Logee's New Fruit Book Launch on Martha Stewart TV

Our fruit book "Growing Tasty Tropical Plants in any home, any where" will air on Martha Stewart TV (Hallmark Channel) this Friday, Nov. 5th. We travel to New York City on November 3rd to tape the show and the fruit plants that we have chosen for the show are pictured below.

First, our Black Olive plant (Olea europaea 'Arbequina'). The plant pictured is two years old and is a 5 foot tree with unripe olives (green) and ripe olives (black). Growing an olive tree is easy as long as you have nighttime temperatures in the winter down to 40˚F. It is the chill down that brings on flowering and ultimately the fruit.

Next, our five year old Dragon Fruit(Hylocerus undatus) plant that is in fruit. The pink fruit when sliced open has a delicious custardy center that can be scooped out and eaten. If you just want to order the fruit and not the plant go to From the Farm, a tropical fruit grower in Florida does a really nice job of growing and shipping the fruit.

Our amazing Dwarf Starfruit (Averrhoa carambola 'Dwarf Maher') is an abundant producer of sweet juicy fruit. When cut in half a five-pointed star is created. Fruit starts forming at only 2 feet in height. Give plenty of sun, and water when dry and you will have your own starfruit in no time.

The Flower of chocolate. The ripe Chocolate pod.

Chocolate is a must and our Chocolate Plant (Theobroma cacao) will be featured on the show as well. Of course, the previous blog just talked about all the in's and out's of growing chocolate. We will be showing how to make chocolate nibs from the cocooned chocolate fruit. Basically, the chocolate beans need to ferment for a week and then roast and dry them. Then, you can eat the beans or use a mortar and pestle to crush them into chocolate nibs. Delicious. From the Farm also offers the roasted chocolate beans for the daring and curious fruit connoisseur.

Our Passion Fruit (Passiflora edulis 'McCann') is slotted to travel to NYC with its golden yellow fruit that is as sweet as they come. Passiflora is grown for its amazing flowers and delicious fruit. It is vining so needs support but is relatively easy care. Passion Flowers in their native habitat grow in poor soil and at time drought like conditions.

Finally the last plant is a pineapple that we will show how to cut off the top of a pineapple and put it in a pot for easy propagation.

All of these fruiting plants and many more can be found in our new book Growing Tasty Tropical Plants, which is available from Logee's or your local bookstore.

Our shipment of books arrived and we learned today that it was voted in the top 10 for the Best Book in Craft and Garden for the 2010 year.

How to Grow a Chocolate Plant

Chocolate is a well loved commodity in our world and believe it or not you can grow your own Chocolate Pods. The ripe fruit or pods contain the raw chocolate pieces that can be made into chocolate nibs. Chocolate nibs are sited as the new super food for their anti-oxidant qualities. The chocolate candy bars that we know come from the chocolate pods as well but is a highly mechanized process.

To get started with growing your own Chocolate Plant which will produce the chocolate pods watch the video below.

Byron Martin shows how to grow Chocolate (Theobroma cacao) in containers and what to do with the inherent browning leaves that are typical of chocolate plants.

The chocolate pods can be cut in half once they turn an orange/golden color which indicates that they are ripe.

In our new book, Growing Tasty Tropical Plants, (available after Oct. 27th) has a nice section on how to grow chocolate and how to make your own chocolate nibs from the cocooned chocolate pieces inside the chocolate pod.

Angel's Trumpet In Full Bloom

The cooler nights and shorter days have given way to an abundance of Angel's Trumpet Blooms at the Greenhouses. For those of you who have never grown Angel's Trumpets (Brugmansias), these are fast growing fluted flowers that emit an intoxicating nighttime fragrance. Easy-to-grow, simply give lots of fertilizer and full sun and the blooms will reward you time and again. I took pictures of three varieties that were in full bloom yesterday.

Angel's Trumpet 'Cherub' has hundreds of open flowers. The nighttime fragrance is overwhelming.

