Gardening On The Islands

[oldsailor35]

some of my tomatoes, black krim in particular, are different shades of purple btw and never red.

of any edible fruit i've grown, tomatoes have the lowest success rate in this particular location. we've eaten beans and peas, sweet corn, tomato, onion, garlic, at least 6 different varieties of chili peppers incl. jalapeno, watermelon, cantaloupe, pumpkin, cucumbers and i'm sure i'm missing something else, all from this yard. ah, coconuts, papaya, and bell peppers, mints, basil, thai spinach, celery. might try some potatoes in sacks under the house next who knows!

So where are you Joe ?

[oldsailor35]

you know, i wouldn't even eat a tomato if you paid me. a hat on the other hand, we can talk.

They are not red yet ... but coming along! .....Hmmm... Seems like Rooo has offered to buy the beer, to save my hat.... we'll see....

Hope the leaf minor does not finish off the plants before that happens...

And the chocolate will be savoured over the next several months!

they have to be red now? just a few posts up you said you'd never seen a tomato set fruit here. ok ok give them a few more weeks. we've had red tomatoes before and we'll have them again. the leaf miners don't have much of an appetite so they don't concern me too much. the orange beetles and the aphids on the other hand, do. i've got cantaloupes, watermelons, halloween pumpkins, cucumbers, and who knows what else fruiting all over my yard now as well. thanks to the birds in my yard i've got things growing in places i didn't want or expect them to grow but can't say i'm too concerned about it now. at least they're productive.

Hey!!!! ....remember this is Thailand, "goal posts" change all the time, don't they? !

We would not want green tomato chutney at the next TV party, now would we? and besides Rooo's going to have to cough up for the beer!

Anyone seen edible hats around? .. just in case...he backs out....

I think you have been here too long Jimmy !

[oldsailor35]

I do not want to eat a hat. The bet is a beer. I was relying on you Joe.

hey now, i don't remember being involved in any gardening or headwear related bets recently. you guys are on your own on this one.

WHIMP !

[samuijimmy]

OK OK ... I concede! Tomatoes can be grown here! If you are lucky enough to have the right location and green thumb!

I'll eat "my hat", when I find an edible one..... ha ha!

Next subject please!

[joe84330]

you know, i wouldn't even eat a tomato if you paid me. a hat on the other hand, we can talk.

Well done Joe, but if were to have pinched out all those "Lateral shoots" you would get bigger and better fruit !

been on holiday for a couple of weeks. can't really ask them not to grow while i'm gone and it's not the sort of thing you can leave up to a friend or neighbor. i don't eat them anyway, just grow them because people say i can't. anyway the rains appear to be here now so i'm not going to be pruning anything. having one of my cantaloupes for breakfast.

[joe84330]

some of my tomatoes, black krim in particular, are different shades of purple btw and never red.

of any edible fruit i've grown, tomatoes have the lowest success rate in this particular location. we've eaten beans and peas, sweet corn, tomato, onion, garlic, at least 6 different varieties of chili peppers incl. jalapeno, watermelon, cantaloupe, pumpkin, cucumbers and i'm sure i'm missing something else, all from this yard. ah, coconuts, papaya, and bell peppers, mints, basil, thai spinach, celery. might try some potatoes in sacks under the house next who knows!

So where are you Joe ?

pretty much directly on the beach. had a couple of really nice crops taken out by strong winds, others by strong rains, others by too much sun. offerings for buddha i suppose. we get what's left.

[Rooo]

Bophut markets, behind the carts, in particular the one that makes fried rice, heaps of tomato plants growing wild, full of tomatoes.

[samuijimmy]

Bophut markets, behind the carts, in particular the one that makes fried rice, heaps of tomato plants growing wild, full of tomatoes.

OMG! I guess I need to go find another hat to eat!

[samuijimmy]

Bophut markets, behind the carts, in particular the one that makes fried rice, heaps of tomato plants growing wild, full of tomatoes.

