Saturday 20 January 2007

Provolone Cheese and Bruchetta with Olives Please!

Olive Garden
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Varieties of Gourmet Olives The history of olives and olive oil can be traced back to at the least biblical times. When the waters of the great flood subsided and Noah sent forth a dove it was an olive leaf she returned carrying in her mouth. It is known that as long as 6000 years ago olive oil was used as fuel in lamps. Maybe it was this olive oil that created such a beautiful Genie for Major Anthony Nelson to rescue in the popular television sitcom I Dream of Genie. Today in modern grocery stores there are dozens of gourmet olives widely available.

Gone are the days of canned black olives and green olives with pimentos as the only choices. For those of us who remember the days of opening a can of black olives and placing one on each finger then systematically biting them off here is the new olive.

Nicoises: Is a earthy rich olive commonly used in salad. The curing of this olive in red-wine vinegar gives it a distinctive taste. Green olives with herbs de Provence: This vibrant citrus flavored olive is a delightful blend of herbs de Provence spices and large green olives. It is an excellent choice to use in surf dishes and with sweet spices. Mount Athos green with Sicilian herbs: This is a second olive that utilizes herbs to dominate the pallet. Rosemary, garlic, mustard seed, and red pepper flakes give this olive a spicy appeal.

Mount Athos green stuffed with garlic: For a modern twist on the martini this olive is an excellent choice. It is stuffed with rich flavorful garlic and lends itself well to pizza as well as martinis.

Mount Athos green olives with sun-dried tomatoes: Sun-dried tomatoes give this heavy olive an intense flavor that is sophisticated and ideal for snacking. Sun-dried olives: The drying of this olive gives it a rich flavor that blends wonderfully in sauces for serving over pasta. K

alamatas: A tangy black olive cured in red-wine vinegar that can be from Italy or California. The California variety is denoted with a 'c' spelling rather than a 'k'. Alfonsos: This robust winey tasting olive is soft and similar to the kalamata. It is a popular choice in antipasto salads.

Halkididis: Very similar in flavor to the kalamatas this olive is excellent blended with cream cheese and garlic for a flavorful dip. Lucques: This meaty buttery olive contains pits but is still a wonderful choice with provolone cheese and bruchetta

Musa or Banana- Fully Hardy Perennials?

Banana
With their giant, perfectly green, glossy leaves and well-defined anatomy these help to give a tropical look to the garden. Being fully hardy, these perennials can be grown both outdoors or indoors. It’ s an appealing idea to grown them as ornamental plants adorning living rooms or patio. These can grow up at a fast pace in the first season and should be placed ideally to allow full light. Dwarf varieties of the plant usually bear large bunches of edible fruits that have high iron content.

Musa Basjoo - The Only Truly Hardy Banana
Musa Basjoo, also known as the Japanese banana has large bright green leaves that arch out from the main stem. This evergreen plant brings a truly tropical look to the garden. It bears creamy yellow flowers arranged on large brownish bracts. These flowers are arranged in an ornamental manner around the bract and hang from the stem like a pendant. With regular watering and sufficient food supply the plant bears considerably large leaves with fresh leaves popping out almost every week. Behind the flowers small and uneatable bananas grow. This banana is regarded sacred in some parts of the world and are grown as the temple plant.

Super Dwarf – ‘ Cavendishi’
The super dwarf is an excellent houseplant belonging to the Cavendishi family with broad leaves and medium to large edible bananas. Young leaves of this plant have a maroonish stain. It’ s best suited to be bred indoors receiving filtered light .it may get stunted in harsh sunlight.

Snow Banana – ‘ Ensette Maurelii’
This plant has an amazing look with its maroonish red color, which feels as if the leaves and trunk are flushed with blood. However this plant shows different coloration in different regions. In some parts of Florida they have predominant green colored leaves. If planted outside, with the change of season either the reddish tinge becomes more prominent or it fades away.

Blood Banana – ‘ Musa Zebrina’
This is an eye-catching and ornamental banana also known as the Blood Banana for their striking maroon spotty leaves with a brownish midrib. The topside of the leaves is dark green with spots of red and the underside wears a wine red color. This evergreen perennial plant, native to Indonesia is usually grown adorning poolside. It’ s regarded as a perfect greenhouse plant and should be germinated from afresh from the seeds at the beginning of the year.