This is a 6 year-old specimen. Every fall, we prune it back to a bare stem, about 3 feet high and then overwinter it in a cool greenhouse or you can overwinter an Angel's Trumpet in a basement or a garage that doesn't go below freezing. Water only once a month and when springtime arrives put the plant in a sunny spot and watch it sprout back to life.

This year a bird's nest made a home in 'Cherub' at its trunk bifurcation.

The blooms are a translucent pink when viewed from underneath.

The flowers gather in frilly pink clusters.

The Italian Terra-Cotta pot is about 32 inches wide and has been in the Logee-Martin family for nearly 60 years.

A new Variety of Angel's Trumpet will be introduced in 2011. It is another Byron Martin hybrid called Brugmansia 'Angel's Blushing Beauty'.

I turned the pot for another view of this two year-old specimen. Notice the lovely soft pink blooms that cascade in layers of color.

Of course, our old standby Brugmansia 'Angel's Summer Dream' was blooming its head off and does so most of the year.

A New Pup variety at Logee's

Last week, we talked about banana pups, which are little banana plants forming along side their mother plant. This week our new variety is a pup but not a banana pup. It is a real live puppy which belongs to our 12 year-old daughter, Angel. The puppy is a Zuchon (Shih-tzu/Bichon), her name is Bella Rose and she is our newest addition to Logee's. Take a look!


Angel is ready to go to school and Bella Rose is going to work with me at Logee's. Notice the Ficus 'Chicago Hardy' fig behind Angel's head and in the lower left corner is one of my favorite fall-blooming Salvia's called Salvia van houttii 'Dancing Flame.' It is just coming into flower.

Today was a bit rainy but Bella made her rounds. She started in the tray of Pelargoniums. The red flower is Pelargonium 'Balcon Royal Red' and the pink flower is Pelargonium 'Desrumeaux'. These Pelargoniums bloom from spring to fall and make excellent hanging baskets. They can be grown inside during the winter.

Next, she posed with the 4-inch Buddleia davidii 'Peacock'. These Buddleias are still in bloom and attract lots of butterflies on a sunny day.

She has plenty of room in a 14-inch pot.

This wet pooch is ready to go inside to our retail store.

Surprise, Tiffany wasn't expecting a soggy puppy kiss.

Amy, our retail supervisor with the frisky, Bella Rose.

Bella and Amy working on Open House Fliers.

Well, sitting on Open House Fliers.

Our Annual Open House is Nov. 5-7th. We will start with a book launch party (Growing Tasty Tropical Plants in any home, any where) Nov. 5th and then all weekend long we will be giving tours, lectures and great sale prices. Plus don't forget to stop by for a complimentary taste of our famous Logee's Lemonade, made with our Ponderosa Lemons.

Next, Bella visiting Penny in shipping.

And, Sabina our shipping supervisor taking a camera break. She and Penny just finished packing 120 boxes of plants. As long as the weather is above freezing the plants can travel by mail for 3-4 days and be in good shape by the time they reach their destination.

Bella stays in the office most of the day. She has her crate and her rug. Here is Kim, one of our Customer Service Representatives in the background.

Bella was brushed for this picture.

Next, Bella explored Kim's desk.

Ashley, our customer service supervisor, holding Bella.

In the back row from (left to right) Deb, our new bookkeeper, Kim and Margaret both customer service reps. They have all taken on the "Auntie" role quite well.

Marie-Claire, our financial supervisor.

At the end of the day, Bella sleeping on Ashley's desk!

Another picture of Bella resting in the office, but it looks like she is getting ready to get up and go again. Oh No!

How To Divide Your Dwarf Banana

One of the Tropical Dwarf Bananas that we grow, called Musa Cavendish 'Super Dwarf' is an amazingly fast grower, especially when taken outside during the warm days of summer. Its typical growing pattern is to send out "side pups" (new banana plants). These side pups are vital for the health and integrity of the main banana plant but only one pup is needed. The other side pups can be divided, re-potted and given away. My 'Super Dwarf' was in need of division. Although the mature specimen shows a single banana with fruit, we have found that growing 'Super Dwarf' with one side pup allows the plant to grow faster and fruit better.


