Variegated pineapple sage

I have grown pineapple sage (Salvia elegans) for years.  It is such a great edible herb that smells incredible and apparently has some medicinal benefits.  I have grown some good clones, and some substandard ones.  They don't seem to love the climate here and usually need some protection from harsh frosts over winter.

For a few years I have been growing a particularly vigorous pineapple sage clone.  It grows well, produces far more leaves than other varieties, it usually survives winter unprotected, and most importantly it has the strongest, sweetest, and most delicious pineapple scent of any pineapple sage I have grown.  

One peculiarity of this clone is each spring it produces some variegated leaves.  I keep wondering if it is a sport.  If I took a cutting, grew it and protected it, perhaps it would produce a variegated clone.  Variegated pineapple sage sounds like fun.

Variegated pineapple sage

I take cuttings of this plant and have a few of them.  My plants are all genetically identical as they are cutting grown.

As summer wears on my plant grows and I lose track of the variegated parts.  After a while everything is once again green.  

I was not sure if the variegated parts die off, or if they revert to green, or if something in my garden was eating them.  The only way to know would be to take cuttings of a variegated branch and protect it.

Under side of variegated leaf

Each year I kind of wish I took a cutting of a variegated branch.  Every year I forget until it is too late.  Every year, that is, until this year!

This year I took cuttings of variegated branches.

I took a few cuttings.  Some were highly variegated, others less so.  Some were entirely variegated while others had some variegated leaves and other leaves were entirely green.

Some variegation in spring

Each of the cuttings grew well and sooner or later produced entirely green leaves.

This leads me to believe that whatever is causing this variegation, it is seasonal or environmental, and won't last.  

While I would have liked a pretty and highly variegated pineapple sage, I don't think it is going to happen.  Or if it will happen, it won't be by taking a cutting from my variegated branches in spring.  

That's ok, I really like this clone.  It has such a strong and sweet pineapple smell that I can't complain.  It also survives winters here, which no other clones have done without protection, which is just incredible. 

I would hate to lose this plant as it is better than any of the others I had grown.

Not much white on some

More white on others

Eventually they turned green

Seed grow ivy - Hedera helix

I have never grown ivy (Hedera helix) from seed before.  In fact, I don't think I have ever grown ivy.  I am growing ivy from seed now, and the seedlings are pretty cute.  

I think people use ivy for coughs and colds, but have no idea how to use it or even if it is any good for that purpose.  The flowers are meant to be great for bees.  People use ivy to make soap, to make laundry detergent, and I even found a recipe that uses ivy as a shampoo. 

Most people grow ivy up a wall or as a ground cover in the shade.  To be completely honest I am not entirely sure that I want ivy, or have anywhere sensible where I can grow it.    

My favourite ivy seedling 

It may be too early to tell, but my seedling ivy seems to be displaying some genetic diversity.  At least, the seedlings all appear different to one another at the moment.  Perhaps as they grow larger these differences will even out and I will no longer be able to tell the individual plants apart.

Several ivy seedlings in a pot

Ivy seedling with cotyledons and true leaves

This one has a mottled leaf

Some ivy seedlings are entirely green 

I like growing things from seed, so can decide if I have anywhere to grow this at a later stage.  Perhaps I can grow ivy as a potted plant, that may look good.  Or maybe I will give them away or something.  

Black Nebula carrot flowering

I like dark purple carrots.  Unfortunately there are few varieties of purple carrots in Australia, and  many of the purple carrots have lovely purple skin, and a disapointingly orange core.  

I had started a breeding project to develop carrots that were purple all the way through, then I found Black Nebula carrots.  

Black Nebula carrots are great.  They are purple/black all the way through with only a few areas of lighter colour.  They taste almost like a cross between beetroot and carrot, which I quite like.  They also grew well for me.  

I grow everything organically in my garden.  Generally speaking, pollinator insects seem to like carrot flowers.  Honey bees never seem overly interested in Apiaceae flowers, but there are many other pollinator insects and other beneficial insects that seem to enjoy them.  

Black Nebula carrots are a stable variety of carrot so seed can be collected from them and will grow true to type.  They (like any/every vegetable variety that I can access) are not Genetically Modified.  