Friday 12 January 2007

Flowers In Your Organic Garden

organic Gardening

Title: Author: Stephanie Foster


Even though you don't eat most flowers, keeping things organic in your flower beds is a good idea. If you know what you're doing, you can control many pests without buying harmful poisons.

One of the most important things is to choose flowers that will grow strong in your area. No matter how much you love a particular flower, if it is going to have a lot of trouble staying alive or is prone to disease, it's going to greatly hamper your organic gardening efforts. You are better off sticking to flowers that are stronger and more suited to your area.
Just as an example, we'll consider tropical plants. Beautiful colors, amazing shapes... but they require extra help if they aren't suited to your area.

They won't be happy at all in a cold climate.

The best flowers for an organic garden are ones that are native to the area. They cope best with local weather conditions. They'll have very little need of chemicals and require less water.
Even if you live in an area where most native plants can be described as "scrub brush" or something similar that you don't like, you may be surprised at the range of colorful flowers available to you. I live in the San Diego area, and when I look around at undeveloped areas, the plants don't seem terribly inspiring. There's a nursery in the area that specializes in native plants, however, and the color range is quite simply amazing.

When buying plants, do your best to only pick healthy specimens. Buying a diseased one is only going to give you trouble as you try to keep it from infecting the rest. Check the plants for harmful insects too, so that you can avoid taking unwelcome pests home. Of course, if you know your insects, you might find a few welcome ones too.

Transplant your purchases as soon as possible. Very often roots get crowded in the containers from the nursery, and with so little soil it is easy for them to dry out. Being transplanted can be a shock to plants, but the soil will give them the resources to get over it. Give them a good watering after transplantation, of course.

Don't forget a nice addition of compost from your compost heap. Depending on your soil, you may want to add compost as much as eight inches deep into the soil. Most people will simply mix compost in with the soil removed to plant the plants, and that is generally sufficient.
If roots have grown out past the plastic containers from the nursery, go ahead and remove them. You don't want to damage the plant too much, but these roots are generally safe to remove.
An organic flower garden can look quite lovely. Done right, it is no more challenging than any other kind of flower garden. You might even get a garden that is more accustomed to local conditions and thrives when other gardens die.

About the author:
Stephanie Foster runs http://www.gardenmedley.com an organic garden

Wednesday 10 January 2007

The Lily Plant -Ideal For Container gardening

Container gardening is ideal for smaller gardens or to add a little individualism to a larger one, a firm favourite for containers both inside and outside is the Lily.
The lily is one of the most elegant plants in the gardening world with its long green slender stalks and its architectural bugel shaped, crisp flower! The lily will enhance any garden and is always a focal point of conversation for both the budding gardener and the expert! There is nothing quite so beautiful.
The lily belongs to the Liliaceae family of which there are 250 genuses and 4-6000 known species. The Lily is so called after the Greek, Lerion, which means White Lily (Lilium Candidum), the llily comes from the northern hemisphere, and they are monocotyledonous, bulbous plants.
The Habit of the Lily The lily blooms in Spring or Summer time and enjoy being grown in a soil that is well fertilised. The best place to plant the lily in in sunny but not direct sunlight. It also prefers protected areas as the lily does not enjoy being blown around in the wind. When planting the lily a one foot deep hole should be made, then lines with compost or peat. Plant the bulbs and cover them with an inch of compost or peat. As a recommendation the bulb should be placed in the ground 3 times deeper than their height, thus if the onion is one inch in length plant it 3 inches deep.

