My challenge this week is to try growing something new, strange, or unusual. My favorite “experiments” was pineapple sage. What a beautiful flower with the sweetest aroma! I haven’t been able to find another plant when I was ready to plant one, but I am always on the lookout. So today I am going to mention a few interesting plant varieties for you to try.

Pineapple Sage is really a beautiful addition.

My parents owned and worked a nursery and landscaping business and we were always getting in new plants. And every year my mom would order Venus Fly Traps. What a wonderful discovery for a kid! Now you can get them at wal-mart. They can be a little tricky to keep alive so follow the directions carefully. And if trapping flies is in your agenda, check out the Dragon Arum. And you won’t want to keep this one in the house! My mom bought one, one time. They are very intriguing, but very stinky!

One year we were given a bunch of discarded tomato plants. About half of these plants were Mr. Stripey’s. At that point I had never heard of this variety, but planted them anyway. Oh what a surprise! They were interesting looking and very tasteful! The only trick was knowing when they were ripe. They are not a dark red tomato, so we let the first ones stay on the vine too long.

I’ve never grown any, but I have sure enjoyed experimenting in the kitchen with different varieties of potatoes. You can get fingerling potatoes, blue potatoes, and the all red potato. 4th of July here we come!

And one of my more memorable plantings was a moon flower. My mother mailed me seeds from her plant and for a year we enjoyed the beautiful white flower that you had to get up early to catch. Another one of my mom’s gifts was a potato vine. It’s heart-shaped leaves are unique and lovely.

What have you grown that was different?

2 Responses to “The strange and unusual”