I stopped by here today, (I assume you mean the Bophut market, just after traffic lights...} searched around with camera in hand to catch a red tomato and not one in sight....

You been taking those cheap drugs Rooo?

[Rooo]

Bophut markets, behind the carts, in particular the one that makes fried rice, heaps of tomato plants growing wild, full of tomatoes.

I stopped by here today, (I assume you mean the Bophut market, just after traffic lights...} searched around with camera in hand to catch a red tomato and not one in sight....

You been taking those cheap drugs Rooo?

No, will send an escort with you to point them out to you. But then if the tomatoes were ripe they wouldn't be there anymore, would they now?

[samuijimmy]

Bophut markets, behind the carts, in particular the one that makes fried rice, heaps of tomato plants growing wild, full of tomatoes.

I stopped by here today, (I assume you mean the Bophut market, just after traffic lights...} searched around with camera in hand to catch a red tomato and not one in sight....

You been taking those cheap drugs Rooo?

No, will send an escort with you to point them out to you. But then if the tomatoes were ripe they wouldn't be there anymore, would they now?

Well as long as he escort is very cheap! But there should be some green ones still ripening... or the plants still in the ground! The rice stall being the last one in the line on the left? (very good cheap food there btw)... perhaps they used all the fresh toms! I eaten there a few times lately, not sure how my beady eyes would have missed bright red toms

[joe84330]

never been in that market or seen that plant but i suspect the lack of fruit is due to the consumption of somtam in the immediate area.

[Rooo]

[samuijimmy]

Find of the year!

A week or two ago, I headed up to the waterfall called Zong Raue, on the road headed into Nanthon from Maenam direction, the sign is fairly new... Says 4 Kms to the waterfall... turning left and following the road up and up... The falls themselves are not really worth the effort to get there... even though we'd had some rain...

However, just after the concrete part of the road finished and in a private garden on the right side was a huge trellis, with a vine I had never seen before and cannot find it in my Thai plant book... But my neighbours tell me it's name is some thing like Po Wang Sang.... something to do with the flower colour, I gathered... The huge trellis is quite visible from the road so one does not have to enter a private garden!!!

Yesterday, low and behold, having a bit of time to kill waiting for the ferry to leave Tongsala, Koh Phengan, I found this plant in a pot, being sold by The Organic Farm from Ban Tai, (KP), somewhere off the main road, where the Government Offices are.... ???...... Next time I am over I will go and investigate....

I purchased the only plant they had at the stall they have set up, it was not cheap!!!! The location of the stall is perhaps 50 metres towards the round a bout, from 7-11... (Street Market, going on there now)...in Tongsala. (I believe they have more at the farm.... off the Ban Tai road)

But it sure was a head turner, and I must have had 20 Thai's wanting to take a close look.... with smiles of wow!

Sadly the flowers got a bit tattered looking coming across on the ferry then getting a motor bike ride home, but I think the plant will survive!

It looks like a plant that will propagate easily, so I'll get the kid next door on that next year... he could be rich! I might be poor building a strong trellis to hold the vine!

The first picture is the plant I purchased, the second one, is the plant near Nanthon... on the metal trellis...

Anyone have a better name for this... English or Latin???....

[samuijimmy]

Find of the year!

A week or two ago, I headed up to the waterfall called Zong Raue, on the road headed into Nanthon from Maenam direction, the sign is fairly new... Says 4 Kms to the waterfall... turning left and following the road up and up... The falls themselves are not really worth the effort to get there... even though we'd had some rain...

However, just after the concrete part of the road finished and in a private garden on the right side was a huge trellis, with a vine I had never seen before and cannot find it in my Thai plant book... But my neighbours tell me it's name is some thing like Po Wang Sang.... something to do with the flower colour, I gathered... The huge trellis is quite visible from the road so one does not have to enter a private garden!!!

Yesterday, low and behold, having a bit of time to kill waiting for the ferry to leave Tongsala, Koh Phengan, I found this plant in a pot, being sold by The Organic Farm from Ban Tai, (KP), somewhere off the main road, where the Government Offices are.... ???...... Next time I am over I will go and investigate....