I am told that, unlike many modern varieties of carrot, Black Nebula carrots do not have the genes for cytoplasmic male sterility.  This is a great thing for the home garden as it means they can easily be open pollinated and makes seed saving reasonably simple.

Black Nebula Carrot Flowers

I had cut off the tops of the carrots we ate and was going to grow the carrot tops to produce seed.  Unfortunately after a mishap the tops all died.  

I still had some black nebula carrots growing in the garden that I was planning to eat.  Instead of eating them I have let them all flower and hope to collect their seed.  

Strangely enough, even though 'Black Nebula' is a stable carrot variety, they do display some genetic diversity.  Genetic diversity is a good thing, especially in carrots!    

Organic black nebula carrots are dark purple

All of the black nebula carrot roots were dark purple, all had varying amounts of white.  I believe the white to be environmentally induced rather than genetic.  All of the roots were similar length, shape, and thickness.  Strangely enough the genetic diversity could only be seen in the flowers.  

Some of the black nebula flowers were almost white with a very faint purple tinge that you can't see in my photos.  

white/light purple carrot flowers 

Black nebula carrot flowers

Others black nebula carrot flowers were various shades of purple.  Some light, others darker, and some had a patch of flowers in the centre that were darker purple.

Black nebula carrot flowers

I may only collect seeds from the darker flowered plants.  Or I may collect seed from all of them.  I am not sure at this stage what I will do.

Genetic diversity is a good thing, even in a stable (inbred) line like this.  It allows me to apply selective pressure and have some genetic drift.  This enables me to make this variety more suitable to my climate and more able to withstand the pests that it will encounter in my garden.

Carrots are also known for suffering from inbreeding depression, so I want some genetic diversity in my plants.

As I want at least some genetic diversity I am allowing all of these plants to flower and have a chance of their pollen being used for the next generation.  This will increase genetic diversity in my seeds.  

I also  want the highest anthocyanin line possible, and I am unsure if flower colour has any linkage to root anthocyanin levels.  Perhaps when I learn more about carrot genetics I will rogue out some plants in favour of others, until then I will just try to keep the darkest ones.

Various black nebula carrot flowers

If all goes to plan my plants should produce copious amounts of seed with a reasonable amount of genetic diversity.  Once this is ripe I will collect some to plant and some to save for the following year.  

Carrots generally produce a lot of seed so I should have some extra black nebula carrot seed at some stage.  Once I have some fresh seed I will list it on my for sale page.  

Litchi tomato Solanum sisymbriifolium

A generous friend sent me some seeds of litchi tomato (Solanum sisymbriifolium) a while ago.  I had never eaten, grown, or even seen this species before so this was something new to me.  

Litchi tomato is also called Morelle de Balbis, vila-vila, sticky nightshade, red buffalo-bur, or fire-and-ice plant.  My kids call these 'prickle tomatoes'.

Litchi tomatoes - can you see why my kids call them prickle tomatoes?

Litchi tomatoes are somewhat related to tomatoes, tomatillos, and ground cherries.  Like many of the vegetables we grow, they are a perennial that is treated as an annual.  

I left my plants where they were over winter, fully expecting frosts to kill them.  To my surprise they handled mild winter with frosts down to about -4C with minimal damage.  I have no idea if they would survive a cold winter, but a mild winter didn't seem to bother them too much.

They flowered through winter but didn't set fruit in the cooker weather.  I transplanted them in spring and with warmer weather they started fruiting pretty quick.

Litchi tomatoes flowering

The leaves look deceptively soft and velvety, but have prickles on them.  The stems and fruit husks also have prickles.  The leaf shape varies a little from plant to plant, some have deeper divisions in the leaf while others are not as deep.

Litchi tomato leaf

Leaves look soft, but have prickles

I am told that they need more than one plant in order to set fruit.  I don't have heaps of space to use so I plant several plants in the one hole.  This ensures a pollinator is never far away.

I probably get less fruit per plant by having them this close, but it frees up space to grow other things so I am happy with the result.

