The plants in my Ranchero garden are an eclectic mix of native, non-native and downright foreign, like this Opuntia Microdasys Albispina (whose story I’ve previously shared.)
It was a big surprise when this cactus arrived in 2010 via international mail; a single, rootless pad severed from a plant on a Naxos, Greece balcony! Since crossing the Atlantic, it’s grown quite a bit, spawning a new family tradition AND American offspring ➡ when Maggie recently left Vero for her college apartment, I sent a single, rootless pad along for the ride! 🙂
The next foreign plant has never appeared on the blog before…strange really, considering the backstory!
The sapling amidst the mexican donkey ears is a Jackfruit tree, grown from foreign seeds I received in a bizarre, roundabout way from my stepdad.
The story goes like this:
In August 2010, he went to metro Boston for his grandchild’s 1st birthday. During the visit, he met a next-door neighbor, a Filipino lady who purchased a jackfruit at the local Asian market.. Upon hearing he was returning to Florida she said, “take these seeds and grow them.” (wierd story?!!) He pocketted the seeds….actually, he packed them in his carry-on: there were 8 seeds in total, and they were HUGE!
Naturally, when he got back to Vero Beach, he gave them to me: “Take these seeds and grow them.” 😉 ha!!! It was more like, “maybe you can do something with these?”
And so, most were dug into the Ranchero and a few into pots: 6 germinated and did well until the historic, 3 week cold snap of December, 2010. In a month when lizards and oranges fell dead from frostbitten trees, I never expected my tiny new seedlings would survive, yet one did! A truly remarkable event since Jackfruit trees are rare (foreign, really) anywhere north of Miami!
For more facts and legends about these interesting trees, click here
Until next time…..
🙂 🙂
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21 thoughts on “Weekly Photo Challenge: Foreign”
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small house/BIG GARDEN 
Both are very nice pictures of very interesting plants! How fun to have such great vegetation!
Kenley
Thanks Kenley!
I’m really happy the little opuntia thrived once it arrived here…lots of sentimental value in those little dotted pads!
Wonderful photos for this weeks foreign. The Cactus if my favorite plant. Thank you for sharing the history of how these came to you. 😉
Thank you! I’m an enormous succulent fan myself! So many different shapes and sizes to collect!
Glad you liked the post. 🙂
How interesting! I need you to come and give me pointers for my little Virginia courtyard.
Oh I’m all too familiar with little VA courtyards…we lived on the Falls Church/Fairfax line near Rte 50 for 5 yrs and had a little poststamp sized one! Ours was a condo complex so I had tons of potted cacti around that I’d bring in a few months each year.
Thanks for leaving a comment. Much appreciated!
What an interesting post … foreign plants that have traveled…
After I hit “publish” I did a lot of second guessing, so I’m glad you found it interesting!
🙂
My grandma used to love buying a small pot of cactus plant each time we went to the night market. She also had one at her old house which grew so tall it touched the ceiling and started growing horizontally.
LOL I’ve seen a christmas cactus do that! In a friend’s greenhouse up north that plant took over the ceiling that way!
Thanks for finding my blog and taking time to comment. 🙂
It’s so nice to have plants with a history! I love the stories of how they came to you, and the nice places you give them in your garden. Thank you!
Hi Cindy!
You’re welcome. I’m sure I bore real life people way too often with my plant histories but on the blog I figure it’s ok! 😉
It reminds me a little of the crown of thorns plant my husband and I had back in Illinois. There was no way to move it to Maryland, so it went to my brother’s house. It’s proceeded to have lots of offspring that have made their way around. 🙂
Your crown of thorns story made me chuckle! I have some I took from my mother’s yard that are overdue to hit the road for someone else’s house! some plants are just like that!
Wonderful that you have a bit of Greece in your garden !
thank you Claire! as bulldog said above, “foreign plants that travel!” I can’t think of a better description. 😉 🙂
Cool pic, you should join us for Sunday Stills..:-)
What a nice surprise! Isn’t fun when a seedling pops up from nowhere, especially when you least expect it (and, of course, when it’s not a weed). I wonder how big your Jack Fruit will get. My grandma (who was from the Philippines) had ALL kinds of fruit trees on the property we grew up in, in Hawaii…a gigantic mango tree, papaya, guava, calamansi (lime), jack fruit, bread fruit (I always get the two mixed up)…we were very lucky!
Loved reading it, good one 🙂