I purchased the only plant they had at the stall they have set up, it was not cheap!!!! The location of the stall is perhaps 50 metres towards the round a bout, from 7-11... (Street Market, going on there now)...in Tongsala. (I believe they have more at the farm.... off the Ban Tai road)

But it sure was a head turner, and I must have had 20 Thai's wanting to take a close look.... with smiles of wow!

Sadly the flowers got a bit tattered looking coming across on the ferry then getting a motor bike ride home, but I think the plant will survive!

It looks like a plant that will propagate easily, so I'll get the kid next door on that next year... he could be rich! I might be poor building a strong trellis to hold the vine!

The first picture is the plant I purchased, the second one, is the plant near Nanthon... on the metal trellis...

Anyone have a better name for this... English or Latin???....

Here is the name of the plant... and a link with some info... This red one is a cousin of the Green flowered plant, native to the Philippines !

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strongylodon_macrobotrys

[sbk]

Gorgeous Jimmy, can I ask how much is "not cheap"? Plants are soooo freaking expensive to buy and usually they all have the same old boring stuff. This place sounds interesting, off the Thong Nai Pan road meaning? Up the mountain? Halfway?

[joe84330]

Gorgeous Jimmy, can I ask how much is "not cheap"? Plants are soooo freaking expensive to buy and usually they all have the same old boring stuff. This place sounds interesting, off the Thong Nai Pan road meaning? Up the mountain? Halfway?

that is nice, Jimmy. i'm getting a nice heavy wooden swing and that looks like it would be part of a really nice canopy. if you see it again somewhere please do let me know.

[samuijimmy]

Gorgeous Jimmy, can I ask how much is "not cheap"? Plants are soooo freaking expensive to buy and usually they all have the same old boring stuff. This place sounds interesting, off the Thong Nai Pan road meaning? Up the mountain? Halfway?

Yes, a lovely plant, the green jade one looks interesting too. It was too bad my flowers "fried" on the ferry back from KP, but at least has put on a foot or so of growth....

The one I got was 500 baht... (it had better produce a lot of "babies")

I tried to get to the nursery /farm on my last visit to KP, even calling the owner, but he was busy with stuff during the FMP in Haad Rin... collecting rent, I think, more interested in that than seeing me!

Stopping to get directions was told the road up to the farm was very rough and warned off trying to drive up on a motorbike anyway.... Could see a red coloured roof way up the hillside to the left between the large trees on the right side of the Thong Nai Pan Road (name of trees escapes me for the moment, but you know the ones I mean SBK) ... and before the elephant trekking place, I think.... some where in that area anyway!.... I'll try and dig out the number... and post it...

As for Joe using wooden posts, my feeling would be to use galvanized metal posts to support this plant, looking at the long term....

I saw today that one of my vines is now laying one the ground, that has had a wooden post for three years, it's a real pain to stand vines up again.

[joe84330]

Gorgeous Jimmy, can I ask how much is "not cheap"? Plants are soooo freaking expensive to buy and usually they all have the same old boring stuff. This place sounds interesting, off the Thong Nai Pan road meaning? Up the mountain? Halfway?

Yes, a lovely plant, the green jade one looks interesting too. It was too bad my flowers "fried" on the ferry back from KP, but at least has put on a foot or so of growth....

The one I got was 500 baht... (it had better produce a lot of "babies")

I tried to get to the nursery /farm on my last visit to KP, even calling the owner, but he was busy with stuff during the FMP in Haad Rin... collecting rent, I think, more interested in that than seeing me!

Stopping to get directions was told the road up to the farm was very rough and warned off trying to drive up on a motorbike anyway.... Could see a red coloured roof way up the hillside to the left between the large trees on the right side of the Thong Nai Pan Road (name of trees escapes me for the moment, but you know the ones I mean SBK) ... and before the elephant trekking place, I think.... some where in that area anyway!.... I'll try and dig out the number... and post it...

