Rare Tree Event and a busy gardening weekend

So I don't know if I will be able to post on weekends. I will try my best but it is really the only time I have to garden hard.

This Saturday I was fortunate enough to go to the Brevard Rare Fruit Council tree sale with Andy. I picked myself up a nice Red Tea Leaf bush - which I am fairly certain is not a Rooibos but is a Chinese tea the name Red coming from the type of color it causes the liquid. Here is a pic - let me know if you can figure it out. I already contacted Tropical Fruit Nursery so maybe they can help. :( Here is a list of just some of the tropical plants they had.

From garden

From garden

Apparently there are mainly 3 types of Tea plants Chinese, Assam and Rooibos (Red Tea). I did not know that was it. Depending on the way you treat the leaves you will get the different types of teas out there (white, green, black, oolong, Darjeeling, etc.) There are different processes which are used and different times the teas are picked which will give the different flavors of the teas. Wikipedia has a decent article on it.

From garden

From garden

They had the Jackfruit and the Grumichamas there but were out of the cinnamon and vanilla orchids. Andy decided to get a Mulberry tree - they grow large and unfortunately I am limited to my yard. While looking at the trees they had available we met Marlinda who is part of the Council and a wonderful soul. She offered Andy a free mulberry tree if we went to her house to pick it up. SWEET DEAL! At Marlinda's house we got to taste the mulberries off of her tree and we met her neighbor a sweet 95 yr-old woman who grew up growing Ginseng on her family farm in NY! Marlinda also told great stories about traveling on a bus with her friend who dyed her clothes with mulberries and BOY do they dye quickly. Marlinda was so great she even gave me a Pomegranate bush/tree too. She said she traveled alot and it needed a good home. Free for me = SOLD! So here it is planted.

From garden

Andy gave me some flower seeds too - Morning Glories and a butterfly flower which I will just have to wait and see what comes up. The zinnias I planted have mostly sprouted and the creamy tomatoes are doing great. Also the radishes have come up. This means my garden has grown AGAIN! My friend Jose complained my garden list is a big o' mess so here is the new update.

Veggies:

Onions (Sweet Spanish Utah Jumbo), Onions (like chives), Onion - from my kitchen

Red peppers (California Wonder, a Florida Heirloom, Long Red Sweet)

Chocolate peppers

Purple Beauty Bell peppers

Lettuce (Parris Island Co Romaine)

Winter squash, Summer Squash (Zucchini Dark Green)

Purple Dragon Carrots

Radishes

Legumes:

Gandules (Pigeon Peas)

Fruit:

Blueberries

Strawberries

Bananas

Pineapple

Tomato Varieties: Beefsteak, Plum, Patio (hybrid), Bradley,Creamy Tomato (Amish Heirloom),

Herbs:

Parsley (Italian flat leaf)

Sweet Basil

Cilantro

Rosemary

Sage

Chamomile

Catnip

Flowers:

Amaryllis

Zinnias (Giant Double Mixed and Giant Violet Queen)

Gazanias

Angelica

Morning Glory

White and yellow daisy looking plant (unknown)

Wow this list is growing. There are other plants at this house too which I have been taking care of including an orchid, 3 poinsettia trees, some cacti and some giant staghorns. I wont include them in this blog though since I don't consider them mine but if I end up working on them even more they will be adopted soon enough.

I guess I will keep dreaming about my future farm and hopefully I will be able to go visit the manure farm soon. FYI - I never though in my life I would say that.