I grow several plants in the same hole

Litchi tomato stems are prickly

Litchi tomatoes produce reasonably large, showy flowers that were white or bluish.  They varied from plant to plant but were always rather ornamental and showy.

Litchi tomato flower

Prickle tomato flowers

Flowers vary slightly from plant to plant

Fruit are born on a small truss with up to a dozen red fruits per truss.  I found they took a while to flower, then the wait from flower to ripe fruit felt like it took some time, once they started to ripen they were nicely productive.

Fruit can be harvested once the husk starts to turn brown.  Either individual fruits can be picked, or the entire truss can be snipped off and brought in.

I am told that ripe fruit slips out of the husk, but didn't experience that even once.  I assume different strains act differently, and this one does not slip from the husk.  

I was able to harvest carefully bare handed, but think using gloves would make harvest a lot faster and easier.

Litchi tomato truss

Unlike many other fruits, I found that picking them when fully ripe made them taste bland.  They were sweetest earlier, and got progressively less sweet and lost complexity of flavour the longer I left them.  

Their taste varied from plant to plant, as well as varying as the fruit ripened.  Some tasted a bit like cherry, some a bit fruity.  Some tasted like kiwi fruit mixed with something nice, I liked those ones the best.

Ripe Litchi Tomatoes

The fruit were glossy red on the outside, orange on the inside, and had a lot of small hard seeds in them.  

I didn't mind the seeds at all as I didn't really notice them, but my wife disliked them and found them annoying.

Litchi tomato fruit with seeds

I don't tend to grow many things with thorns and prickles.  Unfortunately Litchi Tomatoes have a lot of prickles on pretty much all parts.  

If you ever grow Litchi tomatoes be sure to stake or cage them to prevent them sprawling, and try not to grow them anywhere that you will be brushing past.

Litchi tomato - so thorny

I am glad I got to grow these, and I am growing the overwintered plants again this summer.  I really like the taste, plus the plants are intriguing and ornamental, so will likely grow them most years.  

I don't have endless space, and there are a lot of things I want to grow, so going forward may have them on rotation and grow them every second year.

I do sell seeds of Litchi tomatoes, as well as a few other interesting edibles and perennial vegetables in Australia through my for sale page.

Utricularia subulata cleistogamous and chasmogamous flowers

Utricularia subulata, the zig zag bladderwort, is a small terrestrial carnivorous plant.  The leaves are tiny and often go unnoticed even among other tiny carnivorous plants such as pygmy sundews.

This carnivorous plant grows easily from division and far too easily from seed.  

Utricularia subulata flowers

U subulata flowers

This terrestrial bladderwort has lived in my carnivorous plant collection for quite some time.  

For years they have produced tiny flower stalks with cleistogamous flowers.  These were spherical flowers with no petals, these flowers never open yet they self pollinate and produce copious amounts of seed.  

These uninteresting flowers that never open seem to spread seed everywhere, as such I do my best to pull them out whenever I see them.

This year my Utricularia subulata sent up rather tall flower stalks and chasmogamous flowers.  

These are larger showy flowers that do open and do have petals.  These flowers look rather nice.

Utricularia subulata flowering

Flowers of Utricularia subulata

U subulata in a pot with pygmy drosera

This plant has been growing in my carnivorous plant collection for a number of years, under a variety of different conditions, and has never flowered like this before.  

I wish I understood what conditions it requires to send up flowers like this because they are nice.  

Variegated water parsley Oenanthe javanica (flamingo)

Variegated water parsley Oenanthe javanica (flamingo), is also called water celery, water parsley, Java water dropwort, Japanese parsley, Chinese celery, rainbow water parsley, minari (미나리), and has a bunch of other common names.  

Variegated water celery is a perennial vegetable or perennial herb that is very simple to grow and very productive.  I am told that this perennial  vegetable has a native range that extends between Siberia, Tropical and Subtropical Asia, India, Papua New Guinea, and some of the northern parts of Australia.  

Strangely this plant appears to be distributed across a lot of tropical places, yet survives harsh frosts with no issues whatsoever.  I think any plant that is native to tropical Asia as well as Siberia to be rather perplexing.  It also means that this plant is likely to survive anywhere as long as there is enough water and sunlight.  