As for Joe using wooden posts, my feeling would be to use galvanized metal posts to support this plant, looking at the long term....

I saw today that one of my vines is now laying one the ground, that has had a wooden post for three years, it's a real pain to stand vines up again.

thanks Jimmy. only the big swing is made out of wood. any frame i put into the ground or up above it would be metal. let me know please if you find some more of these...

[samuijimmy]

Gorgeous Jimmy, can I ask how much is "not cheap"? Plants are soooo freaking expensive to buy and usually they all have the same old boring stuff. This place sounds interesting, off the Thong Nai Pan road meaning? Up the mountain? Halfway?

Yes, a lovely plant, the green jade one looks interesting too. It was too bad my flowers "fried" on the ferry back from KP, but at least has put on a foot or so of growth....

The one I got was 500 baht... (it had better produce a lot of "babies")

I tried to get to the nursery /farm on my last visit to KP, even calling the owner, but he was busy with stuff during the FMP in Haad Rin... collecting rent, I think, more interested in that than seeing me!

Stopping to get directions was told the road up to the farm was very rough and warned off trying to drive up on a motorbike anyway.... Could see a red coloured roof way up the hillside to the left between the large trees on the right side of the Thong Nai Pan Road (name of trees escapes me for the moment, but you know the ones I mean SBK) ... and before the elephant trekking place, I think.... some where in that area anyway!.... I'll try and dig out the number... and post it...

As for Joe using wooden posts, my feeling would be to use galvanized metal posts to support this plant, looking at the long term....

I saw today that one of my vines is now laying one the ground, that has had a wooden post for three years, it's a real pain to stand vines up again.

thanks Jimmy. only the big swing is made out of wood. any frame i put into the ground or up above it would be metal. let me know please if you find some more of these...

Here is the poster for the Organic Farm... with phone number..... 081 370 3128

I think don't try calling during a FMP!

If anyone makes it up there I know someone on Samui who wants two!!!

A 4 wheel drive vehicle probably needed, or he might bring down to a drop off point.... in Ban Tai or Tongsala....

[joe84330]

hey this isn't the same thing is it? i just noticed this vine growing along the power lines behind my house. never noticed it before, don't go back there often enough i guess.

[samuijimmy]

hey this isn't the same thing is it? i just noticed this vine growing along the power lines behind my house. never noticed it before, don't go back there often enough i guess.

No, not same same! Joe.

This looks like a vine that has red hollow fruit.... looks quite nice in right place,.....(all plants do) but on power lines not so good! I would go cut it back at the base.... likely to cause power problems if it gets too entangled

It will seed its self..... too. I am not sure what it's name is....

Along one of the Soi's in Maenam (7 or 8) someone has Melons hanging from the electric wires.... that's really bright!

Bye the way Joe....we never did get a full report of those tomato plants you had growing....???

[joe84330]

ya these have small green pickle sized pods that grow into that red flower. i don't mess around with power lines, we've called the pea before to have them cut but it always takes months. better than me doing it though and getting a bill for causing damage. tomatoes? they've been eaten nearly ever day in somtam. not by me though, wouldn't eat them if you paid me.

[GermanPrimrose]

Hi,

I'm new and joining here to lear a little about Thai plants and gardening. And English botanical terms. I hope you guys don't mind?

I'm from Germany, have been to Samui once, and I am a hobby gardener. My relationship with plants? Have to have 'em all.

Anyone seen edible hats around? .. just in case...he backs out....

Here's your hat, Jimmy:

Save me a piece

Greetz

Primrose

[samuijimmy]

Hi,

I'm new and joining here to lear a little about Thai plants and gardening. And English botanical terms. I hope you guys don't mind?

I'm from Germany, have been to Samui once, and I am a hobby gardener. My relationship with plants? Have to have 'em all.

Anyone seen edible hats around? .. just in case...he backs out....