Uses for the Lily Plant Lillies are great in any garden, however they make a fantastic container plant. Because of its beauty it is extremely popular with Florists and you will see a lot of lilies in the flower shops since they look very nice in a bouquet. The cut flowers of the lily generally to live for eight days providing clean fresh water is supplied regularly.
Below is a list of the Common Names and Genus of Lily
Common name GenusAfrican corn lily IxiaAfrican lily AgapanthusArum lily Arum or ZantedeschiaAtamasco lily Zephyranthes atamascoAugust lily Hosta plantagineaAztec lily Sprekelia formosissimaBelladonna lily Amaryllis belladonnaBermuda lily Lilium longiflorumBethlehem lily Eucharis amazonicaBlood lily Haemanthus coccineusBluebead lily Clintonia borealisBoat lily Tradescantia spathaceaBugle lily WatsoniaCanada lily Lilium canadenseCanna lily CannaCape lily CrinumChinese-lantern lily Sandersonia aurantiacaDay lily HemerocallisEaster lily Lilium longiflorumEucharis lily Eucharis amazonicaFire lily Lilium bulbiferumFlax lily DianellaFoxtail lily EremurusGiant lily Cardiocrinum giganteumGinger lily HedychiumGlobe lily Calochortus albusGlory lily Gloriosa superbaGeurnsey lily Nerine sarniensisGolden-rayed lily of Japan Lilium auratum Kaffir lily SchizostylisLent lily Narcissus pseudonarcissusLily of the field(s) a general name for flowersLily-of-the-valley ConvallariaLily-of-the-valley tree Clethra arboriaLily pink AphyllanthesLily thorn CatesbaeaLily tree Magnolia denudataPanther lily Lilium pardalinumPeruvian lily AlstroemeriaPlantain lily HostaPrincess lily AlstroemeriaSt Bernard's lily Anthericum lilagoSt Bruno's lily Paradisea lilastrumScarborough lily Cyrtanthus purpureusSnakes-head lily Fritillaria meleagrisToad lily TricyrtisTorch lily KniphofiaTrout lily ErythroniumVoodoo lily Sauromatum venosumWater lily NymphaeaWood lily Trillium

Sunday 7 January 2007

Palms show great resilience

Palms show great resilience and can be grown in divergent climatic and soil conditions. So many species are not restricted to deserts and white, sandy beaches, as is generally perceived. They can survive in tropical and subtropical regions as well as in cold climates. Contrarily, a majority of Palms prefer cool climatic conditions with minimum heat and humidity. Some will tolerate even quite deep shade and a great majority grows deep in the gloomy rainforest and perhaps remains devoid of sunlight throughout.

Palms have a characteristic shape which usually makes them easily recognizable. However, at times these may be confused with Yuccas, Cordylines or Bananas as their leaves bear resemblance. However in terms of the hardiness, no standardized classification is offered by botanists. In fact, there is a huge debate regarding the most hardy of them all!

Increasingly, more and more people are growing Palms,. giving it the status of ‘ a must have’ for homes and particularly for gardens. Today, no garden or greenhouse can be complete without these fascinating beings.
1.1.1 Chinese windmill palm – ‘ Trachycarpus fortunei’

This queer looking Palm variety is also known as the Chinese windmill. The top of the trunk has a head of fan shaped leaves. The trunk is hard and hairy in appearance. It’ s the most widely grown palm variety that swarms public parks around the southwest coastal areas of UKandU S.
Moderately warm conditions best suits the plant. It requires a rich soil and plenty of moisture.
Young trees usually have moderately long leaf stems with distinctively large leaves. T he stem is stiff but the leaves are delicate and liable to damage from strong winds. Though in rare cases these trees can be really tall, they are look better when somewhat shorter.
Most botanical experts generally consider it to be the hardiest among true Palms. At least there is some unanimity about the fact that it’ s the ‘ hardiest trunk-forming palm’ . The Royal Horticultural Society in Britain is the ultimate authority for botanical studies. The society in its “ The Gardeners' Encyclopaedia” " has classified various varieties of Palms on the basis of hardiness. This book mentions the following 4 categories:
The first category comprises of those that are hardy at moderately low temperatures, the next category has those that are hardy at even lower temperatures and the last category is of those awe inspiring ones that can be hardy at extremely low temperatures.-.According to t he book this Palm variety belongs to the second category and can endure considerably low temperatures. Strangely enough it has been found to survive even in the north of Devon, in England, enduring extremely low temperatures and heavy snowfall.
1.1.2 Chilean Wine palm – ‘ Jubaea chilensis’
The Chilean Wine Palm (Jubaea chilensis) is a massive and a cold-tolerant Palm. It’ s a hardy feather Palm and can endure exceedingly low temperatures. ’ s generally planted in the ground in a location where it can get sufficient sunlight.
It has deep green, arching pinnately compound leaves and a very distinctive trunk. The trunk usually stores water and becomes greatly enlarged similar to a baobab tree. In addition to vertical growth, the trunk keeping enlarging diametrically also. The trunk stores sap, which may be tapped and fermented into an alcoholic drink. That is why it’ s popularly referred to as the Wine Palm. This palm can be exceptionally tall, however its progress is slowa nd can take several years to achieve an impressive height. It bears small yellow coloured seed-bearing fruits The seed can germinate easily however that takes some time too, about four months.