Dwarf Banana (Musa Cavendish 'Super Dwarf') with two side banana plants (side pups).

CLICK ON THE ARROW TO WATCH: Byron Martin, owner and horticulturist of Logee's Tropical Plants shows how to divide the 'Super Dwarf' Banana.

The original banana plant (left) with the new single banana plant (right). The new 'Super Dwarf' will be going to some friends of ours who have an outstanding French Bakery in Wellfleet, Mass called PB Boulangerie Bistro.

Quick Growing Instructions: During the active growing season give the banana full sun, lots of water and feed regularly (twice a week) with a balanced fertilizer (5-7-9). Minimum temperature is 40 degrees so these bananas for the northern gardeners are meant to be grown inside during the winter. For more detailed growing instructions go to our banana cultural care sheet or pre-order our new book due out in October: Growing Tasty Tropicals in Any Home, Any Where.

Keep Your Tropical Plants Looking Good!

Summer's not over yet and with a little bit of attention your tropical plants can still bring lots of color and joy to your living space. When mid-August arrives, the growth of summer is at its fullest. Managing this growth is simply a matter of trimming, pruning, and fertilizing. Sometimes removing the old flowers and turning the pot is all that is needed. With a little focus on care, my tropical plants were spruced up in about an hour. Of course, before looking with a critical eye, I made sure to look at the beauty before me and appreciate the lush growth of the season.

These flowering maples (abutilons), which love partial shade, are at my front door and are such a great contrast to the black solar fence. Abutilon ‘Kristen’s Pink’, ‘Vodoo’ (the red one), and ‘Bartley Schwartz’ (the orange one) are happily growing. I fertilize these with an organic topical feed about once a week.

Next to the Abutilons, I’ve used Salvia’s as a border plant. The Salvia gaurantica ‘Black and Blue’ and Salvia coccinea ‘Peach’ attract a multitude of hummingbirds every morning.

Enough admiring, now it was time to get to work. My old but trusted pruning gear.

I removed the dead lower leaves of this Lemon Grass potted in a blueberry pottery container. I found this pot at a yard-sale last year for $2.

Nicely groomed, it was time to take a picture of Lemon Grass. I use lemon grass in tea and it is also used as a favorite ingredient for Asian cooking.

My Mandevilla Sun Parasol ‘Giant Crimson’ that grew inside last winter, is in non-stop full bloom this summer. However, it needed its old flowers removed.

A close-up of the discoloration of old blooms.

Now the new flowers looked better and the buds about to open have room to fully display their magnificient color.

The Geraniums needed a few dead leaves and branches removed.

The two plants in this container, Pelargonium Balcon Royale Red, and Desrumeaux started out as plugs only 8 weeks ago.

Angel’s Trumpets (Brugmansia) are always fast growers in the summer. They are heavy feeders and need fertilizer at least twice a week with plenty of water.

This Brugmansia I’m making into a standard. I won’t be able to identify this one until it blooms.

This is my Angel's Trumpet, Brugmansia “Angel’s Summer Dream” grown as a standard. I love the multitude of blooms. This was in a 4 inch pot in mid-June.

Origanum ‘Kent Beauty’ (oregano) started as a single 2 1/2" pot in June. I fertilize this once week.

My three year-old Hardy Banana, Musa Basjoo is in need of fertilizer. Notice the lime green leaves.

My other three-year-old hardy Banana in the lower gardens and has been well fed. Notice the dark green leaves.

A view from afar

A new Bamboo to be released next Spring. We test our plants for at least a year before we release them in our catalogue

Simply turning the Bamboo gave it a whole new look.

Ficus 'Chicago Hardy' Fig growing in my garden. This has been wintered over twice and is in its third year of growth.

One of my mixed containers with growth gone wild. The variegated Ipomoea batatas 'Pink Frost' and the Scaevola aemula "Fan flower" (bluish,purple) draping over the tall flowering pink Agastache 'Tutti Frutti'.

The wild look contained.