, I’m trying not to make any hasty decisions. I’m comparison shopping for electric mowers, and I’ll keep you posted as to the decision. Whatever I do, though, will only halt the progress of the weeds. I still have to renovate what is there. But that’s grist for a future column.