Here's your hat, Jimmy:

Save me a piece

Greetz

Primrose

Welcome German Primrose!

Any hat I have to eat must be chocolate! I have not found on yet....

For information, German Primrose is one of my "spies" who seems to have time twiddling thumbs and working on plant names of my images of tropical plants in one of my Picasa albums... she was the one who found the name of the red vine....thanks for that GP!

Pictures of plants that grow on the islands

Of course if anyone has more time than I to add names, please feel free to do so! I never seem to find time!

[joe84330]

hey jimmy i just got done looking through your album to see if i could spot, and hopefully name, a couple of plants in my yard.

i will try to get a couple of photos but i only ever use my iphone so quality is an issue.

i'm really perplexed about a bush growing around my yard. it was obviously planted there specifically but never taken care of so it's quite pathetic really, nothing much to look at but it has the most intoxicatingly wonderful fragrance that only happens at night but it's not a night blooming jasmine. it's more like an abelia based only on the flowers but i used to live in an area overgrown with honeysuckle and they are fragrant all day. 5 of these neglected bushes planted around my houses are enough to perfume my entire large (by local standards) yard. interestingly enough, there probably aren't even 8 or 10 flowers on any of the bushes, one bush in particular isn't even flowering. i want to start paying them some attention because they are amazingly fragrant. love it. comparing photos online and the plants in my yard are absolutely pathetic. less than 10 flowers on the entire bush whereas an abelia can and should have dozens if not hundreds of flowers.

it's an evergreen, one "bush" is barely over a foot tall and i've got another at 7 or 8 ft tall. each bush is at least 5 years old. since they've been there for longer than i have i can't really change the soil but i'd like to start giving them some attention to encourage more of it. i think they are pathetic now due to the land owners "management" style. for the first year i lived there, he would basically come to the house once every 6 months and scalp/hard prune literally everything, even the grass. nothing would survive this guy. i asked him not to come back anymore and all living things are much happier now.

[samuijimmy]

hey jimmy i just got done looking through your album to see if i could spot, and hopefully name, a couple of plants in my yard.

i will try to get a couple of photos but i only ever use my iphone so quality is an issue.

i'm really perplexed about a bush growing around my yard. it was obviously planted there specifically but never taken care of so it's quite pathetic really, nothing much to look at but it has the most intoxicatingly wonderful fragrance that only happens at night but it's not a night blooming jasmine. it's more like an abelia based only on the flowers but i used to live in an area overgrown with honeysuckle and they are fragrant all day. 5 of these neglected bushes planted around my houses are enough to perfume my entire large (by local standards) yard. interestingly enough, there probably aren't even 8 or 10 flowers on any of the bushes, one bush in particular isn't even flowering. i want to start paying them some attention because they are amazingly fragrant. love it. comparing photos online and the plants in my yard are absolutely pathetic. less than 10 flowers on the entire bush whereas an abelia can and should have dozens if not hundreds of flowers.

it's an evergreen, one "bush" is barely over a foot tall and i've got another at 7 or 8 ft tall. each bush is at least 5 years old. since they've been there for longer than i have i can't really change the soil but i'd like to start giving them some attention to encourage more of it. i think they are pathetic now due to the land owners "management" style. for the first year i lived there, he would basically come to the house once every 6 months and scalp/hard prune literally everything, even the grass. nothing would survive this guy. i asked him not to come back anymore and all living things are much happier now.

Yeah Iphone and Ipad images do not look good on the "big screen" another reason I got rid of my Ipad...

This plant sounds like the one Thai's love to use as a hedge... not quite the the same as Abelia, but some what close... I actually don't like it, or its sickly smell (to me... but then too I don't like the smell of Gardenias, which most people seem to love ) The leaves look a bit like privet, flowers smaller than what I remember Abelia flowers were like...

It could be Wrightia religosa, just glancing through my book,(Plants for Landscape Architectural Uses in Thailand) but then too it could be Murraya paniculata??? No Thai neighbours around at moment to verify... but I just took a picture of what I think it might be.... not many flowers at the moment. I will try to post image when I have a bit more time.... But you can try too!