1.1.3 Needle Palm - ‘ Rhapidophyllum hystrix’
This plant belongs to the class of Rhapis, which are characterized by fan shaped leaves. These are some of the easiest Palms to grow, but each species has its own particular environment requirements.
Needle palm is scientifically known as Rhapidophyllum hystrix,which belongs to the genre of shrubby like trunk-less Palms. It derives its name from the fibrous projections at the bases of the leaves. It doesn’t require much care or attention, growing widely from the southern tip of South Carolina to central Florida, and west to southern Mississippi. Native to the south eastern US, it has prominence in the wild, wooded, swampy areas. It’ s probably the cold-hardiest Palm, surviving extremely low temperatures . This needle variety Palm requires filtered light and is suited for a moist position in sun or shade. However, at higher latitudes its light requirement increases. It’ s not preferable to grow them in direct sunlight. Its crown consisting of bunch of leaves may become scorched losing their dark green colour.
Unfortunately this palm is becoming quite rare. This is due to increased pace of activities related to habitat destruction and collection of wild specimens. Coupled with this, high incubation period and slow pace of seed germination requiring of up to two years, makes the problem more complex.
1.1.4 Fan Palm – ‘ Trachycarpus Wagneriensis’
It’ s generally regarded as a mere variety of fortunei the fan-shaped Chinese windmill palm rather than a separate species. This is for the simple reason that with minor exceptions, it looks quite similar to that class. However it’ s leaves are smaller and stiffer. They are average looking and are less susceptible to wind damage.
1.1.5 Blue Palmetto -‘ Sabal Minor’
It’ s another of that shrub like fan Palm, endowed with characteristics of Nannorrhops ritchiana in terms of hardiness. Sabal minor, also known, as ‘ The dwarf palmetto’ is native to the south eastern US. It has Costa palmate leaves that are greenish blue in colour. It has a subterranean trunk, which actually grows downward into the soil. This gives it the appearance of being trunk-less. This fan Palm is a slow grower and desires plenty of moisture and sunlight.
When young, it ‘ s usually three feet high and is susceptible to attacks by red coloured spider mites. When full grown it’ s usually around ten feet in height. Although this Palm is extremely cold hardy, enduring moderately low temperatures. However, hot summers are must for its survival.
1.1.6 Mazari Palm – ‘ Nannorrhops ritchiana’
Even though this Palm variety is native to Afghanistan,it can be easily grown in the climatic conditions o UK and USA. As these Palms are a centre of a lot of debate and are probably believed to display idiosyncratic characteristics. A hot, dry climate, well-draining soil and sunny exposures are probably the most ideal for this Palm. Though, no one can say with certitude how cold hardy it actually is yet it is widely believed to survive even extreme cold temperatures. Mazari palms are usually tall with a crown of stiff, blue-grey Costa palmate leave sat the top of the trunk.
1.1.7 Dwarf Fan Palm – ‘ Chamaerops humilis’
This shrubby Palm has attractive fan-shaped leaves. It’ s native to Europe and is popular ly grown in UKa nd USA. It’ s usually compared with Trachycarpus fortunei for is hardiness and wind susceptibility. It’ s less hardy as compared to Trachycarpus fortunei and less susceptible to wind damage because of its stiff leaves.
When young it usually has an extremely short, single stem, with the gradual addition of stems as it ages .It can reach up to grow five feet tall. It looks beautiful in the summers with the blooming of tiny yellow flowers. It likes dry winter soil which allows for a well-drained, suitable soil having minimum possibilities of dampness. It’ s known to survive at moderately low temperatures and sometimes can even take extreme weather conditions.
1.1.8 Jelly Palm-‘ Butia capitata’
This Palm variety has the repute of belonging to the genre of hardiest possible feather-leaved variety of Palms. This species is popularly known as the Jelly Palm. It can grow progressively for several years, assuming ac magnificent size on maturity.
These have long slender projections arching out from among the leaves, which are commonly referred to as ‘ fronds’ . These fronds have a powdery coating of a greyish or bluish green substance like that on grapes and plums. Only a small part of these fronds are actually visible, as they remain almost entirely shrouded by leaflets.
Some garden enthusiasts find feather-leaved Palms more exotic than fan-leaved Palms. At the same time, the former are usually lower in hardiness as compared to the latter. .It requires moderately low temperatures but cane even endure extreme temperatures.

