It’s right around this time of year every year that I start to really crave spring, and all that comes with it. While we all still must wait patiently, beauty and color can still be found in the depths of winter. There are many succulents that love to bloom when the days are shorter and the temperatures are cooler, specifically, succulents hailing from the southern hemisphere.
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When it is as hot outside (and inside the Boettcher Memorial Tropical Conservatory), as it has been, I tend to find myself eating more ice cream. Last night as I was enjoying a mixed bowl of chocolate and vanilla ice cream, it made me think about two of my favorite plants in the Boettcher Tropical Conservatory: Theobroma cacao, or chocolate, and Vanilla planifolia or, you guessed it, vanilla.
Chocolate pods maturing in the Boettcher Memorial Tropical Conservatory
Theobroma cacao is native to tropical Central and South America, and is a strong representative of the Sterculiaceae family, although it was formerly placed in Malvaceae (the Hibiscus Family) until recently.
Chocolate has been a very important crop world wide for a very long time. In fact, it was so important to the natives who first started cultivating it, that they called it the “food of the gods.” Nowadays, the Latin botanical name of the genus, Theobroma, translates to “Food of the Gods.”
The tree is often of smaller size, around 15 to 26 feet high, and is evergreen. One of my favorite characteristics of Theobroma is its cauliflorous flowering and fruiting habit. This means that the flowers and later the fruit grow directly from the stem and branches of
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Please be sure to swing by the Grown At The Gardens Division at our Plant Sale today and tomorrow and check out all of the cool tropical plants that we grew here at the Gardens for your enjoyment. There is a great selection of Begonias as well as some more uncommon plants, such as Westringis fruticosa and Dischidia bengalensis. We also have a nice selection of special varieties of Brugmansia. See you soon and get here early, this stuff is going to fly off! Cheers!
One of my favorite aspects of working in horticulture is seeing flower buds beginning to grow and swell on newly acquired plants and on plants that rarely bloom or take forever to bloom. Well, right now is one of those exciting times for me. We have two of these special plants beginning to bloom right now.
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Have you ever wondered what types of insect pests we have in the Boettcher Memorial Tropical Conservatory, and how we deal with them? Well, for all of you entomologists out there today is your lucky day.
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Many visitors to the Boettcher Memorial Tropical Conservatory have been asking me, “Where are the orchids?” Well, there are still many around the Boettcher Tropical Conservatory, and in just a few months,
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Over the last few months, visitors to the Boettcher Memorial Tropical Conservatory may have noticed some funny looking trees that look like they were cut in half…well, they have been. Growing plants in the Boettcher Tropical Conservatory presents many challenges such as
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Freycinetia cummingiana
Without a doubt, today was one of those days that the Boettcher Tropical Conservatory really made me take a step back and cherish my “office”. The amount of obscure and unique plants in bloom right is almost
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