Independent gardening advice for real gardens, balconies and windowsills.
A growing reference library of gardening terms, techniques and climate concepts explained in plain language.
This tree affords gum-kino, which is obtained by making incisions in the bark, from which the juice exudes and hardens into a brittle mass, easily broken into small angular, shining fragments of a bri...
The pomegranate, a native of northern Africa and western Asia. The fruit is valued in warm countries on account of its delicious cooling and refreshing pulp. Numerous varieties are grown, some being s...
The wood of this plant furnishes Surinam quassia. It is destitute of smell, but has an intensely bitter taste, and is used as a tonic. The root has also reputed medicinal value, as also have the flowe...
The Quillai or Cully of the Chilians. Its bark is called soap-bark, and is rough and dark-colored externally, but internally consists of numerous regular whitish or yellowish layers, and contains a la...
A small tree native of the West Indies, also found in southern Florida. In the West Indies the fruit is used for producing a blue dye, and medicinal properties are assigned to the bark.
The Jupati palm. The leaf-stalks of this plant are used by the natives of the Amazon for a variety of purposes, such as constructing inside walls, making boxes and baskets, etc. _R. vinifera_, the Bam...
This plant is called the Traveler's tree, probably on account of the water which is stored up in the large cup-like sheaths of the leaf-stalks, and which is sought for by travelers to allay their thir...
The ground rattan palm. This is supposed to yield the walking-canes known as rattan, which is doubted. It is a native of southern China, and is also found in Japan, where it is known by the name of Kw...
This plant is known as the mangrove, possibly because no man can live in the swampy groves that are covered with it in tropical countries. The seeds germinate, or form roots before they quit the paren...