1.1.9 Phoenixcanariensis

This Palm variety derives its name from the fact that it’ s grown widely in the region of Canary Island. It’ s a relatively hard date Palm possessing feather like leaves, can remain firm even at very low temperatures once it establishes itself fully.

The delicate growing, point tips of the fronds may be destroyed by frost. To avoid damage to the fronds should ideally be tied together and wrapped in fleece comprising of several layers. A raised bed should be prepared with the addition of grit to prevent water logging. Water logged soil can prove hazardous for the, emerging fronds in the centre and the base might become rotten .In the winters it should be left unwrapped allowing airflow in the centre.

Tuesday 2 January 2007

Bonsai Gardening Secrets Discover Over 95 Pages Of Insider Secrets To Creating Stunning Bonsai Trees

Monday 1 January 2007

Medicinal Herbs In History

Title: Author: Linda Thompson


Unlocking the healing powers in plants is an ancient idea. Early inhabitants of all continents recognized their dependence on nature for their health. Led by trial and error, instinct and experience humans have long used hundreds, if not thousands, of native plants for treatment of various illnesses dating back to ancient times. There is confirmed evidence of the use of herbs in medicine dating back 60,000 years ago to the burial site of a Neanderthal man discovered in 1960 in a cave in Iraq. Found buried with the man were eight species of plants, seven of which are medincinal plants still widely used throughout the world today. Cultures from all parts of the globe have medicine histories that include the use of plants.


Even in ancient cultures, people scientifically collected and detailed information on herbs developing well-defined herbal pharmacopoeias. Even into the 20th century much of the medical documentation of scientific medicine had its basis in native herbal lore. Many modern day drugs, including aspirin, curare, strychnine, ergot, , taxol and vincristine are of herbal origin and many of the pharmaceuticals currently available to western medical practitioners have a long history of use as herbal remedies, including opium, aspirin, digitalis, and quinine. About twenty-five percent of the prescription drugs dispensed by public pharmacies in the United States contain at least one active ingredient derived from plant material.


Middle East medicine: The invention of writing was the focal point allowing herbal knowledge to accumulate and grow. The first written records detailing the use of herbs in the treatment of illness are the Mesopotamian clay tablet writings and the Egyptian papyrus. About 2000 B.C. the first known materia medica was compiled - an ancient form of today's United States Pharmacopoeia containing 250 herbal drugs. The Ebers Papyrus, the most important of the preserved Egyptian manuscripts, was written around 1500 B.C. and includes much earlier information. It contains 876 prescriptions made up of more than 500 different substances, including many herbs.


Greece and Rome: One of the earliest materia medica was the Rhizotomikon, written by a pupil of Aristotle. Unfortunately, the book is now lost. Other Greek and Roman compilations followed, but none was as significant or influential as that written by Dioscorides in the 1st century A.D., better known by its Latin name De Materia Medica. This text contains 950 curative substances, of which 600 are plant products and the rest are of animal or mineral origin.


Muslim world: The Arabs preserved and built on the body of information from the Greco-Roman era as they learned of new remedies from distant places. They even introduced the Chinese technique of chemically preparing minerals to the West. The principal storehouse of the Muslim materia medica is the text of Jami of Ibn Baiar (died 1248 A.D.), which lists more than 2,000 substances, including many plant products. Eventually this entire body of knowledge was reintroduced to Europe by Christian doctors traveling with the Crusaders.


East India. India underwent a comparable course in the development of its medicine. The healing that took place before India's Ayurvedic medical collection of writings was akin to that of ancient Egypt or China (i.e., illness was seen as a punishment from the gods for a particular sin). Ayurvedic medicine emerged during the rise of Upanishads, Buddhism, and other schools of thought in India. Herbs played an essential role in Ayurvedic medicine. The primary Ayurvedic book on internal medicine, the Characka Samhita, describes 582 herbs. The central book on surgery, the Sushruta Samhita, lists some 600 herbal remedies. Most experts agree that these books are at least 2,000 years old.


China and Japan: The earliest written substantiation of the medicinal use of herbs in China consists of a collection of writings consisting of 11 medical works recovered from a burial site in Hunan province. The burial itself is dated 168 B.C., and the texts (written on silk) appear to have been composed before the end of the 3rd century B.C. By the Later Han Dynasty (25-220 A.D.), medicine had changed dramatically in China. The Classic of the Materia Medica, compiled no earlier than the 1st century A.D. was the first Chinese book to focus on the description of individual herbs.