Sounds like you need a fertilizer program to get your plants up to snuff!

Now back to sorting pictures for the TV calender.... which is what I started doing ... no more interruptions please!

[sbk]

hang on, I bet I know what it is, Cestrum Nocturnum, Lady of the Night, or Night Blooming Jasmine, Ratree in Thai:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cestrum_nocturnum

[joe84330]

hang on, I bet I know what it is, Cestrum Nocturnum, Lady of the Night, or Night Blooming Jasmine, Ratree in Thai:

http://en.wikipedia....strum_nocturnum

thanks sbk but that's not it. i named my daughter after that plant. love it.

the flowers and leaves are different. the reason i suggested it as an option was due to the fragrance in this plant only coming out at night. i will see if i can get a decent photo in another hour or so when it starts kicking in.

it's confusing me because i think it's a type of abelia but it's not fragrant during the day.

as for the fragrance, i would try to describe it as peppery, like a black pepper but a mildly sweet, sensual black pepper. not a sneezing obnoxious black pepper. love it. even my kids have been sitting out on the porch in the evenings to take it in. wonderful stuff. not quite as nice as night blooming jasmine however.

[joe84330]

hey jimmy i just got done looking through your album to see if i could spot, and hopefully name, a couple of plants in my yard.

i will try to get a couple of photos but i only ever use my iphone so quality is an issue.

i'm really perplexed about a bush growing around my yard. it was obviously planted there specifically but never taken care of so it's quite pathetic really, nothing much to look at but it has the most intoxicatingly wonderful fragrance that only happens at night but it's not a night blooming jasmine. it's more like an abelia based only on the flowers but i used to live in an area overgrown with honeysuckle and they are fragrant all day. 5 of these neglected bushes planted around my houses are enough to perfume my entire large (by local standards) yard. interestingly enough, there probably aren't even 8 or 10 flowers on any of the bushes, one bush in particular isn't even flowering. i want to start paying them some attention because they are amazingly fragrant. love it. comparing photos online and the plants in my yard are absolutely pathetic. less than 10 flowers on the entire bush whereas an abelia can and should have dozens if not hundreds of flowers.

it's an evergreen, one "bush" is barely over a foot tall and i've got another at 7 or 8 ft tall. each bush is at least 5 years old. since they've been there for longer than i have i can't really change the soil but i'd like to start giving them some attention to encourage more of it. i think they are pathetic now due to the land owners "management" style. for the first year i lived there, he would basically come to the house once every 6 months and scalp/hard prune literally everything, even the grass. nothing would survive this guy. i asked him not to come back anymore and all living things are much happier now.

Yeah Iphone and Ipad images do not look good on the "big screen" another reason I got rid of my Ipad...

This plant sounds like the one Thai's love to use as a hedge... not quite the the same as Abelia, but some what close... I actually don't like it, or its sickly smell (to me... but then too I don't like the smell of Gardenias, which most people seem to love ) The leaves look a bit like privet, flowers smaller than what I remember Abelia flowers were like...

It could be Wrightia religosa, just glancing through my book,(Plants for Landscape Architectural Uses in Thailand) but then too it could be Murraya paniculata??? No Thai neighbours around at moment to verify... but I just took a picture of what I think it might be.... not many flowers at the moment. I will try to post image when I have a bit more time.... But you can try too!

Sounds like you need a fertilizer program to get your plants up to snuff!

Now back to sorting pictures for the TV calender.... which is what I started doing ... no more interruptions please!

JIMMY!!!!!!!!

nailed it on the first guess! it is wrightia religiosa for sure!

this one was definitely throwing me for a loop. so many similarities to both night blooming jasmine and abelia's. i will buy you a cold beer sometime, you saved me quite a bit of googling tonight haha.

had no idea it was as common as the link states, can't remember ever smelling this fragrance here in nearly 6 years now. thanks jimmy!