As this plant can survive and even thrive across such a wide environmental range, and given how productive it is, I don't understand why it is so uncommonly grown.

Variegated water parsley

I wrote another blog post on this plant back in 2017 and had already been growing it for a few years at that stage.  I still have the same plants, they continue to thrive with less than ideal conditions and a lot of neglect.  I had wanted the all green form as I am told it grows more aggressively, but I only have the far prettier variegated one.  

I have been growing variegated water parsley for a few years, and it has to be one of the easiest of edible plants to grow.  Even the 'weaker' variegated form grows like mad in my garden.  Even though it is very productive we don't tend to eat much of this plant, I do feed it to our animals and enjoy how ornamental it looks.

Variegated water parsley leaves

Water celery plants love water so much that they can grow with roots submerged and leaves above water.  I have grown some like this in a bucket of mud for several years and they look great and perform well with no care from me other than topping up the water from time to time.  I also grow some on a pot of water that is floating in my goldfish barrel, it seems to perform well in these conditions too.

They can also be grown in regular garden soil with regular watering.  They don't appear to die if grown in drier soils, but also don't perform their best without watering.  They are rather vigorous and forgiving of less than ideal conditions.

Variegated water celery loves to spread

Variegated water celery flowers but I have not yet been able to grow any seedlings.  Unfortunately I tend to loose track of the flowers and have never found out if they can produce fertile seed.

I find that the plant grows some underground rhizomes and divides a bit in this way.  

This plant also throws above ground runners similar to what strawberry plants do, and it divides quickly in this way.  Last year I grew some in little pots to sell at a garage sale, and they grew runners that spread into all the nearby pots of other plants.

They can handle full sun, but seem to do better with a little shade.  If they are in too deep shade the leaves get stretched and it throws runners in search of sun.  I assume the all green form can handle more shade than the variegated form.

Variegated water celery leaves

Water celery tastes and smells a lot like weak celery, and a little like parsley.  It is not the strongest flavour, and it gets weaker with cooking.  It can be eaten raw, or added at the end of cooking.  

As well as being edible by people, animals can also eat this plant.  Chickens, guinea pigs, ducks etc all seem to enjoy eating the leaves.  Given how nutritious this plant is, and how quickly it can grow, this is a good thing.

The leaves and stems of this edible herb are various amounts of green, white, pink, and are pretty all year.  In cooler weather, or while the plant is under any stress, they tend to get a lot more of the pink colouration.  Sometimes the leaves go a bit purple, this is usually an indication of stress.  Harsh frosts can cause this purple colouration.  It doesn't seem to change the taste, so is not a problem.

I planted one small plant in each of the pots below, each of them has divided quickly into multiple plants and also sent out a few runners.  It is difficult to see in the photos below, but most of them have also grown out of the drainage holes.  This plant likes to survive!

I sell bare rooted plants of variegated water celery through my for sale page.  I don't expect to ever run out of this plant, ever, so if it is not listed on my page feel free to ask me about it.  

Pinguicula flowering

I got some Pinguicula butterworts a few years ago.   Butterworts are carnivorous plants that have sticky leaves, similar to sundews but without the glandular hairs.  They prefer to be a lot drier than most species of sundews, but still require a lot of water.  

I grow them with a wick that goes down into a reservoir of water, similar to how I grow African violets.  They seem to like similar light levels to African violets too.  I have been told by a very knowledgeable grower that many species of Pinguicula should be grown almost exactly the same as African violets, just without the fertiliser.

They have grown well in the time that I have had them.  They go reasonably dormant over winter and get chubby little non-carnivorous leaves.  Then once spring arrives they grow larger carnivorous leaves again.  

Pings are such lovely little carnivorous plants.  

This year as they are emerging from dormancy one of them is flowering!  

Looking at the flower I can't imagine that they are self pollinating.  Given their morphology I don't think I have the ability to pollinate this one without destroying it.  So chances are it will not produce any seed.  

I don't care about that too much, I am enjoying growing these plants and think the flower looks nice.  The flower has stayed on the plant for a few weeks now, which was unexpected.