Since the writing of the Classic of the Materia Medica almost 2,000 years ago it has been progressively growing the most recent compilation, The Encyclopedia of Traditional Chinese Medicine Substances is the culmination of a 25-year research project conducted by the Jiangsu College of New Medicine; it contains 5,767 entries and is the most definitive compilation of China's herbal tradition to date.


Traditional Chinese medicine was brought to Japan via Korea, and
Chinese- influenced Korean medicine was adapted by the Japanese. Toward the end of the Muromachi period (1333-1573 A.D.) the Japanese began to develop a form of traditional oriental medicine, called kampo medicine. As traditional Chinese medicine was modified and integrated into kampo medicine, herbal medicine was markedly simplified. The use of herbs to treat disease is almost universal among non-industrialized societies.

In the western world a number of practices have come to dominate herbal medicine at the end of the twentieth century they are: Western - Based on Greek and Roman sources Ayurvedic - From India Chinese herbal medicine (Chinese herbology) The search for drugs and supplements acquired from plants has hastened in recent years. Botanists, microbiologists, natural-products chemists and pharmacologists are combing the Earth for plant chemicals and leads that could be developed for treatment of various diseases and new plants continue to be seriously investigated for medicinal properties.


About the author:
Discover more information and articles on Herbs and Herbal Medicine by visiting http://www.herbs4medicine.com

Green Green Grass of Home!!??

Many times I have been asked, ?how do you keep your lawn looking so lush and green?? Both Brits and Americans have a bit of a thing about our lawns, we like them to look good, be weed free and be green! There is nothing worse than a dry brown patchy lawn with the odd tuft of green poking out from the earth and a poor lawn hardly makes you want to go and sit out in your garden. Lawn Care

Creating and maintaining a green lawn can become rather competitive and time consuming with the most time consuming aspects of growing a lawn being mowing, watering and weed removal, however with the use of lawn care prducts like Miracle Gro and Weed and Feed, the task of achieving a good lawn becomes a little less daunting. So the best thing to do on a nice day is to go out and enjoy the sunshine, take stock of the state of the lawn and if it is in need of some TLC wait until a rainy day and go down to the local DIY stores where the shelves are sagging under the weight of lawn care products.

Lawns are great for setting off plants or using to deal with large spaces of nothingness (if you are lucky enough to have the space!) , a good friend said to me recently that once a lawn is established and looking good, the best way to maintain it is to spend 20 minutes a day caring for it and the lawn should look after itself. To me this seems a small price to pay for something which can bring hours of enjoyment to the whole family!!
Another important reason to have a lawn??

According to statistics, a lawn of 230 square meters releases enough oxygen in one year for a family of four.!!! So lawns are great and also make a valuable contribution to the environment. What would be even better would be if they had more grass, fewer weeds and dandelions and never needed cutting!!!

Guidelines for Jubaea seed germination:

1. Collect enough seeds. Fresh seeds become available in September/October.
2. Remove most of the mesocarp fibres to facilitate the cracking procedure. Soaking the seeds in water for one or two days may improve this step. Seeds from previous years have often lost their fibres.
3. Crack and completely remove the Jubea endocarp. The best way to do this is to strike a single blow to make the shell explode. Repeated strokes increase the risk of damage to the seed!
4. Select the supposed viable seeds. A "good" Jubea endosperm displays a chestnut brown skin. The fertile germ is identified as a "flat bright brown tear" stuck on the surface of the endosperm. Exclude endosperms which are cracked, flaccid, dark brown and dehydrated, or which smell bad.
5. Treat as a preventative with a fungicide. Naked endosperms are particularly vulnerable and can rot easily. Place them in a sterile and well drained medium, such as a mix of peat and coarse sand (1:4).
6. Use individual small clay pots rather then a large seed bed. Individual pots prevent rotting seeds from contaminating the other ones. It also prevent roots damage by avoiding early transplantation. Small clay pots will further provide better conditions for the seeding, especially for temperature, humidity and air exchange with the environment.
7. Cover the seeds with just a few millimetres of sand and spray with fungicide as a watering.
8. Place the pots in a saucer and wrap them with a plastic bag to maintain moderate humidity.
9. Put your Jubea Seed in a dark warm room. Temperatures ranging from 20° to 25°C are sufficient, but best results are said to be achieved with 25° to 30°C. Use a bottom heating system if necessary.
10. Open the plastic bag daily to allow fresh air to get in. Spray with fungicide when the humidity seems to reduce. Never allow the medium to be waterlogged or to dry out. Both could mean the death of most seeds. The secret is now for you to now to be patient and your sleeping Jubaea babies will soon wake up!
Caring for Jubaea seedlings:
11. Remove sprouting pots when the seedling is about one centimetre high. It means that the root has already developed and that the seedling is surely strong enough to enter the second step of its life. . . in full light.
12. The general guideline is now to minimize any stress to the seeding. With your small clay pots, you have no hazardous transplantation to do. Do not overpot the seedings (leave them to rest in peace, for as long as a year?)
13. Keep warmth and humidity for the first weeks, for example by placing an inverted plastic bottle on the pot. Warmth will improve root growth.
14. Use fungicide and allow the sand slightly to dry between waterings.
15. Begin a light feeding programme as sand is a poor growing medium (though the endosperm will provide all nutrients at first). Be prepared to loose some seedlings, maybe for the first years. Chilean Wine Palm is not Phoenix nor Chamaerops. . . Nevertheless, good luck with your future Jubaea forest and tell us about your results!
Conclusions:
Cracking the Jubea seeds and completely removing the endocarps appears to be an interesting method to germinate Jubaea. The general method described here is said to be efficient for other Butiinae such as Butia species. Especially for Butia yatay, whose seeds also display a very hard endocarp and a very long germination period. This technique can also be used with Parajubaea.

Tips for Selecting the Perfect Houseplant

The calming beauty of a fern or the dramatic statement of a palm tree - the plants we choose to decorate our homes both compliment our decor and provide a refreshing spot of life in an otherwise static environment. If you are trying to decide which type of plants will both suit your home and your life there are three points to take into consideration. SAFETY Philodendron and ivy are popular houseplants because of their beautiful coloration, attractive leaves and low maintenance.

However, some varieties of these beauties are just a sample of plants that are incredibly poisonous to humans or animals when eaten. If you have children or animals in the home or as visitors you are wise to take the time to investigate which plants are harmful and which are not. Some plants do not even have to be eaten to be harmful, so it is well worth avoiding them if possible. Whether or not you choose to have poisonous plants in your home it is always a good idea to keep them out of the reach of children and pets as well as have the name of the plant clearly identified in case of an emergency. LIGHT AND TEMPERATURE

If you are new to plant care or simply don't want to spend more time than necessary to care for your plants you need to match your plant choice to the light and temperature environment in your home. As a rule of thumb, cactus and other succulent plant varieties need a great deal of sunlight and warmth. While direct sun - especially intensified through a window - is not good for any houseplants, you will want a south or west exposure with plenty of light for the best results when choosing these plants. Flowering plants also require good sunlight, although not as much as succulents. If you do not have a bright room for your flowering plants they may survive but not flower as frequently or at all.

Foliage without flowers often does well in lower light areas. Ferns, ivy and some palms are examples of plants that often do well away from windows and bright sun. If your home is very dry, especially during the winter, you may need to spray your plants with a mist of water to provide the humidity they need to thrive. Many nurseries provide information on a tag when you purchase a plant. Use the information on these tags to identify plants that will do best in your home environment.

APPEARANCE Plants come in such a wide variety of colors, shapes and sizes that it is easy to find a plant that suits your taste and decor. Delicate foliage like ferns and ivies look great in traditional decors while simple, stunning palms and other tropicals stand out in modern or Mediterranean decors. Grouping plants can provide an attractive vignette in an empty corner or near a window, but be careful not to overdo it or your home may begin to look more like a greenhouse than a home.

Check your plants regularly for changes in appearance - brown or yellowed tips which may mean over or under watering, as well as spots, holes or changes in color that could mean disease or infestation. If you suspect either you should immediately separate that plant from the others to avoid contamination. When bringing new plants home set them aside for a week or so until you are sure they are not contaminated before putting them near your other plants. You are sure to enjoy the addition of plants to your home, whether you intend to devote a lot of time to them or as little as possible. Choosing wisely will make your new additions both beautiful to look at and a pleasure to care for